Stoke Poges Memorial Gardens

About Stoke Poges Memorial Gardens

Completed in 1935 to designs by the eminent landscape architect Edward White, the Stoke Poges Memorial Gardens are reminiscent of the setting of an Edwardian country house. Restored with major funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund, they are listed Grade I by Historic England and managed by Buckinghamshire Council. Richly planted and beautifully maintained, they offer visitors a memorable experience throughout the year.

The gardens are organised around a long avenue lined with crab apple, cherry, rowan and hawthorn trees. The path terminates in the square Colonnade and Sunken Water Garden. Enclosed by a robust, wisteria-clad pergola, this is framed and crisscrossed by stone rills: the influence of Sir Edwin Lutyens is everywhere apparent here.
To the north of the main axis is a loosely structured Heath Garden. Pink Kalmia, white Pieris, Azalea and Rhododendron provide late spring colour, and in the autumn rich foliage colours transform the Japanese maples, Liquidambar, oak and copper beech.
Adjacent to the Heath Garden, the Rock and Water Garden features four stunning 85-year-old Japanese maples, dwarf conifers and junipers, and a range of other shrubs, herbaceous plants and bulbs. Pools of water step down to the Lake Garden, where fine views of the lake, with Humphry Repton’s elegant bridge, are gradually revealed. In the distance stands the Palladian house of the privately owned Stoke Park.
An additional area of the gardens is now newly landscaped in a more modern style.
As you move from one garden to the next, richly contrasting experiences unfold: textures, colours, and scents; changing light; and the sounds of splashing water combine to create a magical atmosphere.

Guided tours every hour.