Ramster Garden
We visited Ramster Garden on our way home from Winchester in April. It is near Chiddingfold and situated in Surrey on the A283 about 8 miles north of Petworth. The 25 acre estate is privately wned by a family that has been there since 1922: Ramster Hall within the garden is not open to the public but is a wedding venue. The garden is open from 10.00 am to 5.00 pm.
There is a smallish car park and the only toilets are in 3 little huts on the edge of the car park; from the outside they look as though they might not be connected to the mains but inside they are and are actually nicely appointed and were very clean when we visited; there is one Accessible toilet. Entry tickets are bought from the counter inside the Tea House and we paid a total of just £9 with our Gardeners’ World 2for1 card, but the 2for1 card cannot be used at weekends, in school holidays or on special events day, so best to check the website before visiting. The day we were there was rather chilly but the tea room was very cosy. Hot and cold drinks, soup, sandwiches, scones and cakes etc. are available and we had a large bowl of delicious .leek and potato soup with hunks of bread. Armed with our leaflet complete with plan of the garden and a list of the interesting trees and shrubs we might see we headed off down the main path which is wide and can easily be used by those with wheelchairs or prams/pushchairs. After a while this path follows a circular route but for those who want to leave the main path there are lots of alternative routes along winding grassed paths. We just wandered off as the mood tooks us and saw a great deal of the garden in a couple of hours.
The gardens were first laid out in an oak woodland in 1890 by a local nursery using Japanese plants and ornaments; stone lanterns, clumps of bamboo, evergreen azaleas and maples are still important features in the garden. In 1922 Sir Henry and Lady Norman, the great grandparents of the current owners, bought Ramster; Lady Norman introduced many of the rhododendrons and azaleas so in Spring over 300 different varieties can be seen, along with daffodils, camellias, magnolias and bluebells. These are followed in Summer by climbing roses and hydrangeas and in Autumn the brilliant colours of the acers and other trees. There are ponds and a lake, dells, summer houses and view points, sculptures, statues and several benches carved from fallen trees. It’s a delightful garden and one I’d never heard of until my husband suggested a visit because he loves unusual trees.
