National Garden Scheme: adding a little colour
View beautifully bejewelled gardens to add a little colour to wintry days as we slowly move towards springtime. The National Garden Scheme offers you the chance to explore gardens studded with swathes of snowy white blooms, colourful mixtures of aconites and stunning hellebores, followed by striking iris and crocus under early blossom at four inspirational gardens open their gates in West Sussex this February. Additionally Crosslands Flower Nursery in Walberton will be holding two-hour tours of their 3 acres of glasshouses filled to the brim with Sussex grown alstroemeria.
These openings mark the beginning garden visiting for 2025, which will feature an enormous 81 fabulous West Sussex gardens waiting to welcome you over the next 9 months, including 19 gardens opening to the public for the very first time.
Start making your garden visiting plans by visiting ngs.org.uk, download the National Garden Scheme app or pick up a free copy of The Sussex National Garden Scheme Booklet available from February in many local stores, garden centres and libraries.
Gardens to visit in February
The Old Vicarage Washington
The 3½ acres gardens at The Old Vicarage are set around a 1832 Regency house (not open). The front is formally laid out with topiary, wide lawn, mixed border and contemporary water sculpture. The rear features new and mature trees from C19, herbaceous borders, water garden and stunning uninterrupted views of the North Downs. The Japanese garden with waterfall and pond leads to a large copse, stream, treehouse and stumpery. Each year 2000 tulips are planted for spring as well as another 2000 snowdrops and mixed bulbs throughout the garden.
Pre-booking essential, please visit the NGS website. Self-service light refreshments on Thursday (cash only) & picnics welcome.
Sandhill Farm House Rogate
Sandhill Farm House is the home of author and principal of The English Gardening School. The stunning front and rear gardens at Sandhill Farm House are broken up into garden rooms including a small kitchen garden. Front garden with small woodland area, planted with early spring flowering shrubs, ferns and bulbs. White and green garden, large leaf border and terraced area. The rear garden has rose borders, small decorative vegetable garden, red border and grasses border. Snowdrop day on Sun 9 Feb.
Highdown Gardens Worthing
Highdown Gardens were created by Sir Frederick Stern. They are home to rare plants and trees, many grown from seed collected by Wilson, Farrer and Kingdon-Ward. A fully equipped glasshouse enables the propagation of this National Plant Collection. A visitor centre shares stories of the plants and people behind the gardens.
Highdown is offering Snowdrop Identification tours on the 13 Feb and Peony Identification tours on the 1 May (not for NGS), for more information and booking please see garden website http://www.highdowngardens.co.uk
The Manor of Dean Petworth
The Manor of Dean garden is a 3 acres traditional English garden with extensive views of the South Downs. There are herbaceous borders, early spring bulbs, a bluebell woodland walk, a walled kitchen garden with fruit, vegetables and cutting flowers. NB under long term programme of restoration, some parts of the garden may be affected.
Book in advance on the NGS website or pay on the day. Teas available.
Crosslands Flower Nursery
A two hour all access tour of a fourth generation, award-winning, sustainably run flower nursery with 3 acres of glasshouses filled to the brim with Sussex grown alstroemeria. There will be an opportunity to purchase flowers at the end of the tour.
Pre-booking essential, please visit the NGS website. Visits also by arrangement 3rd Feb to 28th Mar for groups of 10 to 30.
About the National Garden Scheme
The National Garden Scheme was founded in 1927 by The Queen’s Nursing Institute to raise money for district nurses. Ever since then it has given annual donations to nursing and health charities totalling over £67 million. It gives visitors unique, affordable access to over 3,500 exceptional private gardens in England, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Channel Islands and raises impressive amounts through admission charges and the sale of tea and cake.
Thanks to the generosity of garden owners, volunteers and visitors we are now the most significant charitable funder of nursing in the UK. As well as the Queen’s Nursing Institute, our beneficiaries include Macmillan Cancer Support, Marie Curie, Hospice UK and Parkinson’s UK.
The National Garden Scheme doesn’t just open beautiful gardens for charity – we are passionate about the physical and mental health benefits of gardens too. We fund projects which promote gardens and gardening as therapy, and in 2016 commissioned The Kings Fund report Gardens and Health Our Gardens and Coronavirus 2020: The importance of gardens and outdoor spaces during lockdown report was published in September 2020.
Visit https://ngs.org.uk for more information about the work of the National Garden Scheme, to search for gardens opening in your area, to find out how to open your own garden and and for more details about the gardens listed above.
By Kate Harrison West Sussex National Garden Scheme Publicity Officer