Great Dixter Gardens

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‘Vibrant yet Historically Significant’

Great Dixter is at once vibrant and cutting edge, yet it is a setting of great historical significance for both landscape design and architecture. It was the home of renowned British gardener and author Christopher Lloyd until his death in 2006, and is now run by the Great Dixter Charitable Trust. Tour the gardens at Great Dixter and you are as likely to see wild color combinations in scarlet poppies and blue lupines as you are to see neatly clipped yew. Lloyd was not afraid of color, and he was never afraid of trying something new. In an act that caught the garden world’s attention, Christopher Lloyd dug up Great Dixter’s rose garden and planted a tropical-style garden, with bananas and cannas. The house dates from the 15th century, and was restored by famed architect Edwin Lutyens in the early 20th century, when Christopher Lloyd’s parents Nathaniel and Daisy, bought it. Lutyens also designed the gardens, and his work here survives, too, in hedges and stone walkways. Lutyens built the bones, and the Lloyds did the rest. In the 1970s after his parents’ deaths, Christopher Lloyd took over the gardens, and chronicled his work in his many books and weekly columns in Country Life. Evidence of his parents’ work remains — topiary yew and a neatly clipped hedge of holm oak (Quercus ilex) planted by his father, but today’s garden keeps current. Lloyd’s head gardener Fergus Garrett is now director of the house and grounds.

5 / 5 Review by expert member Marty Wingate

‘Best of the English Flower Gardens’

The best of all English flower gardens, the creation of the late Christopher Lloyd and now maintained by his gardener Fergus Garrett. The planting schemes continue the tradition of adventurous herbaceous planting begun by Gertrude Jekyll 100 years ago, but this is no fossil: the key to its success is the constant innovation and energy that keep the formula dynamic. The garden includes a wild flower meadow of surpassing beauty at the entrance, and surrounds an ancient house remodelled and extended by the ever-interesting Edwin Lutyens.

5 / 5 Review by expert member Steven Desmond

‘A Must See for Gardeners’

A must see for gardeners, you will not forget the series of gardens nor will you forget the differences in gardening styles. Great Dixter is a charming 15th century timber-framed manor house set in one of the most beautiful gardens in England. Records for the manor of Dixter go back to the 13th century but the core of the present house was built in 1464 by the Etchingham family. By the early 20th century the building was in a very poor state of repair but it was saved by Nathaniel Lloyd who bought the property in 1910. He commissioned Sir Edwin Lutyens to renovate and extend the medieval hall house between 1910 -14. Lloyd and Lutyens found a derelict 'Wealden House' that was about to be pulled down in the nearby village of Benenden. Lloyd bought the building and the timbers were carefully numbered and transported to Great Dixter. The house forms a superb backdrop to the garden laid out by Lutyens and the Lloyd family. Lutyens' input can be seen in the way the stone steps and paths are laid. The late Christopher Lloyd was a renowned garden writer and he used his flair and plants man’s knowledge to great effect at Great Dixter. He had a bold style and used strong shapes and colour to give interest throughout the year. The garden is divided into a number of ' outdoor rooms' by huge yew hedges and several red-tiled, timber- framed outbuildings. House & gardens open March to October

5 / 5 Review by expert member Donna Dawson

‘Great Dixter House & Garden’

The late gardener and author Christopher Lloyd was an exuberant and opinionated character and his garden is just as colourful and unpredictable. The garden dates from 1910 when Edward Lutyens, who is often deemed the greatest British architect of the 20th century, laid out its framework at the same time as restoring the house. The garden has been developing ever since, most controversially in 1993, when Lloyd ripped out the Lutyens rose garden and replaced it with bananas, cannas and dahlias. The garden’s mix of tame and wild lends it an irresistible sense of adventure and lust for life.

4 / 5 Review by expert member Kent Ross