Dojima Sake Brewery
Overview
The Japanese garden at Dojima Sake Brewery is located within the Fordham Abbey estate in Cambridgeshire. The Japanese Garden Society records it as Dojima Sake Brewery at Fordham Abbey, gives the construction date as 2000–2001, and identifies the garden as commissioned by the Hashimoto family, founders of the UK’s first sake brewery. The garden covers about 1,500 m² and was created by Robert Ketchell and Andrew Ninnis.
History
Dojima Sake Brewery was established at Fordham Abbey by the Hashimoto family, whose sake-brewing roots are in Settsu Tonda, Kansai, Japan. The brewery describes itself as the first of its kind in the United Kingdom and presents the site as a meeting point between Japanese sake culture and the Cambridgeshire estate landscape.
The Japanese garden was built in 2000–2001, before the brewery’s more recent public profile developed. It was commissioned by the Hashimoto family and designed by Robert Ketchell and Andrew Ninnis. The garden was conceived as a kaiyūshiki teien, or stroll garden, inviting visitors to move through changing views rather than view the whole composition from one fixed point.
The garden is now part of the wider Fordham Abbey / Dojima visitor and cultural programme. Recent Fordham Abbey material notes that the gardens are open to annual garden members and Dojima members, while brewery tours and Japanese cultural events provide additional controlled access. The estate also notes the completion of a shrine in the Japanese Garden dedicated to the sake god.
Design features
The garden is centred on a large elongated pond crossed by a flat wooden bridge. The pond contains two symbolic islands, one representing a crane and the other a turtle, both associated with longevity in Japanese garden symbolism. The composition includes two waterfalls, water-worn limestone boulders, shaped pines, evergreen shrubs, cherry trees, Japanese maples, a roofed gateway, a retained brick building used as a viewing / tea-ceremony space, and a lawn area with a Shinto shrine. The garden’s planting is arranged in four seasonal sections.
Garden elements
Bridges
Enclosures
Waters and islands
Stones
Current status
Extant Japanese stroll garden within the Fordham Abbey estate, home of Dojima Sake Brewery. The garden is not a normal public park; access is by membership, events, brewery tours or pre-booked visits.