Kew's wild garden in the High Weald, wrapped around an Elizabethan mansion and home to the world's biggest seed bank
Open to visitorsa National Trust place — check opening times and admission before you go
Kew runs two great gardens. The famous one is at Richmond; the wild one is here, leased from the National Trust since the 1960s and given over to trees and plantings that would struggle in London’s heat. The Elizabethan mansion at its heart was finished in 1590 by Edward Culpeper, built from sandstone quarried just down the road at Ardingly. Around it the garden runs from tidy beds into steep wooded valleys, water gardens and a Himalayan glade, then out into the woods that share the site.
The thing that sets Wakehurst apart sits in a low building at the edge of the grounds. The Millennium Seed Bank holds the largest store of wild-plant seeds on earth, gathered from across the world, dried, and frozen in underground vaults against the day a species is needed again. Glass walls let you watch the sorting and cleaning going on behind them, which is not something most gardens can offer.
Autumn is the showiest season here, when the woodland and the acers turn, though the walled and water gardens hold up all year. It sits a mile or so north of Ardingly, and Kew runs it, so an admission charge applies and it keeps set hours rather than open access. If you want to make a day of gardens, Gravetye Manor and its famous Robinson planting are a short drive north-east, and the High Weald Landscape Trail passes close by for a longer walk.
