Press Release

Wakehurst Place commemorates Great Storm of '87

Visitors to Wakehurst Place this autumn will be awed by the supreme seasonal colours that abound throughout the gardens and woodlands. Such beauty is particularly poignant this year as the 500 acre estate commemorates the 20th anniversary of the Great Storm that ravaged south east England in October 1987. There will be an exclusive exhibition of photography, telling the story of the storm and Wakehurst’s remarkable recovery, in the Visitor Centre from September 1 until the end of December 2007.

Nothing could prepare Wakehurst Place for the ferocity of the winds in the early hours of October 16 1987. Kew’s ‘country garden’, near Ardingly, West Sussex, was devastated by the storm’s damage, with 20,000 trees either uprooted or decapitated. However, the cataclysmic event provided an unprecedented opportunity to redesign features within the garden, including the beautiful Iris Dell and the Tony Schilling Asian Heath Garden. These designs responded effectively to the post-storm challenge of managing garden areas that now had significantly increased exposure to wind and sun.

“Over the last 20 years, Kew has invested many millions of pounds in the remarkable transformation of the landscape at Wakehurst Place, including the plantation of shelterbelts to reduce exposure to wind,“ explained Andy Jackson, head of Wakehurst Place. ”We chose a walk through the temperate woodlands of the world as the theme for our new tree plantings. In 80 minutes, it is now possible to walk from the woodlands of Tasmania in Coates' Wood to those of Taiwan in Westwood Valley, having visited the giant redwood forests of western North America in Horsebridge Wood. “

Any evidence of the storm is firmly in the past as, today, the estate boasts an impressive arboretum that also includes national collections of birch and southern beech. The variety and scale of the collection gives Wakehurst an outstanding range of leaf colour though October, November and into December, making it especially popular with visitors at this time of year.

In addition to formal gardens, natural woodlands, wetland conservation areas and a sixteenth century, Grade 1 Listed Mansion, Wakehurst is home to the Millennium Seed Bank, the largest wild plant seed collection in world, which recently celebrated the banking of its billionth seed. An interactive exhibition explains the pioneering role of the seed bank and visitors are able to see the work of scientists at first hand.

Wakehurst Place, managed by Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, is on the B2028 between Ardingly and Turners Hill (Junction 10 off the M23). It is open daily, from 10am, except December 24 and 25. For more information and to book a group visit, telephone 01444 894067 or log on to www.kew.org.

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