Nymans

In the late 19th century, Ludwig Messel bought a house and 600 acres of land at Nymans and he promptly commissioned the fashionable architect Ernest George to extend the existing early 19th century villa with a huge conservatory and an Italianate tower.

The influential gardening writer, William Robinson, ‘Father of the English flower garden’, encouraged Messel to create a garden, which he did, beginning in 1895. The present house was built in 1928, in the style of a late medieval manor house, by Colonel and Mrs Leonard Messel as a replacement for his father’s Victorian villa.

In the winter of 1947, the house caught fire. Although the rear section of the building was rebuilt, the remainder was left as a roofless walled ruin; its high, mullioned windows left glassless and gaping. Paradoxically, this disaster gave the garden an architectural centrepiece of romantic antiquity.

With over 30 acres of gardens to explore and lovely views of the High Weald of Sussex, today it’s still a place to recharge the batteries where you can glimpse hidden corners through stone archways, walk along tree-lined avenues and be surrounded by lush green countryside.

From colourful summer borders to the tranquillity of ancient woodland, Nymans is a place of experimentation with constantly evolving planting designs and a rare and unusual plant collection. The comfortable yet elegant house, a partial ruin, reflects the personalities and stories of the talented Messel family; from the Countess of Rosse to Oliver Messel and photographer Lord Snowdon.

Nymans | West Sussex | National Trust