The garden at Polesden Lacey

Sun setting in the formal gardens with neat green hedges — The formal gardens at Polesden Lacey | © James Dobson

The garden at Polesden Lacey has something to offer in every season. Take in the views over Ranmore Common from the South Lawn, indulge in the peace and quiet in the Old Kitchen Garden and Upper Sunken Garden, or soak up the colour and scent around the Rose Garden and double herbaceous borders. There's always something beautiful to enjoy.

Spring Highlights in the Garden

It’s the flowers that herald the arrival of spring at Polesden with nearly 250,000 new bulbs planted creating a floral fiesta of daffodils, spring crocuses, irises and anemones (to name but a few).

Spring Borders

A ‘must see’ in the gardens during the spring. Planted with trees, shrubs and herbaceous perennials, a riot of colour and fragrance awaits. Find the spring borders at the end of the herbaceous borders, directly leading to the picturesque holiday cottage (once home to Polesden’s Head Gardener).

Bulbs here include some interesting, unusual examples of spring colour such as Erythronium ‘Pagoda’, Chionodoxa ‘Pink Giant’, Scilla bifolia ‘Rosea’ and Muscari armeniacum ‘Lady Blue’ to name but a few.

Blossom

This spring new blossom trees are starting to pop up around Polesden Lacey. As you first arrive at Polesden, you’ll find Hawthorn and Cherry in the new central planting scheme in Dairy Courtyard.

The garden team are planting a new Blossom Garden just as you enter the gardens at Polesden. In years to come, 40 new cherry trees will blossom, among a meadow of wildflowers.

For well-established blossom trees, wind your way to Home Farm Orchard, where mature apple and pear trees are full of blossom in spring. Perch on a picnic bench under the apple blossom and breathe in the spring.

Spring borders at Polesden Lacey | © ©National Trust Images/Mark Wigmore

A garden to enjoy in every season

Rose Garden: The Edwardian walled Rose Garden boasts well over 2,000 roses, including over 100 rambling roses on the pergola. The rest of the roses in the centre beds are made up of around 35 different varieties of hybrid tea, floribunda and hybrid musk types, all in bloom from June to late August and beyond.
Cut Flower Garden: The Cut Flower Garden provides blooms for arrangements in the house and other visitor areas throughout the year. It's always full of an eclectic and colourful mix of blooms like dahlias, zinnias, gladioli and phlox.
Herbaceous borders: Polesden Lacey's garden is home to one of the finest double herbaceous borders in England, and throughout summer and autumn it's full of bright colours and stunning scents. These borders feature perennials such as helenium, day lilies, rudbeckia and red-hot pokers.
Vegetable Garden: The veg garden provides produce to the kitchens all year round, from peas to potatoes. Our veg team also tends to the cold frames, herb bed and the recently introduced fruit cage in this part of the garden too.
Preserve Copse: The Preserve Copse is a a piece of ancient woodland set within our gardens and is also home to plantings of rhododendron, magnolia and Japanese maple. In the south-east corner you'll also find our bird hide and the resident peahen.
Formal garden rooms: To the west of the Rose Garden, you’ll find three seasonal garden rooms: The Iris Garden, Peony Borders and Lavender Garden, between them providing stunning displays from April through to the end of summer.
House borders: There are borders on all sides of the house, each planted with masses of bulbs for display every spring and then herbaceous perennials such as salvias to delight during summer. The walls of the house are also clothed in a variety of climbers and wall shrubs, from wisteria and the orange berries of Pyracantha on the east side to the abundant yellow Banksia rose on the west.
The Long Walk: The only formal element of the garden to the east of the house, and probably the most historic part of the garden, this 450m-long terrace has views across the estate. It's flanked by the atmospheric, shaded Nun’s Walk to the north and connects with the pinetum to the west.
Croquet Lawns: Polesden Lacey has always been a place for recreation and play. Tennis and golf during the Edwardian heyday have now been replaced with four croquet pitches. You can hire them from time to time – check at the visitor reception.
The Ladies Garden: The resting place for Margaret Greville, this area was her favourite place to sit during her time here. Fittingly, we've planted a curtain of Rosa ‘Margaret Greville’ in front of her grave, alongside a collection of complementary plants such as penstemon, nepeta and geranium as well as some purple asters. Together with pink rose petals, these flowers were used to line her grave when she was buried. In 2022 a horde of staff and volunteers planted 70,000 autumn and spring flowering crocuses, which are a sight to behold.
Dog Graves: Although she had no children, Margaret Greville certainly had plenty of dogs whilst at Polesden Lacey and they are all buried here, surrounded by a calming white planting scheme. A wheelchair- and buggy-accessible path runs past this contemplative spot, linking Lime Walk with the West Lawn.

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