The garden at Polesden Lacey

View through the garden gates at Polesden Lacey in autumn | © National Trust Images/Laurence Perry

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 or soak up the colour and scent around the Rose Garden and double herbaceous borders. There's always something beautiful to enjoy.

Autumn highlights in the garden

Polesden Lacey is a beautiful place to be as the seasons transition from summer into autumn. See the changing landscapes as nature begins to prepare itself for the winter months, offering perfect opportunities for autumnal photos and long fresh air walks.

One of the best views at Polesden Lacey is the show stopping autumn colours of the wider estate, seen from the outlook of South Lawn, offering rich burnt oranges, amber reds and golden yellows. The Lime Walk slowly transitions from a vibrant green, shaded walkway into a close knit tunnel of yellow, brown and red leaves, with a warm autumnal glow.

The wider estate at Polesden Lacey takes in 200 acres of ancient woodland, framing breath-taking views. The trees knit tunnels of yellows, browns and reds, casting an autumnal glow along the route.

Dahlias in the cutting garden at Polesden Lacey | © National Trust / Hannah Elliott

Kitchen Garden and Home Farm Orchard

Seasonal vegetables are growing in the kitchen garden, including a row of bright orange pumpkins laying on a hay bed in time for Halloween. The rows of dahlias and sunflowers in the cutting garden are a delight, providing blooms for the flower arrangements in the house. Home Farm Orchard can be found beyond the kitchen garden, full of heavy branched apple trees, ready to harvest up to late October. The double herbaceous border is in flower right up to the first frosts.

Nature in the garden

Look out for seed heads from summer blooms and trees as you walk through the grounds. They’re a perfect source of food for wildlife and you may spot birds pecking at the seeds and squirrels nibbling beneath the sweet chestnut trees. After the final roses have stopped blooming, look out for vibrant red rose hips in the rose garden.

Two laughing people walk down the Long Walk at Polesden Lacey, Surrey, beneath a canopy of yellow and gold autumn leaves on the trees. — On the Long Walk at Polesden Lacey, Surrey | © National Trust Images/John Millar

A garden to enjoy in every season

Rose Garden: The Edwardian walled Rose Garden boasts well over 2,000 roses, including 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 late May and June 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 Lacey’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 visitors to enjoy.
Cut Flower Garden: The Cut Flower Garden provides blooms for arrangements in the house and other visitor areas throughout the year. In summer, it is full of an eclectic and colourful mix of blooms like dahlias, zinnias, gladioli and phlox. We also keep and dry a lot of flowers, in order 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 see 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 beginning of autumn. 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 Vegetable Garden provides produce for the Polesden Café kitchens 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, while 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 Margaret 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 of which Mrs Greville would be proud.
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 and 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 lawn 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 while at Polesden Lacey and 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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