Buckland Abbey's gardens

Roses in the Elizabethan Garden at Buckland Abbey | © Sam Brown

From beautiful blooms to bountiful harvests, the gardens at Buckland Abbey are full of colour and seasonal interest. Soak up the history of this special place as you admire the planting, or simply enjoy the peace and tranquillity as you sit a while on one of the benches.

A garden for all seasons

Whatever the time of year, the gardens at Buckland Abbey are a treat for the senses. From delicate wildflowers to bold displays of tulips, beautiful borders to wild spaces, each area of the garden has something exciting to offer.

The Abbey Garden features sweeping lawns and established borders, leading to the Elizabethan Garden on the north side of the building, where over 100 new single and semi-double flowered rose plants were recently planted by the garden team. From here, you'll also see the original medieval stonework of the walls - a reminder of the earlier Abbey complex.

The Kitchen Garden is still used to grow vegetables and fruit, with heritage apple trees and fragrant herbs in abundance, and a wonderful display of squashes in the autumn.

A little further on, you'll find the Cider House Garden, with its herbaceous borders and pretty spring flower meadow. Don't miss the 'Wild Garden' at the far end: a peaceful spot to rest and enjoy the views.

Pink roses in golden evening light, with long grasses and purple flowers in the background — Beautiful roses in the Kitchen Garden at Buckland Abbey | © Sam Brown

Coming up roses

Summer brings with it an array of roses in the gardens at Buckland Abbey. The sight and scent of these beautiful flowers makes the perfect backdrop for a stroll or a relaxing picnic.

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Summer highlights in the garden

One of the most spectacular displays in Buckland's garden during the summer months are the beautiful roses in the Elizabethan and Kitchen Gardens. As well as looking and smelling wonderful, these varieties are easily accessible and attractive to pollinators in line with the property’s ambition to make its garden ever more pollinator and nature friendly. They include ‘Tottering By Gently’, ‘Sceptr’d Isle’, ‘Compte De Champagne’ and ‘Scarborough Fair’.

Summer is also a time for harvesting fruit and vegetables in the Kitchen Garden. From juicy raspberries to new potatoes, the crops of delicious produce are often found for sale in the shop or on seasonal dishes in the cafe.

As well as fruit and vegetables, summer when the cut flower borders are at their best, and most productive. Our dedicated cut flower volunteers work to create displays in the Abbey throughout the year, and also to have posies for sale in our shop. Look out for the Sweet Pea displays in the kitchen garden in early summer, and take some home for yourself!

Head Gardener Sam says “Summer is my favourite time in the garden, everything is in full flow, with delicious produce coming out of the kitchen garden going to supply our café and the shop, and all the roses putting on their spectacular early summer show! Alongside the roses there are also lots of colourful peonies, poppies, irises, and the fantastically frothy yellow Lady’s Mantle! Over the last few years, we have been turning our ‘Elizabethan Garden’ into a dedicated rose garden with a mix of ancient and modern varieties. Lots more climbing and rambling roses have now also recently been planted and these should perfectly complement our medieval stone walls over the coming years.”