Highdown Gardens Visitor Centre and Access Improvements
Highdown Gardens is a beautiful 8.5-acre free-to-the-public heritage garden located within the South Downs National Park close to Goring-by-Sea. Today, Worthing Borough Council owns and manages the gardens, which were bequeathed to the Council in 1968 by the Stern family for the free enjoyment of the public.
The project's vision was to manage Highdown Gardens effectively and efficiently, balancing the responsibility to conserve the heritage of this unique chalk garden and its National Plant Collection with the need to encourage access and increase opportunities in the local community for healthy recreation and learning.
The works involved converting the existing staff bungalow to create a new visitor centre with publicly accessible internal space, back-office staff accommodation, and linked south-facing raised timber decking external space, a stairway, and lift access.
Other works involved improvements to the entrance area to improve the route, width and levels of the entrance approach and to increase the opportunities for signage and interpretation. The provision of an additional greenhouse and improvements to the Link Building to increase the “Propagation in Action“ facilities and an accessible "no dig" pathway (approximately 317 metres long) to link the newly configured entrance with the Propagation Area, the Visitor Centre, and on to a newly created Sensory Garden.
