2026 Annual Membership
Memberships for 2026 are now live and we've added even more benefits to the memberships for next year.
Memberships, priced at £50 per person include:
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Unlimited entry to the gardens* during open season
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FREE ticket to each Music in the Gardens
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10% off in the Café (more news on this soon)
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An exclusive members day before we open to the public
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Bring-a-friend voucher (one pass)
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Be the first to hear about news and events
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NEW for 2026 - FREE ticket to each Midsummer Night Thursday
This year we are also offering a joint membership for two adults, priced at £90 (you will receive two cards and two bring-a-friend vouchers).
An important date for the 2026 calendar to announce: the Festival of Classic and Sports Cars will be on Sunday 2nd August. It’s one of the biggest events of our year... expect over 1100 cars exhibiting, the crowd favourite driveway runs and lots of fun.
Entries and information will be released early in 2026 so keep an eye out for newsletters, social media updates and on our website.
The month of October has been all about preparation for our Illuminated Garden Trail and bulb planting, with consideration to our essential seasonal gardening tasks.
We have completed the cutting of all 66 yew domes that surround the Walled Garden and the garden moats. This takes Graham (with the help of others at times) approximately eight days to cut, in addition to clearing the clippings. We do this to reduce the buildup of biomass on our moat banks, which can lead to subsequent softening of those slopes, and a reduction in vegetation species diversity.
We have also completed the cut back and editing of our main herbaceous borders that run through the spine of the garden, which may seem premature. For us it is essential preparation not only for the Illuminated Garden Trail, but also to enable us to plant tulips and complete editing tasks and earmarked planting opportunities, whilst fresh in the mind, and with the soil still being warm, dry-ish, and workable. This timing also enables us to edit out any troublesome or overly-vigorous plants, such as Thalictrum flavum and a pernicious New York Aster which refuses to disappear.
Planting of spring-flowering bulbs will begin in November. We have approximately 19,000 to plant this autumn, most for the Walled Garden but also for pot displays, adding to our Apple Walk understory, and daffodils to add to the wider surrounding landscape. Our Historic And Botanic Garden Training Programme (HBGTP) student, Imogen, has also designed a spring bulb display which will be located - in what is becoming its usual spot - of the Ellipse bed. Imogen has also designed two pot displays which will be located by the plant sales area near the garden entrance and shop.
Another autumnal task which we begin now, continuing well into winter, is the pruning and retraining of all of our wire and wall trained roses and shrubs. Our Deputy Head Gardener, Chris, leads on this task and has evolved and developed our training techniques here with ecology, as well as increased floral abundance, in mind. We start now whilst the stems are still pliable and can be easily manipulated, and the weather is still warm enough to be bearable and conducive for dexterity. Traditionally we start on the wires along both the main borders and then gradually work our way to the walls of the garden and then the surrounding buildings and ultimately the rose garden.
The autumn colour on shrubs and trees seems to be fleeting and less intense this year, mainly due to wind hastening everything, although the usual suspects are still looking great and exhibiting their oranges and reds. Malus are dripping with fruit, hawthorns covered in berry, Dahlias, Salvias, Nerines, Tagetes, Nicotiana and Cobaea all still looking incredible, indicative of the season and yet soon to be gone with a change in temperatures.