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  1. About
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Collections

The house was furnished by Nathaniel and Daisy Lloyd with a mix of solid, hand-crafted furniture that they picked up from salerooms and dealers, much of it dating from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. They chose tapestries to decorate the walls of the older part of the house and Daisy developed a taste for collecting samplers. Her embroidery skills, and those of her children, were employed to make cushions and seat covers. Much of this remains, although a portion was sold off in 1994 as part of a family settlement. To fill in the gaps, Christopher Lloyd commissioned some striking pieces of contemporary furniture from the designer Rupert Williamson. He also acquired studio pottery by Alan Caiger-Smith of the Aldermaston Pottery. The image below shows Christopher in the Yeomans Hall with examples of work by these craftsmen given to him by his friends on his 80th birthday.

In 2015 Alan donated to Great Dixter over 300 pieces of pottery through the Arts Council Cultural Gifts Scheme, dating from the 1960s to the closure of the Aldermaston Pottery in 2006. They are distributed throughout the house with some held in reserve in the Billiard Room and can be seen on a visit to the public rooms or by appointment.

A Lutyens plan of Great DixterA striking feature of the Lloyd family at Great Dixter through the twentieth century was their reluctance to part with anything, however minor. The result is an extraordinary collection of material in the archive that charts the story of the house, the garden and individual family members. Many of the plans, drawn up by Edwin Lutyens during the course of the restoration and extension of the house, are still in the house. Nathaniel Lloyd subsequently became a practising architect, as well as an eminent architectural historian and much of the material associated with his writing remains in the archive. He, together with some of his children, was a keen photographer so the visual documentation of life at Great Dixter is extensive.

A letter from Lutyens to Nathaniel Lloyd at Great DixterThere are thousands of letters by and to family members, as well as countless bills and receipts associated with the running of the house. Christopher Lloyd was a master of the written word, whether in notes, letters or published works and these too form a major element of the archive. Sustained efforts have been made in recent years to house and document the archive so that it is accessible to researchers.

To find out more please contact our curator Roy Bridgen at [email protected]

Published: 13th March, 2020

Updated: 11th March, 2021

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    The garden, house and education programme cost the Trust over £1 million a year to run. Around £700,000 of this comes from visitor, nursery and event income but the remaining £300,000 has to be found from donations as the Trust receives no regular public subsidy.

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    The Nursery Traineeship

    Applications for the nursery traineeship are open. The chosen trainee will spend 16 months in the nursery at Great Dixter learning from the team of experienced and knowledgeable staff who work there. Click here for more information and to apply!

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    Great Dixter Gardens is now open for exercise for local people. Please click here to book a ticket. Friends and Annual ticket holders do not need to book. From the 12th April 2021 travel outside your local area is permissible. The house itself will be closed until 17th May 2021.

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    Opening times

    The Garden at Great Dixter is now open to visitors. Friends and Annual Ticket holders do not need to book but we ask that other visitors book in advance. We are closed on Mondays except on Bank Holidays. Gardens open 11am to 5pm. The house will remain closed until the 17th May 2021.

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    The Nursery was started by Christopher Lloyd in 1954, specialising in plants he deemed garden-worthy. We remain a small, personal and professional nursery. We are open to customers every day from 1st April from 9-5pm and Monday to Saturday lunchtime until the end of March, 9am-12:30, 1:30-4:30pm.

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    Layered planting through the seasons

    In 2020 in response to the Coronavirus pandemic Great Dixter launched a series of online lectures on Zoom. These are now all available to watch online on demand on Vimeo. Fergus uses current examples from the garden to look at how layered planting at Great Dixter extends the season.

  • Nursery

    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.

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Published: 19th March, 2014

Updated: 7th November, 2018

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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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