Cutting Garden and Glasshouses at West Dean Gardens

Support Us

Here at West Dean, the extensive gardens and grounds give an enormous amount of pleasure to thousands of visitors every year. You tell us they provide inspiration for your art, ideas for your garden, a place for quiet contemplation and something new and beautiful to see and admire on every visit.

Whatever your reason for enjoying the gardens at West Dean, we know that for you, this is a special place.

Volunteering

We have recently been overwhelmed by the generosity and enthusiasm of our Gardens supporters and are therefore not currently recruiting new volunteers. If you would like to be considered when we do need some extra help, please detail your experiences, skills and contact details in a note to: [email protected]

Alternatively you can write to us at:

The Edward James Foundation
West Dean
Chichester
West Sussex
PO18 0QZ

My year at West Dean Gardens

"I volunteered one day a week whilst studying for my RHS Level 2 Horticultural Diploma.

The gardens are renowned for their high standard and when I worked there I experienced those high standards for myself and learned a lot. Without any doubt volunteering at West Dean helped me pass my RHS diploma. I believe it must be highly valued by any student of horticulture.

The garden team always gave their time and shared their knowledge with me enthusiastically. I always finished my days at West Dean feeling I had learnt something new.

Volunteering at West Dean offered me a wide range of experience and learning including:

  • In the Glasshouses:
    Watering duties, potting on, cuttings, dead heading, staking, clearing, tidying
  • In the Vegetable Garden:
    Weeding, building structures, harvesting, tieing in
  • In the Orchards:
    Harvesting
  • In the Spring Garden:
    Bulb planting, weeding, pruning, lawn edging, leaf blowing.

I will always be grateful to West Dean Gardens … for the positive and significant contribution they made to my career."

Leigh Glover, Volunteer