West Dean Gardens — Local services in Chichester

A truly lovely place to visit with perfect Downland vistas, colourful bedding & fascinating vegetables & greenhouses. The freedom to explore and the accessibility for wheelchairs are very welcome. Some thought could be given to naming & describing (origins, age, speciality features) some of the many variety of trees so as to educate as well as delight. A simple wooden notice at the foot of the tree could do this. The management should urgently plan a new entrance. There is too little room for both a shop & a ticket office. The plant shop is excellent and reasonably priced. For strangers to the property without being garishly intrusive, simple wooden direction notices for the walled garden (at the bottom of the path near the stream); the pergola ( near the exit to the kitchen gardens) and the Victorian gardens ( in front of the main house) might be of use. I have rescued a few tired & frustrated explorers. My favourite place for R&R. However busy the day you can always find a quiet corner to read or watch the butterflies. The staff & volunteers are charming & always willing to answer a query about the plants. The occasional special events are very well managed & I appreciate the decision this year to give a few small concessions to members. One concern: The apparent preference of someone for the ghastly monkey puzzle tree. One specimen perhaps, but so many new ones? No use to man nor (particularly) bird. Why not a few native British species in the arboretum - wild cherry, sorbus, alder, oak , beech - to give our wildlife some food in Spring & autumn? The days of the arboretum demonstrating unusual specimens brought from the Empire could give way to at least some use of the space to show how lovely our native trees are given the space to grow to their natural shape & size. A...

Lovely place to visit, could easily pass the whole day here. Arrived at 11.30 and stayed till 3pm and that was without the array of flowers & trees that come up later in the year. There was plenty to see and some great walks to make the day go on longer.

It would be nice if the Gardens would consider a reduced fee while there is less in bloom, maybe until mid April for example, the cost is £12 per adult and memberships are available to purchase.

Under 16’s are free which is a great bonus, take a picnic because there are plenty of benches dotted around to sit at with your young ones. Dogs are also welcome.

The cafe, shop and gardens are mostly if not all accesible for wheelchairs and prams, however, you may struggle depending on width to get into the greenhouses.

The food served in the cafe was of high quality and I am always happy to pay that bit more when the food is worth it. They have a variety of local drinks available like apple juices & presses. The soup of the day was £5.50 and the Panini £10 so there are different meal types to accommodate different budgets. One of the cakes was nice but the other dry and burnt on the edges which was disappointing for £3 a piece. There is a kids packed lunch for £5.50.

The cafe staff were a little off but it seemed as though agency staff had been hired in to cope with a busy weekend so a bit more organisation at the beginning of the shift would have helped this, there was a noticeable amount of people waiting for a table but staff stood around not greeting them.

I will certainly be returning at another time of year and will likely bring my...

I'm in love with West Dean Gardens and have been for many years.

It's probably my favourite place in the UK - it's peaceful, beautiful, welcoming and with each Season offers up a glorious display.

As an amateur photographer this is a magical setting and hopefully my attached photos show that.

Today was beautifully sunny for September, regretably the Lavant wasn't full enough to have the West Dean gardens stream running - and when it does in the Spring there are ducks with the little chicks splashing around.

Had lunch at the cafe. A very tasty sandwich (basically a posh cheese sandwich) with salad and crips. And a pot of tea - squeezed 3 cups out of that. It's not cheap but it's very good. The food here in my view is always excellent.

Dogs are allowed in the gardens and also in the cafe, however, they must be on short leash. Please note the cafe does not take cash.

Entry at time of writing was £13.50 - children under the age of 16 are free. I don't think this place is for kids - they'd be bored but there is a Chilli Festival once a year, still going, I believe which they might like.

Parking is fairly easy and there is an overflow car-park which was opened today, as it was very busy due to the beautiful weather. Busy here doesn't mean crammed in the garden - it's quite sedate as the gardens are huge.

Well...