Gardens-Guide.com is the premiere open gardens directory in Britain today.
1 Feb - 28 Feb; every day; 10.30am - 4pm. Last entry 3.30pm
1 March - 31 October; every day; 10.30am - 5pm, last entry 4.30pm.
1 Nov - 23 December; every day; 10.30am - 4pm. Last entry 3.30pm
Closed from 24 Dec - 2 Feb inclusive
15+ £6.80 per person, Nov - Feb £3.75
Please call 01243 818221 to book in advance.
Annual House Opening 30 April - 1 May 2016. Discover the historic State Rooms in West Dean House. 2017 Dates TBC.
14 February 2016
May, June, July, August and September
300ft Edwardian Pergola, Victorian Glasshouses, Walled Kitchen Garden and fruit collections, Herbaceous borders, Spring Garden, Award Winning Sunken Garden and 50-acre Arboretum.
Mar - Oct 2016: Adult £8.50; Children FREE; Nov - Dec 2016 : Adult £5.50; Children FREE;
Limited disabled access. Free entry for carers.
Liriodendron: Tulip tree Delete
Aesculus: Horse Chestnut Tree. Delete
Walled Kitchen Garden and Victorian glasshouses
2016 sees an exciting line up for our events calendar as well as marking 25 years of glorious gardening, please see our website for further details.
Mother's Day 6 March 2016
Treat mum to lunch or a cream tea, pick up a free bunch of daffodils and enjoy the Gardens in Spring.
Easter Egg Trail 25-28 March 2016
Follow the Easter Bunny Trail through the award-winning Gardens to win a chocolate prize.
House Opening 30 April - 1 May 2016
Discover the historic State Rooms in West Dean House.
Design & Craft Fair 3-5 June 2016
Take part in creative workshops, browse over 100 art and craft stalls and enjoy talks and demonstrations on a variety of art based subjects.
Chilli Fiesta 5-7 August 2016
Join the party and dance to live Latin music, watch cookery and gardening demonstrations, taste delicious chilli foods and watch the spectacular fireworks display.
Apple Affair 1-2 October 2016
Due to popular demand the Apple Affair returns with apple displays, orchard tours, cookery demonstrations and stalls.
Halloween Activities 26 - 30 October 2016
Follow our Halloween Trail, listen to scary story telling (if you dare), have your face painted and join a cauldron of Halloween activities.
Visit Father Christmas 10-11 & 17-18 December 2016
Make a tree decoration to take home, visit Father Christmas and receive a Christmas gift.
Chichester Lodge, Oakwood, Chichester Forge Hotel, Chilgrove, Chichester Cedar House, Chichester
The Fox Goes Free, Charlton The White Horse at Chilgrove
Chichester
Set in the rolling South Downs, West Dean is a 35 acre garden on an expansive scale and was HHA/Christie's Garden of the Year 2002. Its sweeping lawns punctuated by venerable trees help to balance the scale of the plantings and relate the gardens to the landscape. The 300 ft pergola, designed by Harold Peto, running east-west across the North Lawn is undoubtedly the most spectacular feature of the formal gardens. At its eastern end, the Sunken Garden with spring and summer bedding, has replaced a late Victorian rose parterre.
In the Spring Garden, one of the oldest parts of the grounds, a complete redevelopment of the area has now been undertaken, reinstating lost features such as the Laburnum Tunnel. The charming Summerhouses have been beautifully restored, using natural materials, and extensive work has taken place on the Regency stone and flintwork around the watercourses, and a naturalistically-planted pond created.
The restored Walled Kitchen Garden features some of the finest Victorian glasshouses in the country. Thirteen in total, packed full of exotic flowers, seasonal fruit and vegetables - from orchids to nectarines, peppers and cucumber, tomatoes to aubergines. There is an impressive display of over 100 varieties of apples in the Fruit Garden and an abundance of colour in the Vegetable Garden's Hot Border.
Dating from 1622, West Dean's rare trees were mentioned by Loudon in 1836. In 1891 the property was purchased by William James, who requested Harold Peto in 1910 to design the extraordinary pergola. Since 1991 following the Great Storm of 1987 Jim Buckland and Sarah Wain have worked hard to restore the Gardens you can visit today.