Spread out over 240 acres in Woking, Surrey, about an hour's drive from Central London, Wisley is a lovely, peaceful place for a stroll as well as a demonstration garden full of practical garden design ideas and cultivation techniques. The garden includes model gardens for different kinds of homes, wide mixed borders that change with the seasons, wild and woodland gardens, beautiful rose gardens and trials fields where new flowers and vegetables are tested.
Wisley Essentials
- Where:RHW Wisley Garden, Woking, Surrey, GU23 6QB, England
- Phone: +44 (0)845 260 9000
- Opening times: The gardens are open all year, except Christmas Day. Last admission is one hour before closing time.
- Monday to Friday,10 a.m. to 6 p.m. (to 4:30 p.. November to February)
- Saturday and Sunday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. (to 4:30 p.m. November to February)
- Admission £7.50, children 6 -16 £2, RHS Members and their families are free as are the carer or companion of a disabled person. There is no Senior discount.
- Services for the disabled: Wheelchairs are available and there is a free electric mobility vehicle.
- Getting there
- By car: Wisley is 20 miles southwest of London on the A3. Look for tourist attraction signs with flower symbols.
- By train: Trains from London Waterloo Station leave regularly for nearby West Byfleet or Woking. Take a taxi the short ride from the station. On weekdays during the summer months, a special bus service operates from Woking Station to Wisley.
- By bus: There are hourly buses, every day, from Surbiton train station and Guildford bus stations.
- Visit their website
A New Glasshouse for Wisley
In June 2007, a huge new glasshouse, 40 feet high and covering an area equal to ten tennis courts, was opened to the public. The glasshouse at RHS Wisley covers three different climatic zones - tropical, moist temperate and dry temperate habitats. A winding path, past rocky outcrops, waterfalls, pools and slopes, leads visitors through the glasshouse to see some of Wisley's most important plant collections. The RHS's tender plant collection is housed there. So are rare and endangered species and hundreds of varieties of orchids.A new lake, intended to bring environmental benefits to the whole of Wisley and colonised by molluscs, damselflies, dragonflies and amphibians, surrounds The Glasshouse. A new landscaped garden, designed by Tom Stuart Smith, surrounds The Glasshouse
Other Wisley Highlights
- An Alpine meadow and rock garden
- Rhododendron, azalea and heather collections
- Wild garden, pinetum and arboretum
- A fruit orchard with more than 670 different apple cultivars
- A family garden
- A street of small gardens
There's also a shop that sells books and gifts as well as four different restaurants where you can have a snack, a glass of wine, or a full, hot meal.
Read about More Great English Gardens.
