Free Audio Tours at Leonardslee
We're excited to announce that we are now offering free audio tours of the gardens to all of our guests. Leonardslee Lakes & Gardens is full of wonderful stories and beautiful sights and sounds, and we want you to get the most out of your visit. Our audio tour features a series of talking points, triggered as you move around the gardens. You can listen anywhere on your phone or tablet. Just make sure to turn the feature on when you get near the markers on the map!
By downloading the Candide app for free from the Apple or Android stores, the audio guide can be pre-downloaded or listened to as you walk around the gardens. As you approach one of our location markers on the map, it will provide commentary and historical background on what you are looking at. The tour provides a more in-depth experience of the gardens and lakes, with interesting insights about flora and fauna and the people who helped make this beautiful setting possible.
The locations where commentary is provided can be visited in any order during your tour, but we’ve numbered them to indicate the most scenic 2-mile route, taking about 30 minutes to complete.
The journey begins at the Rock Garden, which was constructed in 1890 by the Victorian landscaping firm James Pulham & Sons. Natural rock gardens, ferneries, follies, and grottoes were a speciality of James Pulham & Sons.
After returning from his travels, Sir Edmund Loder, the owner of Leonardslee at the time and an avid collector of flora and fauna, set out to develop a natural environment for the ferns and Alpine plants he had gathered. As natural rocks were scarce, the knowledgeable Pulham craftsmen learned to craft their own rocks to meet Loder's needs. To create a natural setting, they blended huge stones with an unusual substance dubbed "Pulhamite," which resembles concrete.
Later in the tour, visitors can witness the stunning beauty of the Loderi Garden, often cited as home to the most important collection of Rhododendron hybrids ever created. The collection includes Rhododendron Loderi Sir Edmund and Loderi King George, raised by Sir Edmund in 1901 and are amongst the finest examples in the UK. Over time, he created over 35 different loderi hybrids, many of which only exist at Leonardslee, and so people come from all over the world to see them.
The seven lakes at Leonardslee are a key highlight for visitors and were constructed at different times for different reasons. The gardens were landscaped in the 1800s around the series of lakes that were dug out originally as ‘hammer ponds’ for smelting iron ore from 1580 onwards and were used to produce cannonballs and horseshoes for Oliver Cromwell’s army. Trees in the valley were felled to create charcoal for smelting the iron ore.
To finish your exciting day out, why not visit the Clocktower Cafe for lunch and refreshments? There's a choice of hot and cold beverages, light lunches, cakes and pastries. The perfect place to relax after roaming through the gardens and lakes. There is a farm shop in the cafe, featuring produce from the estate and selected local suppliers. You'll find freshly baked speciality breads, organic olives, local cheeses including Sussex Charmer, cured ham and beef from Sussex, chutneys, rillettes, sorbets, and cordials.
Listen to the audio tour:
Please use your mobile phone to download the Candide app in the Google play store or Apple App store.
Once installed, open Candide and search for 'Leonardslee Lakes and Gardens'.
Next, select our profile and scroll down to find our audio tours.
Select 'start', click on any of the plot flags, and then listen.
We also have a support article that may help those who struggle with the process.
