The garden at Standen

Blossom at Standen in front of the house — Blossom at Standen | © National Trust Images / Laurence Perry

Explore the garden at Standen, divided into many outdoor 'rooms', each with its own theme, colours, texture and detail. The 12-acre garden at Standen is almost entirely the creation of a self-taught gardener, Margaret Beale, who was inspired by the Arts and Crafts movement.

Springtime at Standen

During the spring, from its earliest days in March until it slips into summer, there's something new to spot daily, from crocuses and daffodils to magnolias and camellias.

Daffodils on the sloping lawn in front of Standen | © National Trust Images / Laurence Perry

Early spring delight, daffodils in the sun.

The garden at Standen has many types of daffodils from January through till late April. See them on the Sloping Lawn, Hydrangea Path, Rosery and at the top of the garden where we've been naturalising the native daffodil, Narcissus pseudonarcissus, also known as the Lent Lily. Each year these multiply and they're beginning to form a wonderful carpet of yellow under the trees.

Magnolias at Standen

Looking up at magnicifent pink Magnolia blossom at Stourhead, Wiltshire — Waxy petalled magnolias | © National Trust Images/Betsy Ogilvie

Waxy petalled, elegant magnolias.

Also starting in March are our magnolias. We have a good collection dotted around the garden at Standen, with normally the first to flower Magnolia soulangiana – the Saucer Magnolia, the best of which grows next to the Conservatory, but several others are dotted around the garden too. Magnolia stellata ‘Rosea’ and Magnolia ‘Heaven Scent’ grow just inside the archway to the House Courtyard and make a spectacular display. The beautiful white Magnolia denudata flowers amongst the trees above the Quarry and several others can be found around the garden.

Camellias and Rhododendrons

Pink rhododendrons at Plas Newydd — Rhododendrons at Plas Newydd | © Ffion Roberts

Find camellias and rhododendrons all around the garden.

Camellias are a Standen speciality, and a hundred varieties can be found all around the garden. These flower from November until May, with the peak being in late March to early April. The Camellia Steps and Top Path are where most are to be found. There are several varieties bred by a local nursery that are unique in the National Trust. This year, we have begun labelling as many of these as we can with beautiful ornate copper labels, written by one of our volunteers. Rhododendrons start from January with Rhododendron ‘Christmas Cheer’ and carry on until early June with a wonderful display along the Farm Track, best seen from the Croquet Lawn. There are some spectacular Sussex-bred Loderi hybrids growing by the Lavender Lawn with lightly scented and very large pinkish-white flowers.

Fruit tree blossom

See blossom in the Orchard and Kitchen Garden.

See blossom on our many fruit trees, from the magnificent Medlar on Goose Green, to the Black Worcester pears in the Kitchen Garden. We have a few cherry trees too, with new ones planted last year. In the Cottage Garden is the Paeonia lutea, a wonderful yellow flowered tree peony which we get more questions about at this time of year than any other plant. Other bulbs you can find in the garden are Muscari, Crocus, Lily, Allium, Camassia, Fritillaries and bluebells – although the best of these are down in Rockinghill Wood. Our Japanese Maple collection always looks good in spring ,with vivid colours of early leaves. Many of these plants were sent back to Standen from Japan when the Beales went on their world tour in 1905, and several are the biggest of their kind in the UK. Most spectacular of all is Acer palmatum ‘Corralinum’ on the Croquet Lawn which has vivid shrimp pink leaves in April.

Explore Standen’s garden rooms

Goose Green

Any visit to the garden must start and end at Goose Green, the heart of the garden for a century and more. Three large plane trees dominate this space, surrounded on each side by domestic and rural features – the Kitchen Garden, the old farm buildings, the servants' wing of the house and the medieval farmhouse on a small rise above. Once home to geese, cows and horses, it is now a wonderful place to relax and enjoy these most beautiful of surroundings.

The house terrace and Quarry Garden

Around the house itself is where Margaret showed her real passion for plants, the rarest, most showy and those that were most special to her were planted within a few yards of the door to the garden from the conservatory.

Only the most privileged guests were allowed into this area, which includes the shady and surprising Quarry Garden. It’s so close to the house itself but feels a lifetime away.

Top terrace and rock top walk

The Upper Garden once thickly wooded lost many trees in the Great Storm of 1987, but their replacements, now approaching over 30 years in age, are quickly reclothing the hillside with colours, shapes, textures, scents and sounds.

Here you'll find the most spectacular views across the Medway Valley to Ashdown Forest – virtually unspoiled by any development, save for the 1950s Weir Wood Reservoir, which meanders through the landscape like a river, and is now a well-established part of the scenery.

Further round you’ll find the Bothy, built in 2017 in an area of garden lost for decades to scrub. It too boasts fine views towards the tower of East Grinstead Church and into the intimate landscape of the High Weald.

Family fun

The lower garden is where the family had fun: the Croquet Lawn was – and is – a place for sitting and games.

The Rosery, so recently lost to invasive bamboo, is currently being restored and is the site of the swimming pond where the Beale children used to learn to swim.

The Kitchen Garden

Nearby is the orchard, home to hives of honeybees and many old varieties of apple. Here the grass is left to grow long, allowing wildflowers to flourish including delicate orchids and the diminutive yellow rattle.

The Kitchen Garden is close to the house and originally nearly three acres, almost a quarter of the whole garden. Recently brought back into production after quite some time as private gardens, it's full of a wide range of tasty crops that are supplied to the café throughout the year.