6 Best Sights in The Southeast, England

Wisley is the Royal Horticultural Society's innovative and inspirational 240-acre showpiece, beloved by horticulturalists across this garden-loving country. Both an ornamental and scientific center, it claims to have greater horticultural diversity than any other garden in the world. Highlights include the flower borders and displays in the central area, the rock garden and alpine meadow in spring, and the large and modern conservatories; look out for the giant strelitzia (bird-of-paradise) plants. Also on-site are an impressive bookstore and a garden center that sells more than 10,000 types of plants. The garden is 8 miles northeast of Guildford.

One of the world's most famous gardens, unpretentiously beautiful and quintessentially English, Sissinghurst rests deep in the Kentish countryside. The gardens, with their many different themed "rooms," were laid out in the 1930s around the remains of part of a moated Tudor castle by writer Vita Sackville-West (one of the Sackvilles of Knole, her childhood home) and her husband, diplomat Harold Nicolson. Their relationship was loving but complicated, as both had a string of extramarital same-sex affairs; Vita, famously, had a decade-long romance with Virginia Woolf.

Climb the tower for a wonderful overview of the gardens—as well as a peek inside Vita's study en route—then descend to see them up close. There's the stunning White Garden, filled with snow-color flowers and silver-gray foliage; the herb and cottage gardens, which showcase Sackville-West's encyclopedic knowledge of plants; the Delos Garden, which brings a slice of the Mediterranean to the heart of Kent; and other spaces. As well as the gardens, there are woodland and lake walks all around, making it easy to spend a half day or more here.

If you love it so much you want to stay, you can—the National Trust rents the three-bedroom Priest's House on the property for a minimum stay of three nights; prices start at around £1,000 and rise significantly higher in midsummer. See the National Trust website (but you'll need to book well ahead).

Sissinghurst Castle Garden is 16 miles east of Tunbridge Wells on the A262.

The 12th-century Eastbridge Hospital of St. Thomas (which would now be called a hostel) lodged pilgrims who came to pray at the tomb of Thomas Becket. It's a tiny place, fascinating in its simplicity. The refectory, the chapel, and the crypt are usually open to the public, but at this writing the hospital is closed for repairs (set to reopen summer 2025).

Remaining open are the Franciscan Gardens across the river. Named for the Italian order of friars who were gifted this land in 1224, the gardens have since been restored to their medieval glory. You can usually purchase a joint ticket for the Eastbridge Hospital and Franciscan Gardens, but until the hospital reopens, the ticket is for the gardens only.

Combining a large timber-frame hall with an inventive cottage garden on a grand scale, this place will get your green thumbs twitching. The house dates to 1464 (you can tour a few rooms) and was restored in 1910 by noted architect Edwin Lutyens, who also designed the garden. From these beginnings, the horticulturist and writer Christopher Lloyd (1921–2006), whose home this was, developed a series of creative, colorful "garden rooms" and a dazzling herbaceous Long Border; Fergus Garrett continues to develop this stunning garden. The house is 7 miles northwest of Rye.

At this lovely spot, exotic plants collected by the gardener Ludwig Messel beginning in 1885 mingle with more homey varieties. Spring is the time to appreciate the rhododendrons and the rare Himalayan magnolias in the romantic walled garden; in summer the roses are lovely. The surrounding estate has wildflowers, woodland walks, and the remains of a 19th-century Gothic mansion. The house was largely destroyed by fire in the 1940s, although you can look around the surviving rooms, which are decorated with antiques from the 17th to the mid-20th centuries. Otherwise, it's a charmingly picturesque ruin. Nymans is near Haywards Heath, 10 miles southwest of East Grinstead.

A spectacular West Sussex oasis that is managed by the world-renowned Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew, Wakehurst comprises a 16th-century country manor house surrounded by 500 acres of gardens. The site has a heady mix of meadows, woodland, wetlands, and walled gardens, and is home to the ambitious Millennium Seed Bank project, which conserves seeds from all of the United Kingdom's native flora to save species from extinction in the wild. The current collection also includes seeds from about 25% of the world's flora. If visiting in December, look out for the giant redwood Christmas tree, the United Kingdom's largest. Wakehurst is 6 miles southwest of East Grinstead.