
If you’ve ever wanted to traipse your way around a magical setting and lose yourself in a fairytale fantasy, there are some striking London parks that offer you that chance. Heck, if these spots are good enough for Bridgerton then you know they’re picture-perfect! But one private garden, found just outside of London, boasts the absolute perfect fantastical setting: Dunsborough Park.
And this weekend, a rare opportunity to explore the stunning site has reared its head. One of Dunsborough Park’s rare open days will take place this Saturday (June 29). The garden is opening its door to the public (with a ticket!) for the Summer Garden Open Day. This will see guests treated to the spectacle of Dunsborough Park’s array of mid-Summer herbaceous and Roses.
Spanning 100 acres, this impressive private estate dates all the way back to the dissolution of the monasteries in the 1500s. Spread throughout its impressive land, the gardens boast an incredible array of floral blooms, statues, vistas, and gorgeous garden architecture.
All of that is capped off by its incredible proximity to London. Visiting this pretty-as-a-picutre setting is super easy thanks to being just half an hour outside of London!
Or, at least, it’s easy to visit when it’s open…
Visiting Dunsborough Park
Now, typically Dunsborough Park is not actually open to the public. Instead, they operate open days throughout the year that highlight the seasonal blooms.
The summer tour focuses on their mid-Summer roses, but Dunsborough Park is particularly famous for its tulips. They open to visitors on select dates in the spring to see the stunning blooms in their Festival of the Tulips. You can take a virtual tour of the tulip display here.
The garden’s history
While the property dates back to the 1500s, the gardens were largely laid out over the course of the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries. In the late 1990s, before opening to the public, the gardens also had to undergo a comprehensive restoration. While the property, and the on-site structures, had been kept in good nick – the gardens had been almost completely neglected.
Now Dunsborough Park is home to a dizzying array of plantlife, ranging from kiwi fruits and peonies to medicinal plants and herbs. There’s even a mulberry tree that is over 300 years old, tucked away in the ‘Secret Garden’.
One of the most striking sights at Dunsborough Garden, though, is the oft-photographed bridge over the Ockham Mill Stream. Guests make their way towards the bridge by way of The Water Garden and its series of descending ponds. The bridge itself looks as if it has been ripped straight from the pages of a fairytale.
Book your ticket here for the Dunsborough Park Sumer Open Day on Saturday, June 29.
Further tickets for later open days will be released nearer the dates. Find out more here.
📍 Dunsborough Park, Newark Lane, Ripley. The nearest station is Woking. From Woking you can take a taxi or the 515 bus, which runs between Guildford and Kingston, stopping in Ripley.