Arundel Castle Gardens & Grounds
over the last quarter of a century
Arundel Castle current holders of the Historic Houses Garden of the Year Award
We were delighted to win the Historic Houses Garden of the year award in November 2025. Thank you to all of those who voted for us.
2000
Vine House
The 1852 Clarke & Hope Vine House was restored, with its lovely grape vines and peaches growing up the walls it houses our attractive pelargonium collection.
2001
Organic Kitchen Garden
2001 The Duchess of Norfolk designed the Organic Kitchen Garden, with four central crop rotation flowerbeds, with its abundance of fruit & vegetables throughout the year.
2002
English Rose Garden
A beautiful English Rose Garden was designed by the Duchess of Norfolk planted up with a wonderful selection of scented David Austin Roses, with gothic gates, archways, seating to reflect the backdrop of the gothic castle architecture. The scent of our roses is intoxicating.
The Fitzalan Chapel White Garden is peaceful with lovely white borders of herbaceous plantings as well as summer and spring bedding.
2007 - 2008
The Collector Earl's Garden
The Duke & Duchess of Norfolk commissioned British landscape designers Isabel and Julian Bannerman to design a garden to pay tribute to the 14th Earl of Arundel known as 'The Collector Earl'.
The garden has stunning Italianate terraces, water rills and oak domed pergolas, Oberon's Palace and an amazing display of tropical plantings, opened by King Charles III (the then Prince of Wales) in 2008.
2010
English Herbaceous Borders
There are beautiful English Herbaceous Borders in pastel colours, redesigned by Martin Duncan to allow the borders to naturally flow onto the paths with carefully choreographed plantings and sculptured the Yew hedging, that leads you through to the organic kitchen garden.
2012
Stumpery Garden and Tulip Festival
Martin Duncan, Head Gardener designed the quirky and unique botanical Stumpery Garden, using the estates ancient tree stumps most of which had fallen in the 1987 hurricane then planted up by the garden team.
The Tulip Festival was started by Martin Duncan and with his garden team.
2016
Wildflower Garden
A Wildflower Garden was created with a thatched roundhouse, this is planted up with spring bulbs and then sown with annual wildflowers
2017
Cut Flower Garden
The Cut Flower Garden was divided into parterre sections, the flowers go to the castle.
2018
The Collector Earl's Garden
Martin Duncan, Head Gardener & Landscape Designer created four new Tropical borders within The Collector Earl's garden lawn, giving the gardens an even more tropical feel throughout the season, and giving visitors the experience of walking through the tropics.
2019 - 2020
Historic Stew Ponds
The Duke of Norfolk asked Martin Duncan Head Gardener to draw up a plan to restore the historic fishponds by creating a water garden keeping their original footprint.
This took two years with local artisans, the castle garden team who planted over 1,500 water plants, and a Master Thatcher who thatched the newly constructed roundhouse & boathouse.
Paths, bridges were made. The water gardens were opened in 2020 winning the Sussex Heritage Trust Award for Best Landscape project.
2024
Organic Kitchen Garden
This part of the garden has undergone a few changes by the removal of the diseased box hedging, replaced with wonderful lavender hedging, and has really showcased the four central crop rotation flowerbeds, with its abundance of fruit & vegetables throughout the year as well as attracting the beneficial bees and insects.
2025
Dipping Pond, New Stumpery and Historic Houses "Garden of the Year Award"
2025 saw the launch of the new Dipping Pond by Martin Duncan and his team, showcasing the biodiversity of pond life for school visits and visitors alike and a new woodland Stumpery within the castle landscape.
Following the 2012 Botanical Stumpery in the Walled Gardens Martin Duncan designed a new Classic Stumpery in the landscaped grounds opposite High Street Lodge which was assembled over the winter and planted at the start of the 2025 season. The stumps were sourced from the wider Norfolk Estate by the Forestry team and the stumpery prepared and planted by the Gardens team.
Arundel Castle won the 2025 Historic Houses Garden of the Year Award. This award was won purely on the public vote, we wish to thank everyone who voted, allowing us to win this highly prestigious award!
2026
Cut Flower Garden
Martin Duncan has re-designed the Cut Flower Garden using yew balls and cones, following the removal diseased box hedging. He has kept the divided parterre sections which are planted up with Tulips for spring and will be followed with pretty summer displays including stunning roses, elaborate Dahlia's all grown as cut flowers.
2026 sees the 14th Tulip Festival and Arundel Castle where a staggering 1.4 million spring bulbs have been hand planted to date!
