Explore the wonderful walled garden of Charleston at its annual festival

Tap to watch this video report by ITV News Meridian's James Dunham

Enter the wonderful walled garden of Charleston and you discover a world of colour with hundreds of plants and flowers grown in the charming grounds.

Despite being a stone's throw from the A27 near Lewes the open site oozes tranquility and it's all being shown off at the annual garden festival.

This year the weekend event is exploring our connection with nature, with an ever changing climate the team work hard to make the space so vibrant.

Head gardener Harry said, "This weekend we've got a very windy weekend. We're on chalky down land here on the South Downs, so very free draining soil.

"So as gardeners we just have to adapt to changing conditions, just as just as farmers do and the people who look after our lands.

"The hollyhocks here are a bit of a marvel and they're kind of a big Charleston feature in July, August. But obviously throughout the season we have of various elements of succession of plantings.

"It sounds ruthless, but yanking out poppies over the last couple of months to put in later flowering plants."

Talks and workshops take place at the festival and all the way from Ireland, self-confessed plant nerd, Jami Blake brings his expertise of maintaining his 20 acre garden to audiences.

Speaking about how he is adapting to the climate, Jamie said, "I'm taking cuttings, but I'm doing them in sand.

"So instead of using peaty compost, I'm using sand and I'm using these large cuttings with loads of leaves on them.

"So it's kind of the opposite of what people would have learned and I'm packing them into pots and I'm not putting plastic over them and putting them in shade and getting huge success.

"In Hunting Brook where I live, we've put in these sand gardens, and it's keeping the moisture in and keeping the weeds away. It's definitely the way to go as the climate changes."

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