Lea Gardens

Laid out from a disused quarry in 1935 by John Marsden-Smedley of the John Smedley knitwear firm, this three-and-a-half acre woodland garden holds more than five hundred varieties of rhododendron and azalea. It opens daily from around March to late June, with a teashop serving cakes and free on-site parking, and is generally at its best when the rhododendrons flower in April and May.