ExploringSuffolk Gardenswithout a car
Suffolk is full of flowering gardens and parks, where you can stroll by the water or under shady trees and enjoy the sights, sounds and smells the English summer. From the historic seafront flowerbeds of Felixstowe to the Japanese-inspired Kensington Gardens in Lowestoft, there’s plenty to see without a car. Even the stations have gardens: at Darsham, Westerfield, Saxmundham, Woodbridge and several other railway stations in Suffolk, you can stroll past country-garden-style borders, wildlife havens, or colourful displays, lovingly created by volunteers. Here are some rewarding ideas for visiting Suffolk’s gardens car-free.
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1. Ickworth Estate
Inspired by his travels in Europe, Frederick Hervey, the 1st Marquess, completed the iconic Rotunda at Ickworth and created Italian-style gardens and Mediterranean vistas to go with the architecture.
- Ickworth’s Italianate Garden is the oldest surviving one of its kind and an outdoor exhibition tells you all about its history. Nearby, elegant cypress trees rise above immaculate lawns, a fern-rich Victorian stumpery and lots more…
- There is also a Temple Garden, complete with neoclassical summerhouse, and miles of woodland walks, celebrated for their carpets of early spring flowers like snowdrops and aconites.
- How do I get to Ickworth without a car? Bus 15X runs hourly from Bury St Edmunds bus station (Stand 8) to the village of Horinger and stops near the church, at the Park Gates. The buses are every two hours on Saturday and don’t run on Sundays. For more info, follow Good Journey’s directions.
- From the Park Gates, it’s a pleasant 15-minute stroll through the park to the visitor centre. Show them your bus ticket and you’ll get a voucher for a free hot drink in the café as a reward for arriving car-free.
- Any more great gardens nearby? Bury St Edmunds has some beautiful parks and gardens. The Abbey Gardens have well-kept flowerbeds between the ancient ruins and, in spring, there are flowering cherries too. Great for shady summer walks, spring and autumn are also great times to head to Nowton Park (bus M11/M22 and others from Bury bus station). The arboretum has spectacular autumn colour while March and April see thousands of daffodils blooming under the avenue of lime trees. There are some beautiful gardens around Lavenham too, a half-hour bus ride from Bury St Edmunds…
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2. Little Hall, Lavenham
A Tudor-style knot garden, with neat hedges and bay trees; an idyllic walled garden, full of roses and lavender, scented herbs and flowering shrubs… These are two components of the tranquil oasis hidden behind Lavenham’s ochre-painted Little Hall.
- How do I get to Little Hall without a car? Follow Good Journey’s directions and you’ll get £1 off when you arrive by bus, bike or foot.
- A fourteenth-century house on the town’s picturesque, cobbled central square, Little Hall is just four minutes’ walk from The Swan, where bus 43 from Bury St Edmunds to Sudbury stops.
- Inside Little Hall, you can find out more about the building’s interesting history, a microcosm of the changes that have happened in Lavenham itself over the centuries.
- Any more great gardens nearby? A five-mile walk along a disused railway, now a wonderfully wildlife-rich nature reserve, brings you from Lavenham to Long Melford. Here there are gardens at Melford Hall and (slightly further away) Kentwell Hall plus lots more to explore. Bus 43 from The Bull in Long Melford heads hourly back to Lavenham and through to Bury St Edmunds or Sudbury railway stations.
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3. Somerleyton
For another great car-free outing that involves a country walk as well as a garden, Somerleyton makes a great day trip. The walk there is a delightful two-mile saunter, partly along the long-distance Angles Way, through peaceful Suffolk Countryside. If you’d rather get a bus to the gates, you could pre-book a Buzzabout bus.
- Somerleyton’s twelve acres of gardens include different areas or “rooms” like the butterfly-magnet White Garden and the scented rose garden, full of old English varieties. There’s also a walled garden, arboretum, and thousands of acres of parkland, dotted with centuries-old oaks and gradually being re-wilded to benefit the local wildlife.
- How do I get to Somerleyton without a car? Just follow Good Journey’s directions. You’ll get 10% off entry for arriving by train or bus.
- You can explore the hall and gardens and have a leisurely lunch in the Greenhouse Café before you head back towards the station.
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4. St Elizabeth Hospice Garden Trail
Several gardens open each summer as part of the annual Great Garden Trail. One yearly event as part of the programme is the Great Rail Trail, where passengers travel from Ipswich for a special reception and explore Greater Anglia’s scenic East Suffolk Line.
- From March to September each year, there are opportunities to visit all kinds of gardens. In 2025, there are still chances to visit Woodwards garden in Coddenham.
- How do I get to Coddenham without a car? Take bus 116 from the Old Cattle Market bus station in Ipswich.
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5. Helmingham Hall
With only one practical bus a day in each direction, it takes more planning to get to Helmingham Hall, but it’s always worth it. In the summer, there are often sculpture trails, outdoor plays and cinema.
- How do I get to Helmingham Hall car-free? Follow Good Journey’s directions to reach this moated Elizabethan manor house, where the gardens are beautiful all year round. You can read more about it in this feature.
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More car-free adventures...
As the summer fades into autumn, here are some wild or arty places to enjoy car-free throughout the colder months with country walks and nature trails. You can also visit the Suffolk places where various TV series and films were made, including Somerleyton Garden, which featured in The Crown. Visiting car-free helps keep these lovely places green and peaceful and it can be really rewarding. Happy exploring!
