Visiting Nymans garden

Lime Avenue in High Summer | © National Trust / Emma Stratton

Discover ruins, statues and year-round beauty and interest in the garden at Nymans. Created by plantsman and designer Ludwig Messel in the late nineteenth century, it’s a garden lover’s delight with significant international and heritage plant collections. More open and flowing than a ‘garden of rooms’, different areas of the garden represent Nymans’ distinctive blend of formality and informality to perfection. Garden tours are available daily and take in distinctive seasonal highlights.

Summer garden highlights at Nymans

Nymans was originally planted for summer and spring interest, when the family were in residence, as the Messels spent winter at their home in London.

Summer Borders

One of the highlights of the year is the summer borders, which have evolved since their creation in the Edwardian period. With a Verona marble fountain as a focal point, the current planting has an informal, relaxed feel and reflects how the borders were originally planted. Although they flower well into October, the borders peak in August, with dahlias and cannas providing the backdrop, whist perennials, such as helianthus, aster and helenium, give height and drama. Over 5000 annuals, including a wide variety of salvia, cosmos and cleome, are grown on-site and planted in drifts throughout. Each year the colour scheme changes, and new plants are trialled.

A garden created within the ruins of Nymans house, featuring metal panels and green ferns — 'Garden in the Ruins' created within the remains of the Great Hall at Nymans | © National Trust Images/Laurence Perry

The Garden in the Ruins

Visit the garden in the ruins on a guided tour. There are usually 2 tours a day please book at reception on arrival. The garden is inspired by Nymans' unique plant collection and the design reflects the significance of Oliver Messel's theatre work and creative flair. It includes features from around the ruins and the wider garden, with decorative screens made from rust coloured Corten steel complimenting the reds and browns of surrounding brickwork, breaking up the space and acting like the ‘flats’ used as theatrical backdrops. They include references of the Messel family crest, such as the family motto and the cedar of Lebanon, and the windows and brickwork mirror those in the Great Hall and its surroundings. By late spring, tulips are in bloom, contrasting with leafy ferns and larger shrubs, while tender annuals and exotic cannas fill the space from summer through to autumn.

Rock Garden

Built in 1902 the Rock Garden was one of the first areas to be created by Ludwig Messel and Head Gardener James Comber and is home to three champion trees. Grass paths wind around beds accented with sandstone rocks and retaining rock-walls act as planting pockets for smaller or more treasured plants. Coming into life in late winter to early spring the rock garden is home to over 10,000 bulbs. Galanthus, dwarf narcissi, muscari, scilla, fritillaria and tulips emerge to create a succession of colour from February to early May. By early summer, these bulbs give way to dwarf shrubs such as bushy olearia, papery cistus and colourful hebe, but on closer inspection many small gems can be found nestled in the nooks of the rocks. A main feature of the rock garden is a series of steps, woven with carpets of thyme and phlox, leading to a croquet lawn.

Wildflowers

There are over 50 species of wildflowers found throughout the garden at Nymans. During summer, look out for birdsfoot trefoil, yellow rattle, vetch, ox-eye daisy, bugle, wild scabious and areas of wild orchids. One of the meadows is also home to rare wax cap fungi, with species of Boletas, Entoloma and Hygrocybe, amongst others, found in autumn.

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International collection

Nymans is a mix of formal and informal areas packed full of exotic species from around the world. At 13 hectares, the garden holds one of the most comprehensive documented collections of Chilean and Argentinian species cultivated in the British Isles.

These plant introductions still surviving at Nymans today may represent genetic material that has been lost from wild populations. In the Wall Garden you’ll find plants from China and Chile, and across the road in the Wild Garden discover the Tasmanian collection.

Views and yews

At 500 ft above sea level, Nymans offers wonderful views. The lawn in front of the house is the best spot for views across the surrounding countryside, with ruins and topiary yew hedging on one side and the South Downs on the other.

Chanctonbury Ring can be seen perched on the Downs through the trees to the south west. The centrepiece is the 160-year-old Cedar of Lebanon.

Throughout the garden you'll find formal and creatively shaped topiary. Look out for yew globes around the fountain in the wall garden, topiary lions guarding the entrance, and birds on the terrace in front of the house.

Take a tour of Nymans’ garden

With informal and formal areas, exuberant planting, flower meadows and manicured lawns, the garden is constantly evolving and a joy in every season.

To help you explore it fully, we run daily guided garden tours, please ask our visitor welcome team for details and timings.

See the garden from the comfort of a buggy with one of our garden buggy tours. If you'd like to venture further afield and discover the estate's 250 acres of wildlife-rich woodland, join a woodland buggy tour, which run daily. They last around 1 hour and are run by our knowledgeable volunteers. (These are usually just available in the summer months).

Top garden

The deep herbaceous borders of the top garden are crammed with a range of flowers and shrubs. Fragrant and colourful, there’s something to offer in each season from snowdrops in winter to delicate poppies in summer. It’s home to a wonderful collection of trees, some dating back to 1905.

The Rose Garden

The Rose Garden is undergoing restoration in 2025, part of a two year project which will see a more diverse and romantic space, with a greater emphasis on soil health and planting that is more resilient to our changing climate.

Currently the rose garden is in decline from a combination of disease, challenging weather and an aging plant collection. We'll be replanting the garden with the strongest, most long lived and drought tolerant species, with early summer flowering shroubs and groundcover. Research is being carried out to see which old roses can be reintroduced. Check our social media feeds for project updates and read more about the project here.

The Terrace in front of the house

With planting combining shape and texture using hardy exotics and tender annuals set against the dramatic backdrop of the ruined mansion, the architectural feel of this terrace is enhanced by tree ferns.

The South African meadow

Designed to give maximum colour, with playful textures, bold drifts and exotic planting, the South African meadow is a vibrant mix of grasses, herbaceous perennials, bulbs, daisies and annuals.

Plants have been intermingled to mimic their behaviour in the wild, dispersed in drifts to create ﬂuidity and lead the eye around the landscape.

Exotic planting

The planting scheme is a celebration of South African ﬂora, with many plants that are not commonly seen in the UK. Plants have been chosen that are likely to thrive within the conditions of the site with only moderate intervention.

The great British weather sometimes tests these exotic plants: the cold and damp of winter may be too much for some, but others surprise us with their resilience.

You can follow a grass path through the middle to fully experience the meadow and immerse yourself in the landscape.

Download a map of the garden before you visit.

Elanor Wexler, botanical artist | © Elanor Wexler

Nymans Floreligium Society

The Nymans Florilegium Society is a group of botanical artists founded in 2006. They record the plant collection at Nymans in their wonderful botanical paintings. Many plants have been recorded over the past few years and the group are now prioritising those with a special connection to the Messel Family or to Nymans. The society meets two or three times a year for a walk around the garden with a member of the Garden team. Finished paintings are photographed and a digital copy is saved for reference. The work of the Nymans Florilegium Society has been displayed in some of the Nymans exhibitions.

The Forecourt garden, with stone-paved paths, square lawns and small trees, with the house behind, at Nymans, West Sussex

Discover more at Nymans

Find out when Nymans is open, how to get here, the things to see and do and more.

Plan your visit

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A map of Nymans garden 2024

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Explore Nymans’ woodlands and wider estate

Nymans’ ancient woodland is a designated Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), nature reserve and home to a variety of plants and wildlife. Find a walk to suit your needs and wander pathways down to the lake spotting wildlife and fungi as you wander.

The Gothic ruins at Nymans, West Sussex in spring

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The history of Nymans house and garden

Under generations of the Messel family, Nymans in West Sussex has been through several transformations since the 1890s to become the house, ruin and garden you see today.

A young family in the garden with a child in arms pointing at a flower

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Things to do with the kids at Nymans

Take a magical wander inspired by Moominvalley this spring, with a family trail around the garden, meeting characters from the Moomin stories. (From Sat 3 May until Sun 13 Jul). Discover natural play in the Play Glade, activities and events in the school holidays and an ancient woodland and garden to discover, there's lots of fun for families at Nymans. Picnic anywhere in the garden, or pick up a snack from the cafe or kiosk. Baby change available by the house and in the cafe and car park.