Warley Place Nature Reserve

Fantastic place to visit. The walk is lovely and peaceful. The route is a mile long, you walk around the ruins of an old building and it grounds. Beautiful trees and forest trails up and down hills with stairs due to the steep inclines so be sure to have study footwear. An excellent place to visit. They ask for a small donation of £2 per adult for the visit this includes parking.

I really enjoyed walking around the gardens this place is steeped in history with lots of interesting information and some nice little surprises along the way, with a mixture of trees and plants from all over the globe. Early spring was definitely a good time to visit as this place was bursting with life.

Fabulous gardens! Real pleasure & a joy to walk round the gardens. Never seen so much daffodils & snowdrops in one place! Looking forward to the bluebells next.
A bonus to have a car park there too.
Free entry & car park.

I came to visit a friend recently, who took me here on a tour of the gardens. It was interesting reading about the different plants and trees on information panels around the grounds. The gardens are well maintained which made for great photo opportunities, as well as an enjoyable walk.

Have driven past here a few times and never been in. Thought it would just be a nice walk with the nature park, but there was so much more to it... learning about the people that used to live in the grounds and trying to imagine what the place would have looked like in its former glory.

What a shame the place was demolished before the war as would have been impressive.

Currently there's preservation works being done on some of the buildings amongst the grounds, but did not spoil the visit.

Nice little walk but doesn't take very long. Didn't see any birds either despite there being a couple of hides. There's a view of London skyline about half way around

Warley Place, was formerly the home of one of the most famous gardeners of her time,
Miss Ellen Willmott, who died in 1934.
A keen horticulturist, she introduced many exotic plants to Warley, and indeed to Britain generally.

South Pond which was the Medieval water supply for Great Warley will be the first eye catching stop point as you go through the gates after little car park on your left.
You can walk around the pond and come to the little watch point with the bench where you can sit and enjoy the view and listen to birds.

There are variety of ruins spatted across the farm land and other human kind features there such as:

1. The remains of Cold Frames, where Ellen Willmott raised many new varieties and hybrids of plants for which she was awarded numerous RHS medals.
In 1897, Ellen Willmott and Gertrude Jekyll were the first
women to receive the Royal Horticultural Society's Victoria
Medal of Honour. Similarly, in 1905, she was one of the first
women to be elected to the Linnean (plant classification) Society.

2. The remaining of the Coach House, built in 1882 and damaged by stick of bombs in II World War, where Ellen Willmott kept her carriages.

3. The Conservatory, which was built onto the house as part of the Victorian extension in 1875/6 and stabilised in 2006.

4.The Walled Garden probably dates from around 1700 when it would have been used for growing kitchen produce.

5. The rockery with very uneven path. Pay attention to sharp rocks!

And much more you can find out about Ellen Willmott when you visit this place.

Place is not so big. You can't go to either of meadows, but there are plenty of benches everywhere, so if you get tired at any point, you can sit and relax there.

There is also Thatchers Arms pub next door with nice meals and drinks and of course, toilets you can use.

Warley Place car park is not so big, for about 15 cars and free of charge. To get there, you will need to open the gates yourself, as they are usually shut and drive through.

When you are standing in front of the Thatchers Arms pub, the gates to the Warley Place will be on the right hand side.

Luckily , the weather was great , so, we have really enjoyed this hidden little gem.

Sadly though, for people who have dogs, they can't take them there.

Delightful gem tucked away. Beautiful plants and history behind this place. We'll worth a visit. Small car park as well.