Arundel Castle

The walled garden originally housed numerous greenhouses, one still stands today and is an original Victorian Vine House built in 1850 by Clarke and Hope. The other was a 20-year old wooden greenhouse (on the site of the original ‘Messenger’ Pineapple House) that had rotten beyond repair after its exposure to humidity and moisture. Arundel Castle knew that to replace the greenhouse the material would have to withstand constant heating of 65?c+, and have control in maintaining the growing environment.

Alitex replaced and replicated the ‘Messenger’ wooden glasshouse, keeping to the original footprint and allowing Arundel to keep the raised growing beds inside the glasshouse. The new glasshouse requires little maintenance and has provided the gardeners with a fully controllable environment due to the ventilation system and underfloor heating.

Arundel Castle are using the greenhouse to its full potential. The structure has a partition that creates two separate growing environments – one is used for propagation and is home to their chilli collection, hanging cucumbers, herbs, vegetables and medicinal plants. The other section is full of large exotic tropical plants including bananas, guavas, papayas, date palms and strelitzia (bird of paradise flower). A third growing environment is created from the attached cold frames home to a selection of culinary and medicinal herbs.

To visit Arundel Castle and explore their beautiful gardens, visit their website arundelcastle.org to find out about their opening details.