Visiting Westbury Court Garden

The statue of Neptune in Westbury Court Garden with the Tall Pavilion in the background, Gloucestershire — Statue of Neptune at Westbury Court Garden | © National Trust / James Dobson

Step back in time to a place of elegance and calm. With its feature canals, rare trees, orchards and vegetable plots, Westbury Court Garden is one of few surviving examples of a 17th-century Dutch water garden in the UK.

Planning your visit

Westbury Court Garden is a wonderful place to take a stroll, spot nature, and explore England's only restored Dutch-style water garden. Westbury is open Wednesday to Sunday and Bank Holidays between 11am–5pm until 26 October. Last entry to the garden is at 4.30pm.

Parking

Please note there is limited onsite parking, but free additional parking is located 300 yards up the main drive. Further parking is available on the roadside layby as well as in the village.

Facilities and accessibility

WC with access adaptations - located at the Tall Pavilion.
Baby changing facilities.
Dogs on short fixed leads are welcome in the garden. Find out about visiting Westbury with your dog.
The pathways and steps throughout the garden but can be narrow and uneven and can become slippery when wet.
True to its original design, steps are used to create height and depth to vistas and some pots are placed in walkways.
Places to sit, rest and soak up the atmosphere.
Open water - please take care.
A manual wheelchair is available to borrow on request, subject to availability.

Visiting Westbury as a family

Picturesque dedicated picnic area over the bridge.
Feed the carp that live in the canals. You can buy a bag of fish food from Visitor Welcome on arrival.
Half-term and holiday activities when open.
There is no play area or play facilities at Westbury and scooters, balls and bikes are not allowed in the garden.
Please be aware the garden includes areas of open water so children will need to be closely supervised.
Hard-surface paths with ramps and some steps.
Baby changing faciities.

The Holm oak, thought to be over 400 years old, at Westbury Court Garden, Gloucestershire — The Holm oak | © National Trust / James Dobson

Trees at Westbury Court Garden

Westbury Court Garden has some of the oldest, rarest and tallest trees in the whole of the UK.

Holm Oak

Look out for the evergreen holm oak (Quercus ilex). Statuesque and gnarly, at around 400 years old, it is reputedly the oldest of its type in the country.

Tulip tree

The tulip tree (Liriodendron tulipifera) blooms annually between late June and mid-July. With mainly yellow petals with bright peach areas, the flowers resembles a tulip that grows from a vertical stalk straight out of the branches. The flowers can grow up to 10cm wide, making them easy to spot in the green canopy.

The Westbury tulip tree is known to be the tallest of its kind and is believed to be over 150 years old.

Black poplars

The black poplar trees here are the largest collection in the care of the National Trust. These trees were once valued for their fire-resistant wood, which made them ideal for building materials or areas of high flammability such as a mantelpiece.

Apple and pear trees

Some of the fruit varieties in the garden date back as far as Roman times and span through to the Edwardian era. All the trees are tagged with the name and age of the variety to make it easy to spot the older, less common varieties.

Medlars

This unusual and odd-looking fruit was popular in popular in medieval times but is now rarely grown. Harvested in autumn when usually still hard and unripe, the small brown fruits need to be stored for several weeks to ripen (blet) until they are dark brown, soft, sweet and aromatic.

Explore the rest of the garden

The vegetable garden

The vegetable plots grow vegetables, fruit and herbs that were available in 1700 when they were first laid out. Look out for the colourful purple and white blooms of the cardoons and artichokes in the summer, and rapidly-growing green asparagus. These plots are now tended by volunteers and excess produce is sold at the admissions hut.

Tall Pavilion and Summer House

The Tall Pavilion is at the south of the garden by the visitor entrance at the end of the long canal, and you’ll find the Summer House in the north-east of the garden, adjoining the walled garden. Both of these garden buildings make ideal places to shelter from any showers.

Tip: Take time to look at the maps of the original garden layout design.

Wildlife

There is a wide variety of wildlife to be seen at Westbury Court Garden and the surrounding area. Bird sightings include kingfishers, woodpeckers, herons and a wide variety of ducks. Head to Visitor Welcome to buy a bag of fish food to feed the carp that live in the canals.

Catch the Bore

The Severn Bore is a natural occurrence when the incoming tide is forced into an ever-decreasing space. This channelling across a narrowing river and a decreasing depth creates a surge wave that heads up the River Severn. If you visit Westbury Court Garden at the right time of year you can wander down to the river and watch the Severn Bore pass through. Look out for people riding or surfing the wave as it makes its way upstream.