Here, Geoff Stonebanks, Publicity Officer for the National Garden Scheme in East & Mid Sussex, along with some input from his counterpart in West Sussex, Kate Harrison, provides us with details of gardens to visit in August. The month is usually one of the hottest of the year – making watering essential. That said, it’s going to be extremely hard, if not impossible, to follow the weather we had in June. The last official month of summer is the perfect time to enjoy visiting gardens while, hopefully, still at their best.
Bourne Botanicals, The Bourne, Chesterfield Close, Furnace Wood, Felbridge, East Grinstead, West Sussex, RH19 2PY
Thursday 17th August. 11 am to 5 pm with entry £8. Pre-booking essential.
A lush setting of huge bananas jostling alongside gunnera and arid beds of agave, yucca and cacti. A diverse tropical-look garden with a wildlife pond and stream including bog beds of carnivorous plants, palms, tree ferns, tetrapanax and many unusual plants plus quirky touches, all set in an acre of woodland. They are a National Collection holder too.
Butlers Farmhouse, Butlers Lane, Herstmonceux, East Sussex, BN27 1QH
Saturday 26th and Sunday 27th August. 2 pm to 5 pm with entry £7. Live jazz in the garden.
Lovely rural setting for this 1-acre garden surrounding a 16th-century farmhouse with views of the South Downs. Quite a quirky garden with surprises around every corner including a rainbow border, a small pond, Cornish-inspired beach corners, a poison garden and secret jungle garden. Plants for sale along with live jazz in the garden, tea and cake on sale and you may bring a picnic. Please bring chairs or rug.
Kitchenham Farm, Kitchenham Road, Ashburnham, Battle, East Sussex, TN33 9NP
Wednesday 9th and Saturday 12th August. 2 pm to 5 pm with entry £5
A 1-acre country house garden set amongst traditional farm buildings with stunning views over the Sussex countryside. A series of borders surround the house and Oast House. See lawns and mixed herbaceous borders including roses and delphiniums. A ha-ha separates the garden from the fields and sheep. The garden adjoins a working farm.
Fairlight Hall, Martineau Lane, Hastings, East Sussex, TN35 5DR
Saturday 19th and Sunday 20th August. 10 am to 4 pm with entry £8, pre-booking preferred.
A welcome return to the scheme, a recently restored, stunning, garden in East Sussex. The formal gardens extend over 9 acres and surround the Victorian Gothic mansion. The garden features semitropical woodland avenues, a huge contemporary walled garden with amphitheatre and two 110-metre perennial borders above and below the ha-ha, with far-reaching views across Rye Bay.
Champs Hill, Waltham Park Road, Coldwaltham, Pulborough, Sussex, RH20 1LY
Sunday 13th August. 2 pm to 5 pm with entry £5.
A natural landscape, the garden has been developed around three disused sand quarries with far-reaching views across the Amberley Wildbrooks to the South Downs. In summer the garden is a colourful tapestry of heathers, which are renowned for their abundance and variety.
Whitehanger, Marley Lane, Haslemere, Sussex, GU27 3PY
Sundays 6th and 27th August. 10 am to 3 pm with entry £6.50, pre-booking essential.
Set in 6 acres on the edge of the South Downs National Park, surrounded by NT woodland, this rural garden was started in 2012 when a new Huf house was built on a derelict site. Now, there are lawned areas with beds of perennials, a serenity pool with koi carp, a wildflower meadow, a Japanese garden, a sculpture garden, a woodland walk, a large rockery and an exotic walled garden.
Durrance Manor, Smithers Hill Lane, Shipley, Sussex, RH13 8PE
Monday 28th August. Midday to 6 pm with entry £7.
This 2-acre garden, surrounding a medieval hall house with Horsham stone roof, enjoys uninterrupted views over a ha-ha of the South Downs and Chanctonbury Ring. There are many different gardens here, Japanese-inspired gardens, a large pond, wildflower meadow and orchard, colourful long borders, and a vegetable garden. There is also a Monet-style bridge over a pond with water lilies.
Let’s hope readers can make the most of their visits in August, as the number of gardens opening starts to decline significantly in September.
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