Pangdean Farm

About Pangdean Farm

Although the A23 passes through Pyecombe, this small village has a wealth of historical interest, including Pangdean Farm, its garden and the amazing 300 year old Grade II listed Sussex Barn.

The village itself is worth exploring as summarised below but the jewel in the crown is the NGS garden at Pangdean Farm. It is very much the late Sue Currie’s garden: whenever she entered her garden she smiled!

Pangdean is lucky to have this 17th century walled garden, a little over 1 acre, on chalk on the southern side of the South Downs. When the late Sue Currie moved into Pangdean with her young family in 1976 the formal Victorian gentleman’s garden of many parallel beds and everything in regimented lines was swept away and the garden in its present form was laid down. This included the creation of a 55m x 18m (at its deepest) herbaceous bed which in June will be flourishing with Alliums, Camassias, Oriental Poppies, Astrantia, Iris Sibirica, Geum, Heucheras, Saxifrage, Roses and much more. The bed starts in late January with Iris reticulata and finishes in late October with Rudbeckia, Sedum, Persicaria and Miscanthus, changing all the while throughout.

Set within the garden is a functional herb garden providing herbs for the many weddings that are celebrated at Pangdean. This is defined by a wooden frame and large arch carrying Albertine roses.

Pangdean is fortunate to have a 400 year old Mulberry tree which may have been one of the 10,000 trees James 1st commanded to be planted in an effort to dominate the silk trade. James I decided in the early 1600s that England needed its own silk industry. Thousands of mulberry trees were planted in London and in the gardens of noblemen. Sadly James had ordered the wrong kind of tree. Silk worms thrive on the leaves of white mulberries, but the ill-advised James had chosen black ones, which were ill-suited to England’s cool climate. However a surviving tree can be seen in this garden and the mulberries are still delicious!

Pangdean was still Crown property when the Curries arrived and it’s thought that George IV, then Prince Regent, kept his foxhounds here. To the front of the house is an aged Acacia tree which may well date from this period and could be one of the oldest in the country.

We try to maintain the garden as organically as possible and we have nest boxes dotted about. In June the garden is busy with blue tits feeding their young on our caterpillars!

Please, be our guests and enjoy the garden – plus go-carts, croquet or ladder golf!

With the traffic on the A23 racing by, you would not imagine that the Parish of Pyecombe has so much historical interest and so many tales to tell. It is worth researching the area further and spending time there before the NGS garden opening.

Pyecombe has few houses but some fascinating buildings. The Parish Church at Pyecombe is a Grade I listed building: an attractive small medieval building. The chancel and nave are 12th century; the tower was built in the 13th century. A small kitchen / toilet extension was built on the south side of the church in 2014, finished in flint to match the rest of the church. The extension won the Sussex Heritage Trust ecclesiastical award in 2015. There is a rare design of gate on the north side of the churchyard. Unique to Sussex, and named after the Sussex family who were responsible for its invention, the Tapsel gate is one of only six remaining in Sussex, although others may have existed in the past. The Tapsel gate at Pyecombe is an early 20th century replacement: the original was put in place in the 18th century. It incorporates the hooked end of a Pyecombe crook—a type of shepherd’s staff made in the village since the 18th century. Opposite the church is the old forge where the Pyecombe crook was first made in the 19th century by Mr Berry, the blacksmith. The shepherd’s crook features along with sheep on the Pyecombe village sign.

The Parish of Pyecombe comprises two settlements, one called ‘Pyecombe’ and the other ‘Pyecombe Street’. These are about a quarter of a mile apart along the old A23. The reason for the gap between the two parts of the village is unclear but it is generally thought to be a consequence of plague in the 17th century which necessitated the temporary abandonment of the main settlement and its church. There are a number of listed buildings in Pyecombe and around the area there a several scheduled monuments.

There is so much to see and enjoy in Pyecombe and at Pangdean Farm. We look forward to welcoming you.
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Home-made teas will be served in the garden or the stunning 300 yr old Grade II listed Sussex Barn. Plant sale (cash only).