About the Grounds and Gardens
About the Gardens
The Dartington Hall estate is home to 25 acres of Grade 2* listed gardens, open year round from dawn till dusk. With a rich sense of history and a host of delightful features – from a new bridge by artist Peter Randall Page to a sculpture by Henry Moore to 500 year old Spanish Chestnut trees – the gardens at Dartington are worth exploring all year round.
Gardens Photography Competition
Are you a keen photographer, a gardens enthusiast, a lover of the great outdoors or all three? We’ve launched a monthly competition open to anyone who captures our gardens through the camera lens and would love to see your photos. Click here for more information on how to enter.
Open for Visitors
Today’s garden is open to the visiting public from dawn to dusk, throughout the year. Please consider a voluntary donation of £5 per person (or more if you are able) to help us with the considerable costs of maintaining these Grade 2* Listed gardens. Groups of 10 or more are asked to make arrangements by appointment and we ask for £6/person for self guided tours – call 01803 847058 or email gardens@dartington.org. A guidelines document and booking form to help you plan your visit is available. Or contact Graham Gammin by telephone on 01803 847058 or by email to gardens@dartington.org for further information. The cost for a guided tour of the Hall and gardens is £8 per person, minimum ten people per tour (an £80 minimum fee).
Featured in The Independent’s 50 Best homes and gardens
Gardens Leaflet
A lovely map of the gardens available for visitors, illustrated by Dartmouth artist James Stewart. Maps are available to buy in the Welcome Centre on the Dartington estate for £1, with all proceeds going to the maintenance of the gardens. Download PDF
“A beautiful building sited in a garden which restores your faith in your ability to enjoy gardens” – Anne Wareham, writing in the Telegraph
Dogs
Please note that no dogs are allowed in the gardens except assistance dogs. Whilst we are happy for you to walk your dogs on a lead on one of the permissive paths across the estate, please only bring registered assistance dogs into the gardens.
Picnics
To maintain the tranquility that you come to enjoy we ask that you do not picnic or play games in the gardens. A picnic area is available in front of the Roundhouse Café and refreshments and outside seating are available at the White Hart.
Seasonal highlights
Spring – This is the most spectacular season here with tree magnolias, camellias, cherry blossom and snake’s head fritillaries in the woodland walks. Late May to early June brings a burst of colour with wildflower meadows (wild orchids, bluebells, primroses…), white azaleas, fresh red and pink maple leaves, rhododendrons, crab apples and the unusual handkerchief trees.
Summer – Sunny Border is the star near the Tiltyard with plants and flowers in blue, yellow, white and green.
Autumn – Leaf colour is at its most spectacular in the maples of High Meadow and Valley Field.
Winter – Look for the Lucombe Oak by the house near the churchyard. A hybrid cross between evergreen Spanish cork oak and the deciduous Turkey Oak, the tree loses its leaves when it gets very cold, but in milder winters remains evergreen. The witchhazels near Flora bloom early in the new year followed by crocuses – at their most spectacular in the crocus circle on the Great Lawn under the big Turkey Oak – at the end of winter. .