Fullers Mill Garden

About

This award-winning seven-acre garden is an enchanting waterside oasis set in Bury St Edmunds in the heart of Suffolk. It combines dappled woodland with a plantsman’s collection of shrubs, perennials, lilies and marginal plants to create a year-round garden. Views of its fantastic displays of form and colour reflect off its mill pond, the River Lark and Culford Stream throughout the seasons.

Fresh with new growth in spring, the garden feels full of hope and new beginnings. Scented lilies begin a succession of flowering to create a spectacular show of fragrance and colour into summer. Textures and golden hues illuminate autumn days, and the waters sparkle in winter as snowdrops awaken. 

The garden was created by the late Bernard Tickner MBE (1924 - 2017). He moved to Fullers Mill in 1958 and spent over 50 years creating the garden you see today from rough scrub and woodland.

There are six main areas to explore:

The Top Garden - In late May, self-seeding Tulipa sprengeri delights with its elegant red-gold blooms. In summer the magnificent grove of Betula ‘Silver Grace’ towers

over silver and purple flowering shrubs which surround majestic displays of many lilies.

The Home Garden - Behind the Bothy, the hoop petticoat daffodil, Narcissus bulbocodium, blooms alongside a bed of choice snowdrops while in autumn, Colchicum varieties bloom under the southern beech, Nothofagus antarctica.

Fullers Mill Cottage - The house walls provide shelter and warmth for more tender climbers and shrubs. Pomegranate, Desmodium and the rarely seen Acanthus sennii from Ethiopia, bask against the pink stone.

The Low Garden - This is an area of many habitats. Against the sound of rushing water, Primula, Darmera, Lysichiton and moisture-loving irises thrive on the Mill Pond edge, while the arid Alpine Terrace is packed with tiny beauties. Elsewhere, many specimen trees provide shady spaces for Cardiocrinum, Trillium and Arisaema.

The Quandaries - In spring Aesculus indica ‘Sydney Pearce’ blossoms triumphantly. In summer Spartium and Koelreuteria invoke scents of the Mediterranean, while lower down, at the water’s edge, mature Gunnera and bamboos provide lush, cooling foliage.

The Strip - The Chatto Bed is the focus here, with sun-loving, grey-leaved foliage plants largely familiar from Beth Chatto’s beautiful Gravel Garden. In late summer, drought-loving grasses mingle at the edge of the view across the lake with its swaying rushes.

In 2013, for its long term preservation, the garden was generously gifted to Perennial, the UK’s only charity dedicated to helping everyone who works in horticulture and their families by providing free, essential advice, support, services and a helpline for anyone in horticulture from new starters to retirees.

The garden shares its tranquil and peaceful energy with visitors from April to October, on Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 11am - 5pm. 

Plants for Sale

Turn your garden inspiration into reality by taking a bit of Fullers Mill home with you. Some of the plants for sale are propagated and grown in the garden. You will find some unusual plants among them. You will see many of these plants as you walk round the garden.

The Bothy Tea Room

Tea, coffee and delicious cakes are available to purchase from our serving area and enjoyed on the lawn or under the covered seating area in the garden.

Gift Shop

The perfect place to find something special including gifts for the home and garden. We stock a large range of contemporary cards, stationery and giftware, including our range of Fullers Mill inspired gifts, along with tools and accessories for gardeners.

Visitors describe it as

“Such a beautiful, quiet garden. It was lovely to relax and unwind in gorgeous surroundings.”

“a truly magical and very special garden”

“a gardener’s paradise”

“a garden begging one to return”.