Open Spaces: The Sunken Garden at Agecroft Hall

Agecroft Hall and Gardens Has a beautiful sunken garden. It shines during the spring, when it is filled with tulips. But it is full of lovely flowers and plants at year round. People living in Virginia might be familiar with other sunken gardens, such as the one at The College of William and Mary and one at The Carillon in Richmond. This style of garden gained popularity in England in the eighteenth century. The flowing open spaces of sunken garden were a change from the formal knot gardens that had been popular in Tudor times.

The sunken garden at Agecroft Hall is based on one that can be found at Hampton Court Palace. If the pictures below, you can see how they compare. There are a few sunken gardens at Hampton Court- the one that Agecroft’s is modeled after dates to the early eighteenth century. The different levels of the garden beds are visually stunning, and the levels also help to conserve water.