Best Botanical Gardens York Near Me

4worldlovers: At the Yorkshire Arboretum we have a small breeding group of native Red Squirrels Sciurus vulgaris, maintaining a captive population for future reintroductions, and enabling us to tell the story of a native mammal lost from most of our woodland.


The Red Squirrel enclosure has been designed and built entirely by Yorkshire Arboretum staff and volunteers. It’s modelled on similar designs elsewhere, with a perimeter of steel panels with a non-grip coating and a 3m no-leap zone all around, designed to keep Red Squirrels in and Grey Squirrels out.


The fence circles 2500m2 of ground, including a grove of oaks and other trees, in which the squirrels live natural lives. Please remember that they may not always be visible as they sleep or are in their dreys with young.


The Red Squirrel Enclosure is now open. There is no extra charge to visit the enclosure, but booking is essential.


Please note: to keep the Red Squirrels safe, we have some important rules for entering the enclosure, including not feeding the squirrels, being quiet and keeping on the boardwalk. A full list of rules is available by clicking here and will be displayed by the door to the enclosure. Please follow them.

120 acres of peace and tranquillity in the heart of North Yorkshire. It’s yours to explore…

A stunning landscape of parkland, lakes and ponds is the backdrop for a collection of more than 7,000 trees from around the world.

Wander off to explore peaceful hidden glades and meadows, let the children go wild, and enjoy the very best in seasonal, home-cooked food in the café.

4worldlovers:
Stillingfleet Lodge Garden and nursery is an organically managed, wildlife friendly, family garden close to York. Described as a quintessentially English garden, it is first and foremost a family garden, lovingly planted-up over 40 years by owners Vanessa and John Cook. Read more about how we encourage wildlife here.

It is a fine example of how to balance encouraging wildlife whilst retaining all the beauty of a cottage garden. The four acre site comprises a series of themed areas surrounding the traditional farmhouse plus a pond, meadow and vegetable garden.

The very well-stocked plant nursery includes many unusual perennial plants, 90% of which are grown here. We specialise in hardy geraniums and pulmonarias and have a large selection, both in the garden and to purchase.To help you with your plant selection you may wish to browse our plant catalogue before visiting.

You will see first-hand the many ways that the garden is managed organically, giving you inspiration to take home and turn your garden into a wildlife haven too. We purposefully leave seed heads as food for birds and limit cutting back to provide habitat for insects and places for hedgehogs to hibernate.

After you have explored the garden, finish the day with a cup of tea and a slice of cake in the attractive Tea Room and enjoy the art exhibitions.

Our entire ethos is one of sustainability – not just in how we manage the garden, but also in the tea room and plant nursery.

The garden and the tea room are also used to host a wide variety of workshops, some of which are aimend at improving your gardening skills and others are more creative. These events often sell-out quickly, so early booking is recommended.

Stillingfleet Lodge Garden, plant nursery and tea room is open from 1st April to 30th September between 13:00 and 17:00 every Wednesday and Friday plus the first and third weekends of the month.

Full details of regular opening times are shown on the calendar below. You can click on it to see a larger image.

You can also collect plants from our nursery out side the regular opening hours by prior arrangement. Please take a look at the plant catalogue and send us your order via the plant order form.

Tickets for the workshops and events for 2023 are now available. We have a great selection of new workshops and old favourites for you to enjoy, check them out here.

You are welcome to picnic at the tables in the car park if you arrive early, but you will not be admitted to the garden or plant nursery until 1 o’clock.

We have a beautiful flock of poultry roaming free around the garden. For this reason, neither the plant nursery or garden is suitable for dogs. You are welcome to exercise dogs in the grass car park, but they are not allowed in the rest of the property, (except for assistance dogs).

"You have made a great garden, we enjoyed the lovely peaceful entrance with the water feature. Didn’t use cafe, but looks very good. It’s a lovely courtyard. Signage of autumn plants to look for was excellent. Not sure about the rill in context of the garden as a whole……Thankyou for the seating everywhere……" Judi and Roy, September 2022

"Our 3rd visit here but our 1st in spring. Didn't expect as much colour and was pleasantly surprised. Our daughter loves the wildlife and the play area. Don't think the gardens can be improved in any way - perfect! Worth the journey." Rebecca, April 2023

“We absolutely loved visiting this wonderful garden and nursery. We enjoyed looking at all the plants and trees as well as the pleasure of observing the chickens and wildlife, including seeing a woodpecker, lots of long tailed tits, coal tits, blue and great tits and a dragon fly. It was so inspiring and so nice to speak with the owners who are so knowledgeable and helpful.” Sarah, September 2019