Last month we finally got round to visiting RHS Wisley in Surrey. RHS Wisley is the historic home of the RHS and houses one of the largest plant collections in the world.I love being outdoors at the weekend and this was a place on my bucket list. Tickets are pre-book so we booked a day, packed the puppy off to puppy day care (sadly no dogs are allowed at RHS Wisley except on special occasions) and set off for a short drive.

A trip to RHS Wisley with kids

I’m not much of a gardener but it doesn’t mean that I don’t appreciate a NT garden or walk, especially in Autumn. I love watching the leaves change colour, although I’d rather they stay on the tree than drop to the ground! We had never visited RHS Wisley before but were excited!! With social distancing restrictions in place we queued to show our tickets and enter the grounds. The first thing we saw was a sign telling us what was looking good which we found really helpful as first time visitors.

RHS Garden Wisley is one of five gardens run by the RHS – the others being Harlow Carr, Hyde Hall, Rosemoor, and Bridgewater (opening in 2021). Wisley is a large collection of garden covering over 240 acres. The site contains both formal and informal gardens, several glasshouses, orchards and arboretums. In addition, there are a number of small scale “model gardens” which are intended to show visitors what they can achieve in their own gardens, and a trials field where new cultivars are assessed.

As we entered the site we saw a huge sculpture over by the lake which caught our eye so we headed to take a look. The sculpture was one of four by the artist titled The Four Seasons by Philip Haas (open until 31st December) which were amazing. Sadly they weren’t made of real fruits and plants but were still very life-like.

We didn’t have a plan so just headed where we wanted, enjoying the amazing blue skies and sunshine. Highlights for us were the Glasshouses, The Walled Gardens, The Orchard, and the Jellicoe Canal. Actually there wasn’t anything we didn’t like!

The children were so happy to have space to run around and explore and they kept coming up with ideas on how to re-design our own garden! This was definitely one of the benefits of our visit, inspiration on what we could do at home.

They loved the Back to Nature Garden which included a sand pit, swings, slides and climbing equipment. There was also a fun den building area on The Conifer Lawn where they could burn off more energy.

We had a great trip to RHS Wisley with kids. They enjoyed our visit as much as we did and there was so much to see that we can’t wait to go back soon. The gardens were the perfect place to see the changing seasons.

As well as the gardens there are several lovely places to eat, a huge shop and plant centre too. Find out more and pre-book tickets on their website.