Entrepreneur Penny Streeter OBE has acquired the 200 acre
Leonardslee Gardens estate at Lower Beeding, near Horsham in West Sussex, with
plans to restore and upgrade the site and open it to the public once
again.
Before
they were closed to public access in 2010, the landscaped woodland gardens
attracted some 50,000 visitors a year. They were first planted in 1801 and are
noted for the outstanding spring displays of rhododendrons, azaleas, camellias,
magnolias and bluebells.
Visitors
were also attracted by a unique doll’s house exhibition, depicting the Edwardian
estate and neighbouring villages at 1/12th
scale, and
also a rare colony of wallabies that have grazed in the gardens for over a
century.
Penny
Streeter is the owner of the Benguela
Collection
vineyard and hospitality group. It includes the 400 acre Mannings
Heath
Golf Course and Wine Estate, located eight miles from Leonardslee, and Benguela
Cove
vineyard in South Africa, as well as four restaurants and a hotel on the Garden
Route.
“We
will restore the gardens to their former glory and create new facilities on
site, including tea rooms and dining facilities, as a major local attraction for
families, wedding groups and others. It complements our golf and entertainment
facilities at Mannings Heath, where we are developing a wine destination,
bringing in our wines from South Africa and cultivating on site a new 35 acre
vineyard for English sparkling wine,“ says Penny Streeter.
Leonardslee
features a 19th-century Italianate style house, listed Grade II for
architectural merit. The gardens are listed Grade I on the Register of Historic
Parks and Gardens. They cover 200 acres of a steep sandstone valley, in which
there are a series of seven man-made ponds. The site includes two alpine
glasshouses, in need of refurbishment. A rock garden near the house was built in
1890 by the well-known Victorian landscaping company James Pulham and
Son.
An opening date is to be announced.
