Gardens in Sussex

Weald & Downland Living Museum

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

Herstmonceux Castle Estate

Vast and well-kept estate with formal gardens.

National Trust's Nymans

A garden lovers' home for all seasons, with an extensive yet intimate garden set around a romantic house and ruins.

Denmans Garden

Stylish informal garden with Mediterranean planting.

Charleston House & Gardens

A bohemian country house with walled garden.

Borde Hill Garden

Elegant formal gardens, parkland and trees.

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.

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. "

Wakehurst

Wakehurst is Kew's Wild Botanic Garden in Sussex. Situated on the High Weald, there are more than 500 acres of ornamental gardens, woodlands and a nature reserve to be explored. Wakehurst is also home to the Millennium Seed Bank, the largest wild seed conservation project in the world. Wakehurst is managed by Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

Sussex Prairie Garden

Rich landscape of naturalistic wildflowers, shrubs and grasses.

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.

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 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.

National Trust's Standen House and Garden

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

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 Alfriston Clergy House

This rare 14th-century Wealden hall-house was the first building to be acquired by the National Trust, in 1896. The thatched, timber-framed house is in an idyllic setting, with views across the River Cuckmere, and surrounded by a delightful, tranquil cottage garden full of wildlife.

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.

Michelham Priory

Michelham Priory founded in 1229 is a historic property nestled deep in the Sussex countryside and offers much to interest visitors of all ages. The 7-acre gardens are a subtle balance of formal and naturalistic planting styles, combining both historic and contemporary features.

Borde Hill Garden

Elegant formal gardens, parkland and trees.

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.

Sussex Prairie Garden

Rich landscape of naturalistic wildflowers, shrubs and grasses.

Rymans Garden

Rymans has a walled and other gardens surrounding a 15th century stone house with bulbs, flowering shrubs, roses, ponds, and potager. There are many unusual and rare trees and shrubs. In late spring the wisterias are spectacular. The heady scent of hybrid musk roses fills the walled garden in June. In late summer the garden is ablaze with dahlias, sedums, late roses, sages and Japanese anemones.

Farleys Sculpture Garden

Sculpture Garden with beautiful views of the South Downs.

National Trust's Standen House and Garden

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

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 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 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.

Wakehurst

Wakehurst is Kew's Wild Botanic Garden in Sussex. Situated on the High Weald, there are more than 500 acres of ornamental gardens, woodlands and a nature reserve to be explored. Wakehurst is also home to the Millennium Seed Bank, the largest wild seed conservation project in the world. Wakehurst is managed by Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

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.

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.

Coates Manor House

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

Town Place Gardens

Town Place is a 3-acre garden with a growing international reputation for the quality of its design, planting and gardening. Set round a C17 Sussex farmhouse (not open), the garden has over 600 roses, herbaceous borders, herb garden, topiary inspired by the sculptures of Henry Moore, ornamental grasses, an 800 year old oak, potager, and a unique 'ruined' Priory Church and Cloisters, in hornbeam.