Explore the garden at Claremont Landscape Garden

Historic highlights  

Claremont was a playground for wealthy and influential owners over centuries of changing fashions, and you'll still find plenty of features from the garden's many different faces today: 

Camellia Terrace: Once the site of Princess Charlotte and Prince Leopold's large, heated glasshouse, the nationally important collection of camellias blooms in a beautiful display between January and May. 

Grotto: When formal gardens went out of style in the mid-1700s, the cascade was replaced with these three caves, designed to appear natural and precarious. 

Animal statues: Before the island was added, an obelisk and three statues stood at the centre of the lake. Today the obelisk is gone, but the statues of a boar, a peacock and a bear can be found on the path up to the Camellia Terrace. 

Ha-ha: Instead of spoiling the view with a fence, landscapers in the 18th century had a novel way of stopping livestock getting into the pleasure grounds: a hidden wall in a ditch known as a ha-ha. Claremont has both a brick-faced ha-ha built by ‘Capability’ Brown and a more naturalistic ha-ha created by William Kent. 

Island: In the middle of the lake opposite the amphitheatre is a small, man-made island. The garden team have restored the view of the Belisle pavilion in the centre of the island, from where the Duke of Newcastle enjoyed writing letters.

White benches 

The white-painted seats you see today are specially commissioned replicas based on those seen in paintings of the garden from the 1740s by an unknown artist referred to as ‘The master of tumbling chairs' and they provide an artistic and practical contrast to Claremont’s green scenery. 

Garden wildlife 

Claremont's lake is home to many resident and visiting water birds, including ducks, geese and occasionally swans. If you're lucky you might just glimpse a kingfisher diving into the water. 

We love the birds that call Claremont home and want to help them stay healthy, wild and thriving. Please enjoy watching them from a distance and help us care for them by not feeding them.

Claremont's lake provides a rich natural habitat, with plenty of insects, aquatic plants and other natural food sources for waterfowl and other wildlife. By allowing birds to find their own food, we help keep them healthy, wild and independent.

Why we ask visitors not to feed the birds:

• The lake provides plenty of natural food, including insects, plants and other food sources.
• We want wildlife to remain wild and independent, rather than becoming reliant on people.
• Large concentrations of birds can damage the gardens and landscapes we work hard to protect and conserve.

Angel Wing

Feeding birds bread and other human foods can cause serious health problems, including Angel Wing, a condition that affects normal wing development. Unfortunately, this condition can be seen in some of the geese at Claremont. By not feeding the birds, you can help protect their long-term health and wellbeing.

Elsewhere in the garden, look out for rabbits, squirrels and the flash of green ring-tailed parakeets among the trees. Roe deer can also be spotted in the woods.

A garden for all weathers 

Don’t let wet weather hold you back. The wide, level path around the lake means that all trails and walks are manageable in wet weather. Come welly-ready and waterproofed to make the most of a rainy visit.