There are just two weeks left to visit one of the finest gardens in Britain. Leonardslee in West Sussex has for years pulled in streams of visitors through the spring and summer to admire its 225 acres of riotously colourful rhododendrons, its cartoonishly pretty rock garden, and grazing wallabies and deer. But at the end of June, its gates will close to the public for what may be the last time.
The Lodor family, who have owned the Grade I-listed estate near Horsham for five generations, put it up for sale at £5m in 2008. It's now been sold to a private buyer who wants to guard his anonymity and privacy, so the famous collection of azaleas and camellias will fall out of view.
It's a sad loss for the 50,000 visitors who stroll round the woodland garden every year - especially in May and June, when the huge rhododendrons that surround the estate's lakes are at their most stunning.
"The cost of running it has increased," said Tom Loder, who has been managing the estate with his sister. "I'm not a born and bred horticulturalist and didn't want to commit for the rest of my life to do it with the obstacle of additional legislation."
On a positive note, the garden shouldn't fall into neglect. Loder says the buyer wants to maintain and develop it - and, importantly, is wealthy enough to do so. The new owner may decide to reopen in future, but he hasn't bought it as a public attraction.
Horticulturalist Sir Edmund Loder bought the estate in 1889 and opened it to the public in 1907 to show off then-rare specimens from the Himalayas and his new rhododendron hybrid, Loderi. As well as plants from China, Turkey and Vietnam, the estate has also provided a home for kangaroos, emus and beavers over the years.
