LEEDS Castle, listed in the Domesday Book, has been a Norman stronghold, a royal residence for six of England’s queens, a palace for Henry VIII and a retreat for the powerful. It is also happy to open its gates to thousands of visitors every year.

went to see what makes the gardens so special.

Every man’s home, be it ever so humble, is his castle so it’s not as strange as it may seem to look towards the gardens at the grand Leeds Castle for inspiration for even the smallest plot.

The "most beautiful castle in the world" is surrounded by not only the famous moat but stunning planting.

Enthusiastic head gardener Chris Skinner is responsible, with three helpers, for keeping the Culpeper Garden and Lady Baillie’s Garden in tip-top shape all year round. Leeds Castle is one of the few places to open all year, only closing to the public on Christmas Day and for special events such as the classical concerts.

The Culpeper Garden was the kitchen garden until Lady Baillie, the last private owner, bought the castle in 1926 and had it made over as a cut-flower garden. It was then transformed in 1980 by Russell Page into a large cottage garden and is home to the national collection of bergamot.

Its informal planting involves fruits, flowers and herbs, bringing to mind the famous herbalist who was a distant member of the Culpeper family who owned the castle in the 17th century. It may all seem a bit large scale compared with your average garden, but the principles are the same using colour and planting to suit the setting.

Chris, who is like a walking Leeds Castle history book, added: "When Lady Baillie died, Russell Page, who was a friend, suggested dividing the two large beds into smaller ones - his brief was to construct a rival to other country gardens like Sissinghurst."

Chris has worked at Leeds since 1987 and describes himself as "being part of the furniture". He was introduced as a young lad to growing vegetables on his grandfather’s three-quarters of an acre plot.

Chris explained he took to gardening like one of the castle’s ducks to the water: "It was traditional and my parents were always gardening as well. We lived near some nurseries in Woking and I got a school job there."

The castle gardens, like most people’s plots, present a constant challenge. Describing the Culpeper Garden, Chris said: "They are constantly changing. The shrubs, including the roses, need thinning out, and perennials like Granny’s Bonnets seed everywhere. It’s ordered chaos with a lot of thought behind it!

"Also we put in annuals like nicotania so it’s a mix of shrubs, perennials and annuals. It’s always evolving, never the same every year. All the beds are contained in box hedges."

His favourite time is early June "when the shrub roses are in flower".

Wind damage, with great gusts blowing in from the Great Water, pose a problem and so Chris and Co go into battle with a selection of decorative ropes, canes and string to hold up the plants.

They are also kept busy rotating the beds. Chris explained: "Pests and diseases build up because you can’t double dig, so we dig up everything in a bed about every 25 years. Even the roses are removed because their vigour is reduced."

The garden is not listed as historic so anything up to modern times can be used to increase colour, range and variety.

"The purists might say you can’t have blue and yellow together but you do in nature and I think they look good. In the autumn we have colour with ornamental gourds."

Another trick is to grow sweet peas up the roses.

Lady Baillie’s Garden, designed by Christopher Carter and opened in 1999, consists of terraces below the Culpeper Garden planted with Mediterranean and sub-tropical plants, providing wonderful sun traps in which to linger.

Chris said ruefully: "The problem is that it’s a bit of a frost pocket and temperatures can plunge as low as minus eight degrees. It also gets very wet in the winter because of the run-off from the slopes. We’ve helped solve this by building the terraces."

And splendid they are, too, with magnificent views over the glistening Great Water. Unusual elements include exotic banana trees which are wrapped up for the winter in layers of sacking.

Chris and his team are also responsible for the Vineyard and the Non-Food Crops area planted near the greenhouses some of which still house orchids and other houseplants and bedding plants used in the castle.

The crops include nettles which can be made into cloth, potatoes for plastics, hemp for building materials and calendula for paints. The borage, for example, is used in healthcare products, dietary supplements, cosmetics and insect repellant.

For the green fingered or those just looking for a beautiful place to escape to, the gardens provide just the ticket.