Photos and video: I went to Borde Hill in West Sussex to see the first glimpses of colour as the estate revealed its spring season plans

I was invited along to find out about the plans for the months ahead and to see what’s in the garden as winter finally comes to an end.

The estate, which is just outside Haywards Heath, has been owned by the Stephenson Clarke family for more than 130 years.

I met Jay Goddard, née Stephenson Clarke, who is the fifth generation custodian as well as the first woman to become managing director.

“We’ve got a really exciting season ahead of us,” she said. “We’re currently in half-term so we’ve got a really wonderful children’s trail at the moment, Wilbur's Wild Welly Walk, which runs all the way until the end of March.”

Jay continued: “From a garden colour perspective, we’ve got a beautiful display of narcissi both along our North Park Walk but also just outside the Africa House, displayed in heritage terracotta pots. The Africa House itself has a beautiful display of paintings by local Sussex artists of the Art of Spring (until March 31). That’s really celebrating the floral colour that’s about to pop and burst into life within the garden.”

She said: “At the start of the season it’s so wonderful just to see those first glimpses of colour and of spring flowering across the garden. So little daffodils, narcissi are just peeking out, the camellias are starting to show, and the rhododendrons will be out in the next few weeks as well as the magnolias.”

Jay added: “We’ve got many new workshops and events planned for the season, as well as some timeless classics. For example, our plant fair on May 11 is hugely popular with our visitors and our members. We also have Opera on the Lawn in the summer (La Bohème & Madam Butterfly, July 18-19) and Lumos Live (August 16).”

But she said Borde Hill’s most exciting news could be that they have a new chef partner Chantelle Nicholson. Chantelle is a leading London chef who has relocated to Sussex and is working with Borde Hill to launch a range of restaurants and eateries at the estate. Jay said this will begin with a micro bakery in the garden that should open in time for Easter.

During the tour I met Borde Hill’s new head gardener Will Carter, who only joined on January 2, 2025.

“I’m six weeks in,” said Will, who is currently getting to grips with the garden and the aims of Borde Hill. Will explained that the team aims to build on its ‘amazing’ plant heritage and its ‘wonderful professionally designed garden areas’.

“We have the Rose Garden, we have the Italian Garden, we have the Round Dell, we have Paradise Walk, the Mid Summer Border and the Autumn Borders,” he said. “We’ve got a really good plant heritage, a historical provenance of woody, spring flowering shrubs, mainly Asiatic, and then we have these pockets that help punctuate that so we can become an all-round horticultural destination garden.”

For the past five years, Will was with Sandringham Estate, the private retreat to King Charles III and Queen Camilla. He said he is enjoying his new role at Borde HIll, getting to know the team and the garden, as well as all the hands on aspects of its ‘cyclical maintenance’ while delivering its presentational standards.

Will said: “We’re just coming into the transition period. Between November and the end of February is a dormant period really where we can effectively get ahead. Most of the plants tend to stop growing or certainly go into a dormancy period and that offers us an opportunity to do a lot of the routine maintenance tasks that perhaps couldn’t do during the growing season. So the pruning of the roses has been done over the past month and the mulching of the beds.”

He continued: “We then do formative pruning of trees because they’re in their dormant period. We then start cutting back the perennial growth that that has been left from the previous season to get ready for the growing season.”

Jay added that the team has has taken ‘an organic approach’ in the garden because sustainability is an important fundamental value at Borde Hill.

Early blooms at the moment include snowdrops, hellebores, the estate's ‘champion magnolias’ and some rhododendrons. Jay said: “Every generation has very much made their mark in terms of horticultral interest and it was, in fact, my grandfather Robert Clarke who had a passion for rhododendrons and really added to the collection and made it what it is today.” She explained that Borde HIll is a National Collection status holder for its rhododendrons. “Our magnolias really are special too,” she added.

Will highlighted that there are some strong scents in the garden already with the sarcococca confusa, a winter blossom, offering ‘an early promise of what’s to come’. Jay also pointed out the daphne near the entrance, which greets visitors with its ‘incredible’ fragrance.

Borde Hill was recently awarded a £2.25m grant by The National Lottery Heritage Fund to deliver proposals for the Reinventing Borde Hill project. The aim is to ‘unlock’ 110 acres of listed landscape, improve access to the site’s important heritage and inspire future generations through outdoor learning. The project includes: an all-year-round Eco Lodge, a pedestrian route, Dinosaur Wood for outdoor learning and play, and the Growers Community Garden and Propagation Project.

Upcoming events in at Borde Hill include: Narcissus and Daffodils in Bloom (until Monday, March 31), Magnolias in Bloom (Mid March to Mid April), Marcrame Plant Hanger Workshop (March 13, 10.30am-1pm), Kids Trail: Bertram Bunny’s East Adventure (March 29 to April 21), Easter Wreath Making Workshop (April 5), Spring Bulbs – Botanical Art Class with Penny Sanderson (April 24, 2pm-4pm), Dawn Chorus Walk (April 25, 5.30am-7.30am), and the Specialist Spring Plant Fair (May 11, 10am-3pm).