Highdown Gardens

About Highdown Gardens

Highdown Gardens have been maintained by Worthing Borough Council for over 50 years on behalf of Highdown Pleasure Ground and Tower Trust.

There are 8½ acres of stunning informal gardens on Sussex chalk downland, overlooking the sea, with a unique collection of rare plants and trees. Many were raised from seed brought from China by great collectors like Wilson, Farrer and Kingdon-Ward. The whole garden has been deemed a National Collection of Plants selected by Sir Frederick Stern.

In 2021, as part of a £1million project supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, a visitor centre was opened, sharing the incredible stories of the plants and people that made Highdown what it is today. With new accessible pathways, greenhouses to propagate and protect rare plants and trees, and a sensory garden with a secret sea view, there’s plenty to discover and enjoy at Highdown Gardens.

The Highdown team is starting a journey of sharing the National Plant Collection, opening its doors to more activities with discovery days during holidays, guided tours, talks, cream teas in the garden, Plant Heritage Weeks, educational workshops, horticultural trips, creative and wellbeing classes, festive events, wedding ceremonies and a ‘pop-up’ shop selling a selection of plants of interest within the gardens. Check our website for more information.

Highdown is also offering Snowdrop Identification tours on the 15th February (not for NGS), delivered by the gardens Curator, Alex New, and snowdrop expert, Simon Hollingworth. Each tour will take you through the gardens’ extensive collection sharing identification techniques, anecdotes and a wealth of information about these winter wonders. Visitors will also get snowdrop identification handouts to take away. For more information and booking please see highdowngardens.co.uk/snowdrops-guided-tours

The gardens are open every single day of the year and remain free to enter.

The team look forward to welcoming you!
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Highdown is also offering Snowdrop Identification tours on the 15th February (not for NGS), for more information and booking please see garden website.