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Please check with garden owners or their website to confirm current dates open
1st Apr - 30th Oct; Tues - Sun & BH Mons; 11am - 5pm (last admission)
Winter: Saturday 25th and Sunday 26th February.
Booking essential
1st Apr - 26th Oct; Tues - Sun & BH Mons; 2pm - 5pm
Spring to Autumn
Bulbs, meadows and exotic bedding and late summer and autumn colour
House & Garden: Adults £10.00, Children £3.50.
Garden Only: Adults £8.00, Children £2.50.
Groups, min group size: 25
House & Garden; Adults: £9.00. entry after 2pm
Annual tickets available.
Events: Yes - Study days and talks
New catalogue. Nursery open every day
Many events - check own website & book online
Plant Fairs - see website for details
Little Orchard House, Rye
Jeake's House, Rye
Manor Farm Oast, Rye
Landgate Bistro, Rye
The White Hart, Newenden
The Woodcock, Iden Green
Mermaid Inn, Rye
Great Dixter was the family home of the late Christopher Lloyd, the plantsman and gardening writer, who devoted his lifetime to creating one of the most experimental, exciting and constantly changing gardens of our time. Incorporating many mediaeval buildings, the gardens surround the house, each complementing the other.
There is a wide variety of interest from yew topiary, carpets of meadow flowers, the colourful tapestry of mixed borders (including the famous Long Border), natural ponds, a formal pool and the exuberant Exotic Garden. The sunken garden, almost hidden by barns and oasts, was designed by Mr. Lloyd's father and has some interesting planting around a formal pool.
Repeated visits will keep abreast of the changing seasons and of the more fundamental changes from year to year. As much detailed attention is paid to the borders in autumn, as spring and summer. This is one of the most famous gardens in Britain. It is now managed by The Great Dixter Charitable Trust. Fergus Garrett, head gardener and closest friend of Christopher Lloyd, and the team at Great Dixter are committed to keeping the garden open and carrying on Christo's work.
Built in the middle of the 15th century and then restored and enlarged by Sir Edwin Lutyens, Great Dixter is both a historic house and a family home. Christopher Lloyd's father, Nathaniel, commissioned Lutyens in 1910 to clear the 15th century house of the later alterations, revealing the mediaeval splendour of the Great Hall, the largest surviving timber-framed hall in the country. At the same time Lutyens added the domestic quarters necessary to accommodate an Edwardian household and a further wing, comprising a hall house of circa 1500, originally built in nearby Benenden but saved from destruction by being dismantled piece by piece and re-erected at Great Dixter.
The contents of the house date principally from the 17th and 18th centuries and were collected by Nathaniel Lloyd, while the many examples of needlework were mostly made by his wife Daisy and their children. The house also contains contemporary furniture commissioned by Christopher Lloyd, which brings the story of this remarkable house up to date.