We are now seeing more and more beautiful gardens opening their garden gates to welcome visitors for the National Garden Scheme right across the county as the summer months approach. The scheme’s Publicity Officer in East & Mid Sussex, Geoff Stonebanks, once again, highlights some interesting gardens for readers to visit, with input from his colleague in West Sussex, Kate Harrison. This month they share details on a few of the brand new plots opening for the first time in 2025. Full details on all the gardens, with booking links, can be found at www.ngs.org.uk along with many other gardens opening by arrangement in May too.
New for 2025: Pigeon House Mead, Earnley Manor Close, Earnley, near Chichester, PO20 7JQ.
Saturday 17th & Sunday 18th from 11am to 4pm with entry £6. Pre-booking essential.
This ⅓ acre plot is about ¾ mile from the coast. The south facing rear garden has a formal structure and informal mixed planting. Some features include a formal lawn surrounded by beds and espaliered crab apples, a small labyrinth, and a shaded area. The front garden has a wildlife pond and a lovely, established magnolia tree.
Next we have what should have been a pair of gardens, Olivers and The Cottage, opening together in Pulborough on Saturday 17th but sadly Olivers is no longer able to open.
The Cottage, Potts Lane, Pulborough, RH20 2BT.
Friday 16th from 6pm to 8pm and Saturday 17th from 11am to 5pm with two hour timed slots at 11am, 1pm & 3pm with entry £6 (Sat only). Pre-booking essential for both.
A quintessential English cottage garden, packed with a mix of perennials and bulbs on a potentially challenging multi layered site. Comprising four distinct rooms including a small roof terrace, top terrace sitting above the house garden and a vegetable garden built in what was a small swimming pool.
New for 2025: Swallow Lodge, St Leonard’s Park, Horsham, RH13 6EG.
Saturday 31st May from midday to 5.30pm with entry £5. Pre-booking is essential due to limited parking. There will be timed slots at 12pm, 2pm & 4pm. This is a small rural and charming garden surrounded by fields, focusing on roses and delphiniums with a large cottage border and vegetable garden.
New for 2025: The White House, Redbridge Lane, Crowborough, TN6 3SR.
Saturday 16th & Sunday 17th May from 11am to 4pm with entry £6.
Sitting high on a hill with 180-degree panoramic views, overlooking the Downs for 25 miles in an area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The main garden has been redesigned to incorporate the borrowed landscape with herbaceous borders in a cottage garden style. Don’t miss the moongates in the walled kitchen garden.
Balcombe Gardens, 3 plots, 3 miles north of Cuckfield, RH17 6LW.
Saturday 14th May from 11am to 5pm with combined entry of £7.50.
Three quite different adjacent gardens on an easy walking trail. Winterfield, RH17 6LP, is a long-established plantsman’s garden full of uncommon shrubs and trees, herbaceous borders, pond and wildlife area.
Stumlet, RH17 6LW, has evolved from being a ‘work in progress’ garden to an amazing, restful and special space. There are places to sit and enjoy a little peace, scent and colour plus the interesting planting. The Coppice, RH17 6LP, is a garden to watch develop over the coming years as it changes from a newly designed and part planted area to a completed inspirational one. The areas close to the house are planted and indicate the promise that is to come.
Legsheath Farm, Legsheath Lane, near Forest Row, RH19 4JN.
Sunday 18th May from 1.30 to 4.30 with entry £7.
Legsheath was first mentioned in Duchy of Lancaster records in 1545. It was associated with the role of Master of the Ashdown Forest. Set high in the Weald with far-reaching views of East Grinstead and Weirwood Reservoir. The garden covers 11 acres with a spring fed stream feeding ponds. There is a magnificent davidia, rare shrubs, embothrium and many different varieties of meconopsis and abutilon.
Hollymount, Burnt Oak Road, High Hurstwood, Uckfield, TN22 4AE.
Sunday 25th May from midday to 5pm with entry £8.
A beautiful 7-acre garden centred around water. Streams run down the hill through waterfalls into ponds flanked by luscious planting. A huge variety of plants create interest from May through to October. Thick jungle borders flank the top garden while the beds further down are full of rhododendrons, acers, irises, day lilies and roses. There are pigs, alpacas, chickens and ducks. The secret garden is a must.
Skyscape, 46 Ainsworth Avenue, Ovingdean, Brighton, BN2 7BG.
Saturday 31st May, and Sunday 1st June from 1pm to 5pm with entry £5.
A pretty 250ft south facing rear garden on a sloping site with fantastic views of the South Downs and the ocean. The garden has been created by owners over the past 12 years. Wander through the orchard, admire the flower beds, wildlife ponds and interesting planting with bees and wildlife in mind. Full access to site via purpose built sloping path (not suitable for mobility scooters).
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