A very big thank you for all those who have visited our garden this year. We very much look forward to welcoming you again in 2027, starting in April in readiness for our wonderful show of blossoms and bulbs, peonies and wisteria; a magical time with so much to look forward to.
Download our 2026 Leaflet here
Our Facilities
- In sunny weather we have lots of seating on the lawn and around the garden. In rainy weather we have limited shelter to offer.
- Tea/coffee/squash/apple juice and Kathy’s home-made cakes will be available to purchase here in the garden in the morning and afternoon.
- Our shop will sell Kathy’s books The Edible Flower Garden £7 and Garden Guide Book £5, plus delightful china mugs as well as Kathy’s recipe and garden cards. Our new book ‘Kathy’s Cakes from the Garden’ will also be available. We have a card reader.
- We have lots of free parking.
- Toilet facilities (including disabled) are available.
Group Visits:
- For Group visits (15+) please contact Kathy direct via email info@kathybrownsgarden.com
New Book for 2026
Kathy’s delightful new book called ‘Kathy’s Cakes from the Garden’ will be available on a visit to the garden £10 a copy; or add an extra £2 for postage and send a request with address via email info@kathybrownsgarden.com. It brings together recipes for all the cakes she offers to visitors drawing inspiration from edible flowers and fruit from her own garden.
New for 2026 Our Living Fossil Garden
Prehistoric trees are living relics of a bygone era.
We have the opportunity to plant two Wollemi Pines Wollemia nobilis. These are extraordinary evergreen coniferous trees discovered, as recently as 1994, in a deep ravine in the mountains behind Sydney in Australia and date back to a period in our evolution when dinosaurs roamed the earth. Hence, they are often referred to as ‘dinosaur trees’. Fewer than 100 mature trees currently exist in the wild, making it one of the world’s rarest plants. It is said that Firefighters saved the last known wild grove during the catastrophic 2019-2020 Australian bushfires in a military-style operation. Fortunately a global conservation plan which includes propagating and distributing the trees to botanic gardens and private gardens worldwide has proved very successful.
As it happens, we have two other groups of ancient trees which were living at the time of the dinosaurs. The first is Ginkgo biloba otherwise known as the Maidenhair tree. It is the last living species in the order Ginkgoales, which first appeared over 290 million years ago. Fossils similar to the living species, belonging to the genus Ginkgo, extend back to the Middle Jurassic epoch approximately 170 million years ago. The largest living trees are estimated to exceed 3,500 years. Again, it is coniferous, but this time is deciduous losing its beautiful fan shaped leaves in the autumn in a blaze of golden yellow. Our Ginkgo Avenue is a true wonder in early November.
The third living fossil is the Metasequoia glyptostroboides also known as the Dawn Redwood with its distinctive fissured red bark. It was considered extinct until the mid-twentieth century, being described only from Mesozoic Era fossils, none of which were less than 150 million years old. But then it was discovered as a living tree in the mid 1940s in China. Again, it is coniferous and deciduous, and in the autumn the fern like leaves turn a vibrant russet and our broad Metasequoia avenue takes on a brilliant hue.
In total, we have over twenty five of these living fossils so as you wander through the garden, you might like to imagine them as growing in ancient times when no flowering plants existed, and their company was roaming or flying dinosaurs.
Our Conditions of Entry
- Only people with pre-booked tickets can visit the garden.
- Please show electronically or print out your order confirmation email as proof of ticket reservation.
- Any tickets purchased in advance but not used on the proposed day will be valid until end September 2023.
- Please email to say of the postponement and then in due course the likely date of visit. It just helps with catering. You will have the QR code so we will still be able to book you in.
- We welcome dogs on short leads.
- Inclement weather Notice: If we have dangerous thunderstorms, very high winds, or extremely hot weather we will close the garden. Check back on our website before travelling, if in doubt.
Our Garden in Spring and Early Summer
Late April
What a joyous time: this is when the garden really comes to life with cherry blossoms, lilacs, early roses, apple blossoms, tulips and blue camassias. Cowslips and buttercups etc are in bloom and now the species tree peonies are flowering in abundance, so very special. Soon the intersectional will be in flower too.
Find out more about our garden in April here
Early to Late May
The orchard blossoms are abundant with blue camassia in their midst. A carpet of buttercups creates a golden meadow up the drive. The scents of lilac, viburnums and laburnum fill the air with early Chinese roses cloaking the house, pale yellow and the special white. Next beautiful blue, white and pink wisterias come into bloom first on the house walls, then on the arches all underplanted with alliums. Others then flower around the old fishpond along with Clematis montanas.
Now its Peony time too! End April and early May is the moment for the tree peonies to flower beginning with delicate white Paeonia Rockii perfect beneath the Himalayan birches, others in the ellipse, more in the formal garden with reds, whites and delicate pink tree peonies in their own border up the drive. These are followed by the gorgeous intersectionals beneath the variegated Turkish oak a little further beyond, as well as many others around the garden…we love them all so much. You could say we were Paeonia enthusiasts!
Find out more about our garden in May here
June
The climbing and rambling roses will have been in flower since the end of May and last well into June and even early July with super scent on the air. Special Rose Petal cakes are made for our visitors. The herbaceous borders are full of giant alliums, poppies, campanula and foxgloves. In fact poppies are popping up everywhere! Borders of lavender will be in full array, loved by the bees. Delphiniums and peonies are other highlights, there is just so much to enjoy in the June garden. By now the ornamental grass borders are growing well again with pretty blue love in the mist acting as an edger. Our evening opening on July Ist will celebrate the low light sweeping through the birch avenue and kissing the grasses and flowers of the wild flower meadow.
Find out more about our garden in June here
Our Garden July to End of September
We look forward to welcoming our visitors during the summer and early autumn period when the garden is bursting with colour and scent.
As we enter the main summer season it seems to be a dancing haven, not just of flowers and grasses but of bees and butterflies and swallows too. The wild flower meadow has never looked better with all the blue scabious attracting butterflies including commas, peacocks, red admirals, marbled whites, little blues, meadow browns etc. White echinops, echinaceas and buddlejas have the same magnetism.
Elsewhere the white gladiolus murieliae look wonderful around the fishpond in the formal garden, while on the top terrace many succulents are displayed along with plumbagos and agapanthus. The white Japanese anemones will flourish in the wisteria walk, while the dahlias and cosmos shine out in the main border. I should also mention the very good display of late flowering clematis which major on purple, blue and red viticellas and many others late varieties including the yellow tangutica types.
Find out more about our garden here
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