Highclere Castle Gardens: 10 Things to See in the Grounds

Hours, prices and access verified by the Highclere Castle Tours team — last checked 2026-09-09

Highclere Castle gardens at a glance

Eight of these ten sights come with your ticket. The two follies in most photographs do not.

Inside the ticket: the seven named gardens

Records show gardens here from the 13th century, long before the present house. Today the castle names seven, and you can walk all of them on any opening day.

1. The Monks' Garden

The castle calls it the original garden. White hydrangeas climb its old walls, so if you come in summer this is where the season shows first.

2. The Secret Garden

You reach it along a narrow path that opens into a broader walk, with blossom-covered cherry trees on either side and white hydrangeas later in the year. Downton Abbey fans know it: the castle names the Secret Garden and Lady Mary's bench among the filming locations you can see on a visit.

3. The White Border

Like the Secret Garden, it is planted with white hydrangeas.

4. The Wood of Goodwill

You walk in through beech arches and follow a curving beech hedge, past cherry trees and pink hydrangeas.

5. The Wild Flower Meadow

In summer the paths through the meadow are rough grass, not gravel. Wear shoes you do not mind getting damp.

6. The Rose Arbour and the Healing Herb garden

The Healing Herb garden is the one nearer the house, so it is the easiest to fit in if you are short of time.

Inside the ticket: the lawns, the cedars and Jackdaw's Castle

7. The cedars of Lebanon

The parkland and gardens sit in a landscape Capability Brown designed in 1771, and the cedars frame all of it. They are not native: the cones came back with the 18th-century traveller Richard Pococke.

8. Jackdaw's Castle

A roofless classical temple on the East lawns, about 220m from the house on the line of its east front. It was standing by 1743 and is listed Grade I, and you can walk right up to it. How it fits the rest of the estate's buildings is covered under Highclere Castle architecture.

Out on the estate walks: Heaven's Gate and the Temple of Diana

Neither is reached from the gardens. The estate opens separate summer walks to them, outside the ticketed grounds.

9. Heaven's Gate

A brick triple-arched eyecatcher on Sidown Hill, about 1.1km south of the house, built in 1743 by Robert Herbert and listed Grade II*. The south lawn's central axis points straight at it, so you see it from the ticketed grounds. To reach it you take the Heaven's Gate Summer Walk from the Wayfarer's Walk, daily from the Easter bank holiday to the August bank holiday, dogs on a lead.

10. The Temple of Diana and Milford Lake

The temple looks over the lake and was restored by the 8th Earl of Carnarvon. You have two ways to it, both from Penwood Road off the A34, with no parking on site:

• Temple Summer Walk: Spring Bank Holiday weekends, then daily through July and August. No dogs, because livestock graze there.
• Milford Lake Summer Walk: the first and second weekends in May, then daily through July and August, dogs on a lead. It skirts Dunsmere Lake, looking across at the temple, past rhododendrons and azaleas visitors have admired for nearly 200 years.

Can you visit the gardens without the castle?

No. The castle says an admission ticket is always required for the castle, gardens and grounds, and the gardens open only when the castle does. There is no gardens-only ticket.

What you can do without a ticket is walk the public footpaths through part of the estate, open all year: the Highclere Park Public Walk, Beacon Hill and the Old Burghclere footpath, with dogs on a lead. The 5th Earl of Carnarvon is buried at the top of Beacon Hill, a steep climb from its car park. For the castle's own days, check opening dates and access before you plan anything else.

How long to allow, and when the gardens are at their best

• The gardens: about 45 minutes.
• The house and exhibition tour: about 1.5 to 2 hours.
• Refreshments: 30 to 45 minutes.

Summer is their season. In January and February the gates close at 16:00 and you have little light left for the gardens; the season-by-season choice is set out in best time to visit Highclere Castle.

Your time on site matters as much as the season. The Downton Abbey and Highclere Castle small-group tour gives you two hours for the castle and gardens: the house and a short garden walk, not both at leisure.

Garden rules worth knowing before you go

• Photography: welcome in the gardens for personal use, banned inside the castle and the Egyptian Exhibition. See photographs of the gardens.
• Picnics: not allowed in the gardens. You can eat at your car, and there are picnic areas in the parking area.
• Dogs: only guide dogs in the castle grounds.
• Paths: gravel around the lawns and some gardens; the woodland walks and summer meadow are rough grass and may not suit everyone.
• Drones, smart glasses and meta glasses: banned across the whole estate.

The rest of the day, from tickets to taxis, is in how to visit Highclere Castle.

Tours that include the gardens

A castle ticket is the garden ticket, so a Highclere Castle tour with admission included gives you the gardens too. The Downton Abbey, Cotswolds and Highclere Castle tour names the castle, gardens and Egyptian Exhibition as one stop, and the other shared Highclere Castle day trips from London carry castle entry too. The full split is in which Highclere Castle tours include admission.

Some private Highclere Castle tours leave the castle ticket out, so you buy it from the castle yourself before you travel. Every option sits side by side on Highclere Castle Tours.

Book a day with the gardens in the fare

Downton Abbey and Village Small Group Tour from London

Admission to the castle house and gardens is in the fare, with the Egyptian Exhibition at £5 extra. Non-refundable, so fix your date.

From $250 per person

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From London: Downton Abbey and Village Coach Tour

Castle entrance fees covered on a coach day, which leaves you the gardens to walk. Non-refundable.

From $189 per person

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London: Private Downton Abbey Tour By Black Cab With Lunch Stop

A private black cab with castle entry, house and grounds, and two hours at the castle.

From $737 per person

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Frequently asked questions