Kipling Gardens

The Kipling Gardens were once part of the Elms which was from 1897 – 1902 the home of the  writer Rudyard Kipling. Kipling rented the house for 3 guineas a week and it was here that he wrote Stalky & Co, Kim and some of his famous Just So Stories. After Kipling left the house it was rented out to various tenants until it was purchased in 1929 by Sir Roderick Jones, the head of Reuters.
Following Sir Roderick’s death, the house and walled garden became derelict and in 1980 Sir Roderick’s daughter, Laurian, sold the house and the gardens were offered for development. The following year plans were submitted for six new houses with double garages on the site. Incensed at the thought of a housing development on the historic village green, Rottingdean Preservation Society raised £51,000, largely from a bequest, to buy the derelict garden.
During the next three years the walls were renovated, the brick paths laid and the wilderness cleared and planted. In 1986 the Victorian-style series of walled grdens were formally handed over, in trust, to the then Brighton Borough Council to maintain in good order as an ornamental garden for the benefit of the villagers and other visitors. The Preservation Society continues to take a keen interest in the Gardens and contributes financially to special projects.
http://www.rottingdeanpreservationsociety.org.uk/the-kipling-gardens/

 “This is a brief life, but in its brevity it offers us some splendid moments, some meaningful adventures.”
 “There is no sin so great as ignorance. Remember this.”
― Rudyard Kipling, Kim