The garden at Polesden Lacey

A view along the Rose Garden looking towards the Well Head at Polesden Lacey, Surrey — A view along the Rose Garden looking towards the Well Head at Polesden Lacey | © National Trust Images/Nick Meers

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.

Summer highlights in the garden

Double herbaceous borders

Wander in the sun along the vibrant double herbaceous borders. Hot summer colours like red and orange are dominant, with varieties such as red-hot pokers, day lilies and verbascum. Lush purple nepeta plants offer a contrast as well as a beautiful scent for you to take in as you stroll past. The delicate pink clematis creeping up the walls provides a beautiful backdrop to this stunning visual display.The bold mauve hydrangea at the west end of the borders is a highlight from late August.

Visitors walking along double herbaceous border in summer. — Visitors walking along the double herbaceous borders on a summers day. | © Chris Lacey

The Rose Garden

The Rose Garden will be filled with the incredible scent of our 2,000 roses throughout the summer and into the autumn with splashes of red, white, yellow and pink surrounding you as you stroll along the pathways. Look out for the 'Graham Stuart Thomas', a bright yellow flower named after the famed horticulturalist who redesigned the Rose Garden in the mid-20th century.

An ode to Margaret Greville in the Ladies Garden

Margaret Greville's resting place in the Ladies Garden is bordered with Rosa 'Margaret Greville', specially cultivated by Peter Beales Roses in 2017 to celebrate 75 years since Polesden Lacey was bequeathed to the National Trust. This flower has a peach-pink bloom with a golden centre and is underplanted with herbaceous perennials and flowering bulbs.

The bees' favourite spot

The air in the Lavender Garden will be heavy with the familiar and calming aroma of 'Imperial Gem' lavender amongst other varieties later on this summer. The garden team have been working on replanting the Lavender Garden this summer with an exciting new planting scheme that has been funded from events many visitors enjoyed last year. The bees won't be able to resist it, and will be buzzing around from June to August.

A garden to enjoy in every season

Rose Garden: The Edwardian walled Rose Garden boasts well over 2,000 roses, including over more than 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 late May to late August and beyond. We’ve been working to improve the soil health in recent months and also replaced aging and struggling rose plants in several beds, as we strive to turn Polesden’s rose garden into a true showstopper. We also have plans to replace the pergola, which is starting to show its age. We will do this in phases, likely in the Autumn across several years, so as to protect the roses and ensure the pergola continues to support its glorious display for our visitors to enjoy.
Cut Flower Garden: The Cut Flower Garden provides blooms for arrangements in the house and other visitor areas throughout the year. As we move into summer, it's always full of an eclectic and colourful mix of blooms like dahlias, zinnias, gladioli and phlox. We also keep and dry a lot of flowers, to maintain our house displays in the winter using our own blooms, as Mrs. Greville liked to see back in the day. Sometimes you may even flowers drying in the windows of the old Gardener’s store.
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. We’ve replaced all the irises this year, embarked on a major effort to remove the dreaded bindweed from our stunning peony borders and are replacing all the lavender plants which have struggled in the recent wet conditions. We are also forking grit into the soil in this area to try and improve drainage.
Vegetable Garden: The veg garden provides produce to for the kitchens Polesden café all year round, from peas to potatoes, and raspberries to rhubarb. Our veg team also tends to the cold frames, herb bed and the recently introduced fruit cage, which was designed to mirror the outline of the nearby Gardener’s Cottage. We have some exciting plans to renovate this area in the coming years, with fencing, the cold frames and paths all due for replacement
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. We don’t use herbicides or pesticides in our gardening, as we look to support nature. We do our best to keep out the weeds, smothering them with mulch as much as possible. The local rabbits are harder to keep at bay, and you may see signs of their presence in this area. We also water only new or tender plants, and will continue to adjust the herbaceous border planting scheme to support this.
Preserve Copse: The Preserve Copse is a a rare 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, whilst in early spring it’s the place to go for swathes of bluebells, as you follow the winding path to the north of the Copse.
House borders: There are borders on all sides of the house. Due to a major house render renovation project in 2023 and part of 2024, we had to remove some of the plants from the borders at the front of the house. The original climbing wires were failing in several places and some of the climbers were overgrown and not in the best health. The delicate wisteria and vibrant orange pyracantha remain, as these were both planted during Magaret Greville’s time. You can expect to see them return to their full glory in a couple of years’ time. In the meantime, our garden team will be working on a new planting scheme to incorporate a variety of striking plants that will be in bloom throughout the year no matter what month you visit Polesden Lacey. There are also plans to start restoring the South Terrace house border in 2025, to return the bed to the original colour scheme as it would have been in Mrs Greville’s time. You’ll have to pay us a visit to find out which, but by incorporating a mixture of shrubs, climbers, perennials and bulbs it’s bound to be a dazzling display Mrs Greville would be proud of.
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 stunning views across swathes of SSSI chalk grassland and on to Ranmore Common the estate. It's flanked by the atmospheric, shaded Nun’s Walk to the north and connects with the Pinetum to the west. We’ve been working to restore the ancient yew hedges on either side, removing bindweed and brambles. We’ve also done a lot of thinning work in Nun’s Walk, to encourage better ventilation and more sunlight.
Croquet Lawns: Polesden Lacey has always been a place for recreation and play. The tennis court and golf course during the Edwardian heyday have now been replaced with four neatly manicured croquet lawns pitches. Mostly used by local clubs, they are available to hire at certain times – please ask and check for upcoming availability at 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 large group of staff and volunteers planted 70,000 autumn and spring flowering crocuses, which are a sight to behold. We have plans to adorn the yew hedge to the rear with climbing plants to provide additional interest in the areas between the ‘Four Seasons’ statues. We have also raised the canopy of some of the nearby trees, restoring elements of the view down to Ranmore Common.
Dog Graves: Although she had no children, Margaret Greville had plenty of dogs whilst at Polesden Lacey all 17 are 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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