New look to the annual Fittleworth Garden Trail for 2024

The Trail was originally devised in 1999 with eight gardens on show. It was among various initiatives of a newly formed outreach committee. That first year the trail raised £3000 for St Mary’s Church.

2024 will be the 25th anniversary of the Trail.

In previous years the early May Bank Holiday was chosen for a number of reasons and has proved very popular over the years. It is usually the first trail of the season and allows the owners to give their gardens a head start for the summer. Tulips and bluebells are generally out, and visitors can see the beginnings of buds on most of the other plants.

This year with a break from tradition they have moved the trail forward by a month to 1st and 2nd June, in the hope of seeing a very different set of blooms and to include new gardens that haven’t opened previously.

A number of gardens have featured in the NGS lists and Fittleworth House continues with that tradition, and Fulling Mill, a restored 17th century cottage, is always a big draw.

Weather plays a big part on the number of visitors, but in recent years they have welcomed 500 to 700 visitors. They come widely from Sussex but have had visitors from Holland, America and Australia, clearly they were visiting the area for other reasons!

The aim of the Trail, apart from offering the opportunity to see well laid out gardens and get ideas for the visitors’ own gardens, is to raise money to support and maintain the Grade 1 listed church and churchyards.

Visitors enjoy a great day out, buy plants from the excellent plant stall and as always the Village Hall is full of people enjoying Tea and Cakes.

So do remember to pop the dates for this year in your diary, 2-6pm Saturday 1st & 2nd June.

Tickets £7.50 (under 16’s free) and the ticket covers both days if you want to enjoy the 14 or so gardens at a more leisurely pace.

For more information contact: Charles Clark - [email protected] or 07770 854935