Gardens in Sussex

National Trust's Monk's House

Leonard and Virginia Woolf's 17th-century country retreat. The Woolfs bought Monk's House for the 'shape and fertility and wildness of the garden'. Today, the lovely cottage garden contains a mix of flowers, vegetables, orchards, lawns and ponds.

High Beeches Woodland and Water Garden

A spectacular mix of native and cultivated planting.

Bates Green Garden

An English Garden planted in a naturalistic style that sits comfortably within its rural surroundings.

Leonardslee Illuminated

Wakehurst

A stunning 500 acre wild botanic garden with a mix of ornamental gardens, woodlands and a nature reserve.

Rymans Garden

A stunning garden encompassing walled gardens, beautifully manicured borders and topiary complete with a 15th Century stone house.

National Trust's Petworth

A stately mansion nestled in the South Downs housing the finest art collection in the care of the National Trust. The landscape gives every impression of being totally natural but in reality, nothing is further from the truth. The park was transformed in the 1750s and early 1760s by Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown.

Driftwood

A small garden that’s bursting with coastal plants.

Denmans Garden

Stylish informal garden with Mediterranean planting.

National Trust's Uppark House and Garden

Perched on its vantage point high on the South Downs ridge, Uppark commands views as far south as the English Channel. Outside, the intimate gardens are being gradually restored to their original 19th-century design, with plenty of space in the adjacent meadow to play and relax with a picnic. The nearby woodland is great for exploring and den-building.

National Trust's Lamb House

Red-brick fronted house with literary associations - both Henry James and E. F. Benson lived here. Lamb House has a walled garden, one of the largest gardens in the old town of Rye; it was designed as we see it today by a friend of Henry James called Alfred Parsons.

Enchanted Leonardslee

Borde Hill Garden

Elegant formal gardens, parkland and trees.

Parham House & Gardens

The gardens consist of beautiful Pleasure Grounds and a four-acre Walled Garden. There are stunning herbaceous borders, a glasshouse, vegetable garden, orchard and a 1920s Wendy House.

National Trust's Standen House and Garden

Arts and Crafts family home with Morris & Co. interiors, set in a beautiful hillside garden.

Merriments Gardens

With 4 acres of creative planting, this outstanding RHS Partner garden is awash with colour in all seasons.

Weald & Downland Living Museum

Indoor and outdoor museum with beautifully recreated gardens of the past.

West Dean Gardens

"Many of us are striving to live ‘the good life’ but perhaps the best example of what can be achieved on UK soil is the walled garden at West Dean Gardens. Occupying a scenic stretch of East Sussex, the more than 100 acres are ideal for picnicing or those looking for things to do in Chichester with dogs, while the beautiful vistas are sure to blow all other Chichester date ideas out of the park. The walled kitchen garden has been painstakingly laid out exactly as it would be in Victorian times - be warned, you will get veg-patch envy. Four neat rows have been split between potatoes, brassicas, legumes and salads and root crops and all manner of fruits hang from the walls like delicious edible garlands. Elsewhere you’ll find the beautifully restored Victorian glasshouses, a 300 foot Edwardian pergola draped in climbing roses, honeysuckles and clematis and a landscaped park of mammoth proportions. The chalky soil might dictate what can be grown here, but that hasn’t been a hindrance judging by the abundance of produce and flowers on display. Make the most of your visit by sampling the produce in the West Dean Gardens cafe — a worthy reward after a long day’s wandering. "

National Trust's Sheffield Park and Garden

Acres of landscape garden bordered by historic parkland and woodland.

Pashley Manor Gardens

Visit Pashley Manor Gardens, on the border of Sussex and Kent, to see Romantic English landscaping and artistic planting framed by fine old trees, sculpture, fountains and ponds.

Borde Hill Garden

Elegant formal gardens, parkland and trees.

Penns in the Rocks

Penns in the Rocks is an early 18th-century redbrick house, built for the family of William Penn of Pennsylvania. The late Lord Gibson was Chairman of the Arts Council, and of the National Trust. He and Lady Gibson remodelled the interior of the house, and with the help of Lanning Roper adapted the garden from Dorothy Wellesley's original design.

Driftwood

A small garden that’s bursting with coastal plants.

National Trust's Standen House and Garden

Arts and Crafts family home with Morris & Co. interiors, set in a beautiful hillside garden.

Coates Manor House

Coates Manor has a small, neatly designed garden that crams a lifetime's learning into its plantings.

Sussex Prairie Garden

Rich landscape of naturalistic wildflowers, shrubs and grasses.

Merriments Gardens

With 4 acres of creative planting, this outstanding RHS Partner garden is awash with colour in all seasons.

Weald & Downland Living Museum

Indoor and outdoor museum with beautifully recreated gardens of the past.

West Dean Gardens

"Many of us are striving to live ‘the good life’ but perhaps the best example of what can be achieved on UK soil is the walled garden at West Dean Gardens. Occupying a scenic stretch of East Sussex, the more than 100 acres are ideal for picnicing or those looking for things to do in Chichester with dogs, while the beautiful vistas are sure to blow all other Chichester date ideas out of the park. The walled kitchen garden has been painstakingly laid out exactly as it would be in Victorian times - be warned, you will get veg-patch envy. Four neat rows have been split between potatoes, brassicas, legumes and salads and root crops and all manner of fruits hang from the walls like delicious edible garlands. Elsewhere you’ll find the beautifully restored Victorian glasshouses, a 300 foot Edwardian pergola draped in climbing roses, honeysuckles and clematis and a landscaped park of mammoth proportions. The chalky soil might dictate what can be grown here, but that hasn’t been a hindrance judging by the abundance of produce and flowers on display. Make the most of your visit by sampling the produce in the West Dean Gardens cafe — a worthy reward after a long day’s wandering. "

National Trust's Uppark House and Garden

Perched on its vantage point high on the South Downs ridge, Uppark commands views as far south as the English Channel. Outside, the intimate gardens are being gradually restored to their original 19th-century design, with plenty of space in the adjacent meadow to play and relax with a picnic. The nearby woodland is great for exploring and den-building.

National Trust's Monk's House

Leonard and Virginia Woolf's 17th-century country retreat. The Woolfs bought Monk's House for the 'shape and fertility and wildness of the garden'. Today, the lovely cottage garden contains a mix of flowers, vegetables, orchards, lawns and ponds.

Arundel Castle

Today the stunning and inspirational walled gardens include the internationally renowned Collector Earl’s Garden, The Stumpery; the hot and cool Herbaceous Borders with contrasting foliage plants; and the Cut Flower Garden and Organic Kitchen Garden that supply the Castle with fresh fruit, vegetables and cut flowers.

National Trust's Bateman's

'That's She! The Only She! Make an honest woman of her - quick!' was how Rudyard Kipling and his wife, Carrie, felt the first time they saw Bateman's. Surrounded by the wooded landscape of the Sussex Weald, this 17th-century house, with its mullioned windows and oak beams, provided a much needed sanctuary to this world-famous writer.

National Trust's Petworth

A stately mansion nestled in the South Downs housing the finest art collection in the care of the National Trust. The landscape gives every impression of being totally natural but in reality, nothing is further from the truth. The park was transformed in the 1750s and early 1760s by Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown.

National Trust's Sheffield Park and Garden

Acres of landscape garden bordered by historic parkland and woodland.

Parham House & Gardens

The gardens consist of beautiful Pleasure Grounds and a four-acre Walled Garden. There are stunning herbaceous borders, a glasshouse, vegetable garden, orchard and a 1920s Wendy House.

Arundel Castle

Today the stunning and inspirational walled gardens include the internationally renowned Collector Earl’s Garden, The Stumpery; the hot and cool Herbaceous Borders with contrasting foliage plants; and the Cut Flower Garden and Organic Kitchen Garden that supply the Castle with fresh fruit, vegetables and cut flowers.

West Dean Gardens

"Many of us are striving to live ‘the good life’ but perhaps the best example of what can be achieved on UK soil is the walled garden at West Dean Gardens. Occupying a scenic stretch of East Sussex, the more than 100 acres are ideal for picnicing or those looking for things to do in Chichester with dogs, while the beautiful vistas are sure to blow all other Chichester date ideas out of the park. The walled kitchen garden has been painstakingly laid out exactly as it would be in Victorian times - be warned, you will get veg-patch envy. Four neat rows have been split between potatoes, brassicas, legumes and salads and root crops and all manner of fruits hang from the walls like delicious edible garlands. Elsewhere you’ll find the beautifully restored Victorian glasshouses, a 300 foot Edwardian pergola draped in climbing roses, honeysuckles and clematis and a landscaped park of mammoth proportions. The chalky soil might dictate what can be grown here, but that hasn’t been a hindrance judging by the abundance of produce and flowers on display. Make the most of your visit by sampling the produce in the West Dean Gardens cafe — a worthy reward after a long day’s wandering. "

St Mary's House & Gardens

At St Mary’s House & Gardens it’s not just the pretty planting, whimsical animal topiary or the 15th-century timber-framed pilgrim inn that draws the crowds, though these are excellent reasons to come here. Perhaps the star attraction is the extraordinary ‘Living Fossil’ tree, a fine specimen known as the prehistoric Ginkgo Biloba. While pondering its age, there are plenty of other unique aspects of St Mary’s House & Gardens to explore. From the enviably long Victorian fruit wall and heated pineapple pits to the eclectic museum filled with horticultural paraphernalia from rural family farms. The literary-minded gardener will delight in the circular English poetry garden, where you can read verse among the shade of the semi woodland garden. And once you’ve spotted the herbaceous borders and enchanting landscape water garden, we’re sure this five-acre plot in west Sussex will leave you waxing lyrical.

High Beeches Woodland and Water Garden

A spectacular mix of native and cultivated planting.

National Trust's Standen House and Garden

Arts and Crafts family home with Morris & Co. interiors, set in a beautiful hillside garden.

National Trust's Bateman's

'That's She! The Only She! Make an honest woman of her - quick!' was how Rudyard Kipling and his wife, Carrie, felt the first time they saw Bateman's. Surrounded by the wooded landscape of the Sussex Weald, this 17th-century house, with its mullioned windows and oak beams, provided a much needed sanctuary to this world-famous writer.