Last updated on 16 June 08

Leonardslee Gardens

Photograph © Leonardslee Lakes & Gardens
Photograph © Leonardslee Lakes & Gardens
Photograph © Leonardslee Lakes & Gardens

Gardenvisit Editorial

A great woodland garden, inspired by the planting ideas of Sir Uvedale Price, Richard Payne Knight and JC Loudon. Exotic plants are used a 'picturesque' manner, derived from landscape painting. Sir Edmund Loder bought the estate in 1889 and imported the herd of Wallabies which still lives here. The Leonardslee Gardens lie in a sheltered valley with a string of ponds, made a century earlier to provide waterpower for the iron industry. Being damp and slightly acid, the soil is well-suited to rhododendrons, camelias and magnolias. Loder gave his name to the famous hybrid Rhododendron 'Loderi'. Like him, one can walk through the garden imagining onself to be in a misty Himalayan valley, for travel and adventure.

Address - Lower Beeding, Horsham, West Sussex, England, RH13 6PP
Opening times - April to October. Daily. Open 9.30am to 6pm (last admission 4:30pm).
Admission - Adult £6.50 (May: £8.00 weekdays, £9.00 weekends)
Website - Visit the Leonardslee Gardens website