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Did you know...

• Chekov had a passion for gardening as well as literature, and has been quoted as saying that if not a writer, he would have been a gardener
• The rustic table and benches are exact replicas of the ones Chekov had in his garden. The designers used a photograph showing him at work in his garden in Melikhovo as inspiration
• Among some of the more unusual herbs in the garden are Siberian ginseng, hypericum and marshmallow. Look out also for lentils and buckwheat growing among the planting

About the garden

This Russian-themed garden is based on the country estate near Moscow where Anton Chekhov (1860-1904), one of Russia’s greatest writers, wrote his famous play The Seagull. Also a doctor, Chekhov treated patients here and was a very keen gardener, planting many fruit trees. Interestingly, the Russian word for garden, 'sad', is the same as the word for orchard.
 
The garden is designed to be viewed as Chekhov would have looked out onto it from his wooden verandah. Chekhov’s table sits amid the apple trees in a tall meadow: grasses, crops, flowers and medicinal herbs intermingle. Silver birch and conifers at the boundaries suggest the landscape beyond.
 
The garden is a place of tranquility set within a rich natural backdrop. It references the traditional Russian dacha, bursting in a ramshackle manner with flowers and crops, as well as the meadows and woodland beyond. Herbalism, which has played a strong part in Russian medicine and culture, is represented by the medicinal plants grown here.