High Beeches Woodland and Water Garden

About the garden

Owned by

Sarah & Jeremy Bray

High Beeches was originally laid out by Colonel Giles Loder, a cousin of the Loders of Wakehurst and Leonardslee. In 1966 it was acquired by Anne and Edward Boscawen, who have devoted many years to its maintenance and improvement. It is now managed by a non-profit-making charitable trust.

The 27-acre original woodland has been thinned and sensitively underplanted with exotics, many of them rare, to enhance the natural Wealden landscape and create a plantsperson’s paradise. A place of great beauty and tranquillity, there are numerous mature specimen trees such as magnolias, Davidia, Cornus and conifers, as well as a magnificent collection of award-winning shrubs, camellias, rhododendrons, azaleas and more. There is something different to see at every season. In spring the magnolias and camellias are underplanted with swathes of miniature Narcissus and the woodland glades and vistas are, in early summer, carpeted with native bluebells and filled with the colour and fragrance of the many splendid rhododendrons and azaleas.

The ‘Loderi Walk’ is planted with mature Rhododendron (Loderi Group) cultivars filling the garden with their scent. In the summer the best ancient acid wildflower meadow in the south-east is full of orchids, oxeye daisies, cowslips and many other wildflowers and grasses, a spectacular sight attracting insects and butterflies. As far as possible plants are allowed to naturalise including Narcissus, primulas and the blue willow gentians which flourish here. Autumn brings a glorious display of autumn colour provided by the many acers, liquidambers and Nyssa.