Originally the house we now know as Heaselands was a modest Victorian Farmhouse sitting in grazing land. As such it was yet another property on the Bolnore Estate which itself comprised many large houses such as Moonhill, Chownes Mead, Heasewood and Burchetts. All, however, were secondary to the main mansion of Bolnore, whose architect was Decimus Burton and which was the seat of Sir Alexander Kleinwort and his Family from the late 1800’s onwards.

When Sir Alexander’s son, Ernest Kleinwort married his wife Joan in 1932, Heaselands consisted of a farmhouse with a small area of garden. The rest of the land was meadow, with oak and pine woodland stretching beyond. Between 1933-1934, Mr Kleinwort rebuilt the house and thereafter began to lay out the garden. The sunken garden, rock garden, tennis court, swimming pool and yew hedges for the enclosed gardens were all constructed and planted before the war. The rest of the garden features were formed between 1950 and Mr Kleinwort’s death in 1977. By gradually extending the planting into the woodland, the size of the garden has increased to create a 40 acre woodland garden, including formal gardens and lawns adjacent to the house, ornamental woodland, water gardens, various water features, parkland, paddocks and kitchen gardens.

Since 1991, Ernest Kleinwort's grandson, Sir Richard Kleinwort, has taken up the mantle of custodian to these beautiful gardens. He has overseen the introduction of modern techniques in managing and maintaining the gardens and their plant and tree collections. In more recent years, Sir Richard opened the Heaselands Garden Nursery offering over 70 cultivars of hardy hybrid rhododendrons for sale to landscapers, nurseries and the general public.

TODAY

The Heaselands Estate covers some 1,200 acres and runs between Haywards Heath in the North and Burgess Hill in the South, whilst also reaching across to the boundary of Cuckfield and Ansty.

We offer an award-winning 40 acre landscaped garden, 500 acres of healthy woodland, bodies of water including rivers, lakes, and ponds, farmland and the Sussex countryside. The property is maintained to the highest standards and has won a number of prestigious awards for its outstanding rhododendron and azalea specimens, which form part of the National Garden Collection.

We firmly believe we can offer a unique and convenient outdoor film location experience just an hour from London.