RHS Garden Wisley

What a lovely place.  A good place to wonder round and admire all the different plants.  IF you have
a problem walking well NO PROBLEM, there are plenty of wheel chairs to use.  As regards food again
no worries there is plenty to be had and places to sit.

If ever I'm in the area again i would go back.

The flagship garden of the Royal Horticultural Society, and its huge plant collection,where people can study horticulture & all the rest of us can enjoy the fruits of their work. I went to a lovely wedding here of a wonderful gardener
Its one of my favourite places especially when the rhododendrons are out

Great place to go if you are local with kids. Join up for under £50 per year and you can get you and another adult in plus kids under 6 are free.

Lovely all year round - ducks, fish, glasshouse.

Highly recommended

Enjoyed a wonderful family day out at Wisley back in May 09. Had been many years since our last visit. The main highlight is the fabulous Glasshouse. Was so impressed how they catered for wheelchair users. The lift inside the glasshouse meant all of our party could enjoy both levels. A spectacular show of exotic flowers which has to been seen to appreciate in full. Loan of free wheelchair was very useful. Reserved parking bays for disabled badge holders. Refreshments available at several points on the tour.

Being the dutiful, modest daughter that I am, I treated my dad to a RHS annual membership for his birthday. Today we visited their flagship gardens situated southwest of London, near the M25. Apart from fantastic borders, they have a recently completed glasshouse which houses differnt plants from various climatic zones of the world. Also, model gardens which are an inspirational source of ideas for your own garden. When feeling peckish there are several places to eat which are of high quality if slightly pricey. A great day for OAPs and young families alike! What shall I get him for his next birthday pressie? Answers in an email.

I was in the area visiting a friend and we visited the gardens on saturday.It was a delighful day and I truly enjoyed strolling through the orchards and along the paths through the walled garden. The orchids in the tropical greenhouse are spendid and also there are bananas growing in the glasshouse. We had a lovely relaxing lunch and the asparagus and parmesan tart was to die for. My friend and I shared a carrot cake and that was also divine. It all tasted homemade and I noted the recycle all the packaging which is great. Worth a visit or many.

This is an excellent place to visit if you’re a horticultural lover. Great scenery, flowers, plants, trees and water features all over the grounds. Situated around a Mansion House.
It has a large ground to cover.
It has a cover area where there are the more exotic plants.
This is definately a place to visit especially in the summer days, the colours are so bright and cheerful and everything is big and beautiful.
I recently visited it in the Autumn too and they were having a harvest festival. A big marque with lots of stalls related to Harvest. Cider, apple selling, home made foods, drinks, arts and crafts etc. A band playing. It was a lovely atmosphere.

Wisley gardens makes for a pleasant stop to/from London to the South coast. There are a variety of gardens on offer, across vast landscapes.

You will need a good few hours to cover this place, with so much open lawn, flowers, ponds to see. The new greenhouse is quite impressive, housing some beautiful orchids, cacti and other varieties that thrive in the humidity. There are also show gardens at certain times of the year which display plans for more 'normal’ sized gardens. I particulary enjoy the walk through the rockery, and the large pond with pretty lily pads and ducks overlooking the main house.

The gardens aren’t exactly cheap to visit if you are not a member, but there is an extensive shop and cafe, so you can make a whole day of the outing!

love this place, great for whiling away a sunny aftrenoon, and getting some fresh air to. lots to see, tropical house great if its cold or raining, 3 cafes, fresh food.

I’m not a big gardening fan but was persauded to visit Wisley to look for some autumn colour and overall wasn’t disappointed with my visit. There isn’t a lot to see in the actual gardens in the late autumn but the colours of some of the trees and the spectacular glasshouse more than made up for it.

The newly-opened glasshouse (finished in 2007) is a model of modern architecture and of “green” building as it recyles rainwater, heats and cools itself down when required. It’s divided into different zones containing plants from different habitats and an excellent display on plant roots and how they work.

Having gone to see the autumn colours on the trees, I have to say that there weren’t large numbers of spectacular trees, but some individial trees with beautiful colours. However, Wisley was still a pleasant way to spend a sunny November afternoon.

The pagoda by the lake with the Japanese statuary and (in a different part of the grounds) the mushrooms and toadstools made out of wicker were highlights.

Fantastic place to while away a sunny afternoon, or even a whole day, and the kids will love the tropical greenhouse and vegetable garden, and if its wet, then relax in one of the 3 restaurants or the 'nice bits’ shop.

I recently visited Wisley with my family and was very impressed by the scope of the place. The buildings as you go in are beautiful and the gardens are so extensive there really is something to interest everyone. It would be worth being a member of the RHS though which then gives you unlimited entrance - there’s so much to see I think it would take several visits to do it justice. There is a fabulous glasshouse which is fairly new is full of tropical plants and an impressive waterfall. There are also lots of places to eat and drink.

The RHS gardens at Wisley provide the ultimate day out for so many people. As a young mum with a toddler it’s a great place to meet up with other families in the summer. There’s pleanty of space for the kids to run around and lots of interesting things for them to see.

There are several ponds replete with fish and ducks and endless open space to run about in.

For those without kids the day can be spent looking at the immaculate planting - there’s interest throughout the year.

The “new” glasshouse is a pleasure. Three differently heated zones provide the backdrop for some spectacular planting and a wonderful waterfall.

The tea-rooms are excellent value for money and ideally placed to enjoy the summer sun.

The shop is well-stocked and plants can be bought. Advice on matters horticultural can also be sought.

The venue is free to RHS members (plus a guest) but a charge is levied to non-members. Children under 5 get in free.

Note that the carpark is huge and on a fine day expect to park a long, long way from the entrance, let alone the bit of the garden you want to vist!

Wisley is the showcase garden of the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS).

Founded in 1804, the RHS is a charity aimed at developing and furthering all forms of horticulture and promoting gardening. However, it was nearly a century before the RHS acquired what is now its largest and most famous garden.

The origins of Wisley date back to 1878 when George Ferguson Wilson - a businessman, scientist, inventor and keen gardener and a former Treasurer of the Society - established the Oakwood Experimental Garden on the site, aimed at 'growing difficult plants successfully’. On his death in 1902, the gardens were acquired by the wealthy Quaker Sir Thomas Hanbury, himself a keen gardener. He gifted the gardens to the RHS a year later, fulfilling a need for a garden site near London that the Society had been looking for for several decades.

In the following century, the relatively small garden at Wisley (most of the grounds were then woodland) was expanded to the large horticultural garden we see now. The garden has always been more than just a place to wander and enjoy plants, however: a laboratory, library and school of horticulture were established here, and trials for developing new varieties of plants and demonstrating new horticultural techniques. This combination of learning, development and enjoyment is still key to the RHS’s work today.

Most of the visitors to Wisley these days come to enjoy the gardens, which demonstrate a wide variety of different types of planting and garden design. As well as the trial gardens, there are areas of woodland, rockeries, water features, formal gardens with roses and hedges, and of course the good old British favourite, the herbaceous border.

Also popular are the plant centre where you can buy many of the plants you’ve just seen, the gift shop (great for that hard-to-buy-for aunt) or one of the five cafés and restaurants on the site. The site makes good provision for people with disabilities, as much of the site is accessible and there is good provision for people with hearing and vision impairments and learning disabilities: full details are on the website.

Access is via the northbound carriageway of the A3, just south of the junction with the M25. Ironically, for somewhere so close to two such major traffic arteries, Wisley itself is a haven of calm for much of the year: be warned, however, that on summer weekends the gardens can get very busy indeed, with lots of coach parties as well as full car parks. But, overall, it’s a lovely place for a day out, close to London.

Vast, beautiful and diverse, Wisley is a natural haven of beauty - moments from the traffic-laden A3. Although the crowds are likely to stay with you, when you visit at weekends, it remains a garden of delights with space for tranquillity, contemplation and inspiration.

Find your favourite tree and relish the glory of its changing colours through all its seasonal guises. Explore and track down plants and varieties - new and old - to transform your house and garden.

If it’s convenient enough for you to get to on a regular basis, you’re likely to make new discoveries with each visit. Frequent visitors should take advantage of the RHS membership scheme; if you join-up you’ll save the £8 adult entry price and can bring along a friend for free.

The new green house is super but not enough changes at Wisley it is really the same each visit. They often make up for this with 'walks’ to spot things aimed at children but they are rather good fun for adults as well as they make you walk round different bits and in a different route from your usual one.
The eating places are great, again the cake slices are getting smaller but the food they make is the best of all the rhs gardens I just wish they would offer smaller/lighter lunch options so there is more room for cake!
The only thing that ruins it is all the children running round.

Horticultural heaven, acres of gardens which are pleasant to look at, it’s really a huge plant collection rather than a true landscaped garden. Features include the huge rock garden, new tropical glasshouse with children’s learning area.
For the very keen there’s a library and plant trial areas.
Plenty of catering, from cafes to restsaurant, the latter needs booking.
It can get very busy at peak times, so best to avoid these, strangely doesn’t open until 10am, and I think it’s members (RHS) only on Sundays.
Large gift shop, and plant sales, good ranges, but a little pricey.

Wisley RHS garden is a nice place to visit in an afternoon or morning. There is a large variety of themes to walk round including a collection of different house gardens, winding paths through woodlands and plant collections, a large rockery with myriad waterfalls and so on. The most recent addition is the new glasshouse which contains more exotic plants.

The gardens are expansive and if you take time to stroll round the fruit fields, arboretum and pinetum you’ll end up spending a long time there. This is good as it is about £8 per adult. There is also a garden shop and several cafes.

Part of the RHS gardens, Wisley is a beautiful place to stop by in Surrey.

The gardens have a great variety of flowers, plants, trees and fruit arranged in alpine / floral / model gardens... areas.

It is a very peaceful and tranquil place, even though it might get a bit busy on sunny weekends. The cafe is sweet and convenient for a pit stop.

There is also a Trial area, where new varieties and cultivation techniques are being worked on.