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  1. About
  2. House
  3. House Tour

House Tour

Great Dixter is made up of three houses, one built here in the mid-15th century with slightly later additions, the second a yeoman’s house from Benenden, across the border in Kent, built in the early 16th century and moved here in 1910, and the third combines the two with additional accommodation, completed in 1912.

The medieval part of the house (Great Hall, Palour and Solar) is open to visitors. For opening times please click here.

A guide is on hand in each room to explain the house’s history and answer questions.

As you face the entrance side of Great Dixter, the porch and everything to the right is 15th or early 16th-century, while the left hand side of the house, containing service quarters below and bedrooms above, is by Edwin Lutyens.

The extraordinary sweep of the tiled roof, particularly when seen from the upper garden, punctuated by tall chimneys and small dormer windows, is the most dramatic element of Lutyens’ otherwise self-effacing work at Great Dixter.

Following the path to the right, the huge chimney breast on the end wall of the house was a substitution by Lutyens for the miserable small flues then serving the Parlour and Solar.

The ground on the garden side of the house falls away quite steeply, so a terrace was built where additions to the south side of the Great Hall were destroyed, and the reconstructed house from Benenden was erected on a high brick base (containing the Billiard Room).

As you begin to walk along the Long Border, look back at the east side of the house. On the right on the first floor is a small window on a different level from all the others. This was a characteristic touch of Lutyens’ and is a floor level window in the Day Nursery. He called it the Crawling Window. Few great architects would have bothered to ensure that the smallest inhabitant, unable to reach a conventional window sill, could also see out.

The doorway (now blocked) in the end of the Benenden house is original.

The Waiting Hall

The Waiting Hall

A description of the Waiting Hall by Charles Hind Read more

Published: 25th November, 2020

Updated: 19th March, 2021

Author: Catherine Haydock

The Great Hall

The Great Hall

A description of the Great Hall at Great Dixter by Charles Hind Read more

Published: 25th November, 2020

Author: Catherine Haydock

The Parlour

The Parlour

A description of the parlour at Great Dixter by Charles Hind Read more

Published: 25th November, 2020

Author: Catherine Haydock

The Yeoman's Hall

The Yeoman's Hall

A description of the Yeoman's hall by Charles Hind Read more

Published: 25th November, 2020

Author: Catherine Haydock

The Solar

The Solar

A description of the Solar at Great Dixter by Charles Hind Read more

Published: 25th November, 2020

Author: Catherine Haydock

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Latest

  • Layered Planting: an intensive 5-part online Symposium

    Layered Planting: an intensive 5-part online Symposium

    Running from January to May 2024, Head Gardener Fergus Garrett will share his knowledge and skills with you, guiding you towards creating your own long season borders in the Dixter style, through a combination of online lectures, live Q&A sessions and tailored written support material.

  • Behind the scenes at Great Dixter in October

    Behind the scenes at Great Dixter in October

    Great Dixter is a garden that delights and challenges. Our Behind the Scenes Tour in October provides a rare opportunity to enjoy a private viewing of the garden on a day when it is normally closed to the public.

  • Behind the Scenes at Great Dixter in September

    Behind the Scenes at Great Dixter in September

    Great Dixter is a garden that delights and challenges. Our Behind the Scenes Tour in September provides a rare opportunity to enjoy a private viewing of the garden on a day when it is normally closed to the public.

  • Behind the scenes at Great Dixter in August

    Behind the scenes at Great Dixter in August

    Great Dixter is a garden that delights and challenges. Our Behind the Scenes Tour in August provides a rare opportunity to enjoy a private viewing of the garden on a day when it is normally closed to the public.

Most read

  • Opening times

    Opening times

    The House and Gardens are now closed and will re-open on Tuesday 26 March 2024. The Nursery remains open as follows: Monday to Friday 9.30am-12.30pm and 1.30pm -4.30pm; Saturday 9.30am - 12.30pm; closed on Sunday.

  • Tickets

    Tickets

    Pre-booked tickets are no longer required. Please purchase tickets upon arrival from the kiosk.

  • Visitor information

    Useful information to consider when visiting Great Dixter House and Gardens

  • The Nursery

    The Nursery

    The Nursery was started by Christopher Lloyd in 1954, specialising in plants he deemed garden-worthy. We remain a small, personal and professional nursery.

  • How to find us

    Details of how to travel to Great Dixter

  • Visit the Nursery

    Visit the Nursery

    Whilst the House & Garden are now closed for the season, our fantastic Nursery is still open. Between November 2022 - April 2023, The Nursery is open: Monday - Friday 9am-12:30 and then reopens 1:30pm - 4:30pm. Saturday - 9am - 12:30 Sunday (closed) There is no entrance charge.

  • Cafe

    Cafe

    The Loggia Cafe serves a delicious range of home-made lunches and refreshments. Vegetarian, vegan and gluten free options are available. Please inform staff if you have any special dietary requirements or allergies and they will endeavour to help.

  • Christopher Lloyd

    Christopher Lloyd

    Great Dixter was the home of gardener and gardening writer Christopher Lloyd (1921-2006), who developed it into a hub of ideas and connections that spread out across the world.

  • Garden map

    Download a map of the garden

  • About

    Great Dixter was the family home of gardener and gardening writer Christopher Lloyd – it was the focus of his energy and enthusiasm and fuelled over 40 years of books and articles. Now under the stewardship of the Great Dixter Charitable Trust and Christopher’s friend and head gardener, Fergus Garrett, Great Dixter is an historic house, a garden, a centre of education, and a place of pilgrimage for horticulturists from across the world.

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Sample appeal post

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Published: 19th March, 2014

Updated: 7th November, 2018

Author:

Address

Great Dixter House & Gardens
Northiam
Rye
East Sussex
TN31 6PH

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© Great Dixter House & Gardens 2020 · Ltd. Co. No. 7181964 · Registered Charity No. 1134948

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