Gardens
Created over the last 15 years, Merriments is a 4-acre garden featuring herbaceous borders, unusual plants, water gardens and new formal garden. There are colour-themed borders for sun and shade, dry and moist areas, and a hidden stream which links 2 large ponds, a bog garden and a rock garden. Many of the plants on display in the garden can be purchased in Merriments nursery, whilst the shop and bird centre sell a range of products to suit every garden lovers needs. The brand new Garden Room restaurant serves a range of delicious fresh home cooked food and has lovely indoor and outdoor seating, including a warm fire for the colder months.
Scotney Castle - Lamberhurst, Tunbridge Wells, TN3 8JN T: 01892 893820
Scotney is not one but two houses. At the top of the hill is the new house, designed by Anthony Salvin in Elizabethan style and built in 1837 for Edward Hussey III, who took the picturesque style as his inspiration. At the bottom of the valley are the romantic ruins of a medieval castle and moat. This is the focal point of the celebrated gardens featuring spectacular displays of rhododendrons, azaleas and kalmia in May/June with trees and shrubs providing autumnal colour. The estate is open all year, offering a variety of walks through beautiful parkland, woodland and farmland. A wide range of activities throughout the year, including open-air theatre and opera, lecture lunches, family activities and estate and wildlife walks. Dogs welcome on leads around estate but not permitted in the garden
This internationally renowned garden was developed by Vita Sackville-West and Sir Harold Nicolson around the surviving parts of an Elizabethan mansion. It comprises small enclosed compartments, with colour throughout the season; resulting in an intimate and romantic atmosphere (the garden is more peaceful after 4). Events programme includes special summer garden evenings, walks and talks, lecture lunches and lots more. Dogs on leads welcome on estate only
'One of the finest gardens in England' award winning Pashley Manor Gardens offer a sumptuous blend of romantic landscaping, imaginative plantings and fine old trees, fountains, springs and large ponds, with interest and colour throughout the year. There are exceptional views over the surrounding countryside and a permanent exhibition and sale of Sculpture and Botanical Art. Pashley has an excellent licensed Garden Room Cafe which serves light lunches, afternoon teas, coffee and cakes with a strong emphasis on using local produce wherever possible and herbs, salads and vegetables from the garden when in season. During warm weather, visitors can enjoy their refreshments on the terrace overlooking the moat or in the shade of the Jubilee Courtyard. The new Gift Shop sells many treasures from postcards and local honey to traditional hand-painted ceramics and tapestry cushions. Plants and shrubs, many of which grow at Pashley, are also on sale. An exciting programme of events for 2010 includes the Tulip Festival from 23rd April every day to 3rd May; Sculpture in Particular from 22nd May every day until 31st May; Special Rose Weekend from 11th - 13th June; Kitchen Garden Weekend from 18th- 20th June; Lily Time from mid-July to mid-August; and the Sussex Guild Craft Show from 28th – 30th August.
Great Dixter- High Park Close, Northiam, TN31 6PH T: 01797 252878
Great Dixter, birthplace, home and passion of gardening writer the late Christopher Lloyd was built c1450 and boasts one of the largest surviving timber-framed halls in the country. Of particular note is the antique furniture and needlework collection. Sir Edwin Lutyens was employed to restore the house and gardens in 1910. The gardens are now the hallmark of Christopher Lloyd, with a variety of clipped topiary, wild meadow flowers, mixed borders (including the famous Long Border), ponds and the exuberant Exotic Garden.
Bedgebury National Pinetum and forest is the premier outdoor site in the Southeast of England. With nearly 10,000 trees and shrubs the Pinetum is the most complete collection of temperate conifers in the world; it is also an important site of ex situ conservation and a centre of excellence. In addition, Bedgebury has superb cycling (with hire), the challenging and exciting ‘Go Ape’ treetop walks and is a summertime concert venue with Simply Red, and Keane playing in 2010.
This romantic 5-acre garden has many mature trees and rhododendrons surviving the 1980s' hurricane. There are water features and a stunning wild garden with gazebo and pond. Main borders include old roses and herbaceous plantings. The secret garden leads to the attractive garden house and to a medieval barn covered in roses and white solanum. Beyond the lily pond, visitors can walk in the parkland and enjoy the splendid views. The formal garden with fountain surrounds a fine historic listed house.
Finchcocks - Riseden, Goudhurst, TN17 1HH T: 01580 211702
Finchcocks is a fine Georgian manor set in a beautiful garden, surrounded by parkland. It now houses a celebrated collection of over 100 historical keyboard instruments, of which more than forty are in full working order. It makes a wonderful day out for all the family. Finchcocks is truly a living museum with entertaining demonstrations of the instruments for all visitors, which are as appealing to the non-musician as they are to the specialist.
Hole Park - Benenden Road, Rolvenden, TN17 4JB T: 01580 241344
15 acres of private gardens. Formal garden open spaces are enclosed by yew hedges; offset by specimen trees, topiary, statuary and stunning wisteria. Spectacular bluebell wood. In the extensive woodland valley, bulbs and ornamental trees lead through magnificent azaleas and rhododendrons.
Idencroft Herbs - Frittenden Road, Staplehurst, TN12 0DH T: 01580 891432
Extensive aromatic herb gardens demonstrating the beauty and use of mature plants. Paths wander through a series of themed gardens, including a culinary, medicinal, cosmetic, household and a Shakespearean garden towards a sensory garden, then through old doorways into a peaceful 15thC walled garden. National Collections of mentha, nepeta and origanum. Small woodland walk and play area for children.
Marle Place - Marle Place Rd, Brenchley, TN12 7HS T: 01892 722304
Ten acres of enchantment where scented and unusual plants blend with art creating magical surprises at every turn. Woodland walks, Victorian orchid house, Edwardian rockery, contemporary art gallery. Tea and homemade cake. September sculpture show.
Groombridge Place, built on the site of a 12th-century castle is one of the most beautiful moated manor houses in England. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was a regular visitor to the house to take part in séances, and the manor was the setting for the Sherlock Holmes mystery The Valley of Fear. The formal gardens, with a vineyard and woodland walks, date from the 17th century. The English Knot Garden is based on panelling in the drawing room of an English country house. In the Fern Valley, huge Jurassic plants are as old as time. Part of the complex includes an Enchanted Forest, an ancient woodland in which the artist Ivan Hicks designed a series of "interactive" gardens, using natural objects, native wildflowers, mirrors, and glass to create a mysterious, surreal ambience. You might get lucky and see deer or Zeedonks, which are a cross between zebras and donkeys. There are many routes through the forest, and depending on how energetic and adventurous you are feeling you can tackle the assault course, complete with zip wire and giant swings. During school holidays there are a number of attractions including educational talks in the tepee, face painting & woodmanship. Let your imagination wander as you come across giant rabbits, dinosaurs and mazes. The White Rose Garden is compared favourably to that at Sissinghurst.
Sprivers - Horsmonden, Kent TN12 8DR T: 01892 893868
Small 18th-century-style formal garden with walled and hedged compartments, herbaceous borders, a rose garden and nearby woodland walk
Broadview Gardens is a unique garden originally designed and maintained as a teaching resource for students at Hadlow College, now open to the public. The 8 acres of garden are formed around a 100 metre long double mixed border backed with clipped Yew hedges and columnar Oak trees. From the border run two grass avenues lined with clipped hedges. Each year, from September to May, students build new gardens on themes from domestic gardens, show gardens to public landscape styles using an extensive variety of plants and materials in common and innovative ways. There is also a natural style space with lake, meadow and wooded areas, and an ornamental planted lake with moist border
Fourteen gardens which take you through the history of gardening. There is a Tudor Knot garden, 19thC cottage garden, Victorian herbaceous borders and a wildlife garden. Great cafe and farm shop.