Summer Season April – September 2023


We are pleased to announce that we will be open on Tuesdays from April 11th to September 26th 2023 and also the following week-end and Bank Holiday dates:

  • May 29th Bank Holiday: Monday
  • June 24th Saturday
  • July 1st Saturday Evening opening (6-9pm)***
  • July 22nd Saturday
  • August 12th Saturday
  • August 19th Saturday
  • August 28th Bank Holiday: Monday 
  • September 17th Sunday

Our Opening Times

We will open between 10.30-1pm and 2-4.30pm on each open day with limited numbers to help with the visitor experience and catering. General introductions will be on the lawn at 11.30am and 2.30pm lasting about 15-20 minutes. Use our flexible booking system to choose which date and time slot suits you best to visit according to the weather forecast.

 ***The exception will be Saturday evening July 1st when we will be open between 6-9pm to enjoy the special mid-summer evening light. Please bring your own special picnic. Our usual tea/coffee and cakes will also be available for purchase.

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. We have a card reader.
  • We have lots of free parking.
  • Two toilets are available near the car park.

Our Admission prices

The standard Entrance fee for Adults is £9, children 4-17 £4.50, free for infants 3 and under.

Group Visits:

Friends Season Pass – Fully Booked

This offer is now fully subscribed; thank you so much to all those people who have booked.


Valid for the season from early April to end of September 2023; this Friends season pass gives great value for the named holder(s), as savings start on the third visit (during opening times, except NGS May 21st); after this, every visit through to the end of the season is free. 

Single pass £25, Dual pass £45

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

Early to Late April

What a joyous time: this is when the garden really comes to life with the first cherry blossoms, dainty fritillarias beneath the white stemmed birches, lovely blue and white anemones with hyacinths, daffodils and tulips in various borders both formal and informal. First primroses and then cowslips flower in abundance, happily self-seeding and wilding. The tree peonies will come into bloom at the end of the month and maybe the first of the early Chinese roses with their violet scent.

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



Please check back regularly for the latest information on our opening dates and times or follow us on Instagram.