Founded by amateur horticulturist couple John and Rosemary Nicholson in 1977 and housed inside the deconsecrated church of St Mary-at-Lambeth, this riverside museum explores the history of British gardening and its representation in art.
The museum is home to the Archive of Garden Design, a collection working records of leading British garden designers of the 20th and 21st century, while its permanent display features an assemblage of antique gardening tools and a gallery exploring the life and work of John Tradescant, an intrepid plant hunter, gardener to Charles I and founder of the UK’s first public museum, a collection of botanical specimes which he named ‘The Ark’ and displayed at his house in Lambeth,
At the heart of the museum is a courtyard garden where you’ll find the tombs of the Tradescants and Admiral Bligh of the Bounty, as well as a collection of rare plants representing John Tradescant’s journeys as a plant collector.
The museum hosts between four and six temporary exhibitions per year, and also houses an on-site restaurant, the Garden Café, which serves lunch daily from 12-3pm.