The Royal Horticultural Society at Wisley
Woking in Surrey has a world-class attraction in The Royal Horticultural Society at Wisley.
It is the nation's most popular garden after Kew Gardens in London with 1.2 million visitors in 2019. The 240 acre site has just had a £20 million refit and merits a day's visit.
The garden is one of five administered by the RHS and the society's historic home. The others are Bridgewater in Worsley near Manchester, Harlow Carr near Harrogate in Yorkshire, Hyde Hall in Essex, and Rosemoor in North Devon.
History
The garden at Wisley was founded by George Ferguson Wilson a businessman and RHS member who purchased the then 60-acre site in 1878.
His "Oakwood Experimental Garden" on the site was an attempt to "make difficult plants grow successfully". His dream has become a lasting reality at Wisley.
After Wilson's death in 1902 Sir Thomas Hanbury purchased Oakwood. Hanbury was the man behind the La Mortola Garden close to Ventimiglia on the Italian Riviera. He gave the garden at Wisley site to the Royal Horticultural Society in 1903.
The Gardens
The gardens now cover 240 acres in total and consist of several distinct areas. These include both formal and informal gardens, glasshouses and the Jubilee arboretum.
Model gardens demonstrate to visitors how to transform their own gardens at home. The trial fields grow new varieties of plants for assessment.
The brick laboratory dates originally from 1907 but has been extended and remodeled over the years.
The Bicentenary Glasshouse with desert, temperate and tropical zones opened in 2007 alongside a newly-created water feature - the Jellicoe Canal. The latter has beautiful water lilies in season.
Some interesting features include the Oriental-style Butterfly Lovers Pavilion, a South African meadow and a Bonsai Walk. As well visitors can enjoy the garden's fruit collections of apples, pears and other fruits, the rock garden, children's garden and both walled and exotic gardens.
Among the multitude of plants are azaleas, crocuses, ferns, orchids, magnolias, rhododendrons, roses and wisteria.
Indeed Wisley has one of the largest plant collections in the world.
The Royal Horticultural Society at Wisley also holds various events throughout the year including flower shows, gardening workshops and courses as well as art exhibitions.
Other Parks & Gardens in Woking
Other green spaces in Woking include Horsell Common, Woking Park and The Peace Garden at the Muslim Burial Ground.
Woking is well-served by nature with the 355 acres of Horsell Common adjoining the town centre, the beautifully restored Basingstoke and Wey Navigation canals and miles of walking trails. The North Downs hills are less than half an hour away.
Brookwood Cemetery, the nation's largest, contains entire churchyards relocated from London, the graves of famous people including Sir Thomas Beecham, Dodi Fayed and Zaha Hadid as well as the remains of a Saxon King of England, Edward the Martyr.
The military section includes 5,000 Commonwealth war dead and 3,600 American servicemen from the two world wars.
Access & Hours
Wisley Lane, Wisley
Woking GU23 6QB
Tel: 01483 224234
www: rhs.org.uk
The gardens are open daily under normal circumstances from 9 am until 5 pm except for Christmas Day. They are barrier-free.
The garden is adjacent to Wisley Common and includes both a shop and plant centre. There is also a restaurant on site.
West Byfleet is the nearest station about four miles away from where taxis are available. There are also buses from Kingston, Guildford and Heathrow. From Kingston Station take a 715 to Guildford Friary bus station. Wisley is a stop on the way (about 1 hour). From Woking will require a change of bus, first a 462 and then the 715.
By bicycle take National Route 221 and the River Wey path.
Wisley Common is just south of the M25 motorway. Exit at Junction 10 and take the A3. Parking is free.
Getting to Woking
The M25 motorway (Junction 11) , the M3 (Junction 3) and the A3 offer rapid road links to Woking to match the extensive rail services.
On an average weekday there are around 250 trains from Woking to London Waterloo and vice versa, taking as little as 23 minutes.
Woking is half an hour's drive from Heathrow Airport or 40 minutes by bus, one hour's drive or train ride from Gatwick and has direct rail links to Bournemouth, Portsmouth, Southampton and Weymouth.
Woking Hotels
The new 100 metre-high Hilton will open in 2021, to add to the existing large hotels in the centre - DoubleTree by Hilton, Premier Inn and Travelodge.
Addison House and the Woking Hotel are two smaller central options and Gorse Hill is an elegant Edwardian alternative, as is the Talbot Inn in Ripley, a coaching inn with 500 years of history.
There is a good selection of serviced apartments for staying in too.
See here for a listing of accommodation in Woking to suit all budgets.
Map of Woking
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