Walk - and pray - in the footsteps of Archbishop Cranmer and Cardinal Pole in the private gardens at Lambeth Palace

View of Lambeth Palace from the private walled garden at the rear, showing the rose arbour on the terraceRuth Gledhill

A rare chance to explore the 12th-century private garden which has graced the home of Archbishops of Canterbury since the middle ages is now on offer to Londoners and visitors to the capital.

Lambeth Palace Gardens, 13 acres of beautiful lawn, blossom, flowers and trees, opened to the public today and will be open for a few hours only on the first Friday of every month until the end of August. 

London's oldest continuously-cultivated gardens, they were restored and redesigned in 1986 by Rosalind Runcie, wife of the late Robert Runcie, who preceded Lord Carey as Archbishop of Canterbury. Rosalind and Robert's son James Runcie, the oldest of their two children, is a well-known author who wrote the Grantchester series of novels, now a hit TV series.

Spring blossom at Lambeth PalaceRuth Gledhill

Just yards from the Palace of Westminster and overlooked by Evelina Children's Hospital at St Thomas', the pond at Lambeth Palace is almost deserted, even on a day when the gardens are open to the public. There could hardly be a better place to reflect on the beauty of God's creation, and at the same time never forgetting, and praying, for all affected by the suffering and the stress of life at the heart of London. 

A great place to reflect - the pond at Lambeth PalaceRuth Gledhill

The gardens remained almost unchanged from the 12th century to the 18th century, when Archbishop Moore redesigned it from its geometric medieval style to give it its current, more contemporary feel with lawn, borders, terrace orchard.

Archbishop Justin Welby makes it available as much as possible to charities, and it is used round the week by his family and the staff and other residents and users of Lambeth Palace, including the new 'monastic' Community of St Anselm - young men and women spending 'a year in God's time' at Lambeth. This event was hosted by Ronald McDonald House Charities.

The opening of the gardens was marked by a small spring fete, where charities sold tea, coffee, home-made cake and other goods to raise funds.Ruth Gledhill

As head gardener Alistair Book explains in the guide given to visitors, almost the first thing you see after walking through the 1490 Morton's Tower, past Cardinal Pole's 1556 fig trees and across the courtyard past the main Palace, built in 1830, and enter the garden is the tantalisingly-evocative 'Mother and Child' statue, a special commission by Emma Pover.

The Mother and Child Statue, by Emma PoverRuth Gledhill

The many flowers at Lambeth include hellebores, snowdrops, winter aconites, pink and white cyclamen and snowdrops. The garden even has its own little shaded bluebell wood. And of course there is a 'Rowan Avenue' - although this is named after the tree, not Rowan Williams, predecessor to the present incumbent.

Bluebells in the private garden at Lambeth PalaceRuth Gledhill
Tulips flower at Lambeth Palace in the springRuth Gledhill

The rarely-seen garden view of Lambeth Palace shows from the rear the original medieval buildings that include the 1434 Lollard's Tower, once used as a prison, and 1550 Cranmer's Tower.  There is no actual evidence to support the widely-held theory that Archbishop Thomas Cranmer wrote the Book of Common Prayer in this Tower - but it is interesting to imagine that he might have. The Rose Arbour is spectacular later in the summer, when the 'surpassing beauty' of the classic Woolverstone Church Rose can be enjoyed in all its glory. 

Lambeth Place Garden in the spring sunshine today. They are open to the public on the first Friday of each month from 12:00-1500, from 7th April to 1st September 2017. Admission is £5 and tea and coffee is served.Ruth Gledhill