Wakehurst Place Gardens

Wakehurst Place is a National Trust property located near Ardingly, West Sussex in the High Weald of southern England (grid reference TQ340315), comprising a Grade I listed late 16th-century country house and a Grade II* listed mainly 20th-century garden, managed by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, who also have a research facility there.

For the National Trust's 2008–2009 fiscal year Wakehurst Place Garden was the Trust's most visited property for which admission was charged, with 439,627 visitors. The garden today covers some 2 square kilometres (500 acres) and includes walled and water gardens, woodland and wetland conservation areas. Visitors are able to see the gardens, the historic house, and also visit the research centre.

Wakehurst Place mansion was built by Sir Edward Culpeper in 1590. It originally formed a complete court-yard prior to being altered various times, and currently has an E-shaped plan. Wakehurst Place was bought in 1694 by Dennis Lyddell, comptroller of the Royal Navy treasurer’s accounts and briefly MP for Harwich. His son Richard Liddell, Chief Secretary for Ireland and MP for Bossiney, was obliged by financial pressure to pass the estate to his younger brother Charles.

The house rated an illustration in Joseph Nash, The Mansions of England in the Olden Time (1839–49).

The gardens were largely created by Gerald Loder (later Lord Wakehurst) who purchased the estate in 1903 and spent 33 years developing the gardens. He was succeeded by Sir Henry Price, under whose care the Loder plantings matured, Sir Henry left Wakehurst Place to the nation in 1963 and the Royal Botanic Gardens took up a lease from the National Trust in 1965.

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