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.