Garden details

Telephone

01444 450326

Location

Admission

Adults £8; Concessions £7.50; Children £5. RHS members free (Member 1 only) July - September.

Features

• Bluebells
• Herbaceous plants
• Camellias
• Disabled facilities
• Glasshouses
• Rhododendrons
• Sub-tropical plants

Comment

This important woodland garden has been significantly developed and improved in recent years. It was originally planted in the early 1900s with exotic trees and shrubs, notably a large collection of rhododendron species grown from seed introduced by such collectors as Forrest and Kingdon Ward. Some of those trees are record-breakers, including Sorbus hupehensis, a splendid Magnolia hypoleuca and the rare Chinese tulip tree (Liriodendron chinense) now 19m tall. The garden has recently been substantially redeveloped for the recreation market and is all the better for the new capital. The gardens surrounding the house are divided into 'rooms'. These include the Garden of Allah with a new wildlife pool; a ring of Knap Hill azaleas backed by rhododendrons from Farrer and Cox's expedition to Burma and China in 1919; the newly restored Victorian greenhouses, one of which is a peach house and another devoted to South African plants (including nerines); a small Mediterranean garden; a rose garden designed by Robin Williams and planted with 500 David Austin roses; the Italian garden (you will never see roses so well grown!) and two dells with Trachycarpus palms.