Centenary Garden Party

The Collector Earl’s Garden, Arundel Castle

After a year of careful planning, the July day finally dawned for our summer party at the Castle and we were blessed with beautiful sunny weather.

Around ninety people gathered to sip Prosecco and listen to mellow jazz being played by Mike and his trio of talented local musicians from Big House. Canapés were served and people mingled before our hosts, the Duke and Duchess of Norfolk, arrived to open proceedings in the Collector Earl’s Garden.

This marks a very special relationship between their family and the Arundel Gardens Association where Duke Bernard and his wife were early joint Presidents, with Martin Duncan, the current Head Gardener and Landscape Designer, continuing in this role today.

The Duke gave a fascinating talk about the Collector Earl and his family history, followed by more detail about the creation of the garden. 

Thomas Howard, the 14th Earl of Arundel (known as the Collector Earl) was the son of Philip Howard who was imprisoned in the Tower of London and stripped of his title and lands by Elizabeth I for refusing to renounce his Catholic faith. The 14th Earl never met his father, being born after he was sent to the Tower and never allowed to meet him. However, he married well and managed to restore the family’s position and fortune. Philip Howard was later canonised by Pope Paul VI in 1970.

Today, the Collector Earl’s Garden is an imaginative recreation of what the garden might have looked like when he was alive, and was designed by Isabel and Julian Bannerman. The Bannermans are renowned for their ‘Country Garden’ style filled with historical allusions and the garden was formally opened in 2008 by King Charles III, then the Prince of Wales, on the site of the old car park!

Following the Duke’s talk, Martin led a group tour of the Earl’s Garden, the Kitchen Garden and the Cut Flower Garden.

We are very fortunate to have Martin Duncan as our President and the support of his wife, Georgina, who is always ready to help behind the scenes to ensure that everything runs smoothly. Martin likes continually to come up with new ideas for the gardens and, at the time of writing, the gardens were short listed as finalists for The Historic Houses Garden of the Year Award 2025.

Martin has been at the Castle since 2009 and continues to innovate, adding a second Stumpery this year to the one that he created in 2012, using ancient tree stumps from the estate. The annual Tulip Festival, started under his tenure, is now recognised as the top Tulip Festival in Europe and his restoration of the historic stew ponds, working with local artisans and a master thatcher to create a newly constructed round house and boat house, won a Sussex Heritage Trust Award.

So, once again, a huge thank you to the Duke and Duchess for allowing us to party in their beautiful garden and to Martin and Georgina for helping us to organise everything. What a fitting way to celebrate our Centenary and, as the Duke said, ‘Here is to the next 100 years’!

Christine Fowler, Chairman AGA