Autumn Gardens

Autumn gardens can be an amazing  blaze of tawny colours – a glorious last hurrah before winter and South East England is home to some of the best autumn gardens in the country.

The autumn gardens at Hampton Court Palace in Surrey look great when the shrubs climbing the walls of the Tiltyard change colour.  Special too is the grapevine.  Planted by Capability Brown in 1768, it’s the oldest, largest grapevine in existence - in autumn the foliage is stunning.

The eleven-acre formal walled garden at Penshurst Place in Tonbridge, Kent is always special, its one of those autumn gardens that are really vivid with apple and crab apple trees turning to shades of  yellow, red and orange.

Great Dixter House and Gardens are known for the Exotic Gardens which are at their best as late summer turns to autumn.  These autumn gardens are near perfect and sit prettily around the 15th century timber-framed manor house.

Visit Sheffield Park Gardens in East Sussex, where autumn means a riot of colour from the many rare trees and shrubs. The Gardens were also the site of the first England vs Australia cricket match, nothing to do with autumn gardens but worth a mention!!

Finally, one of the South East’s best known autumn gardens is Brogdale at Faversham, Kent.  Home of the National Fruit Collection, it has the largest collection of historic fruit trees - apple, pear, cherry and plum.  After the fruit is harvested the trees turn to rich autumn hues.

Find out more about the many fabulous gardens in England’s South East