The Arboretum

The Lovell Quinta Arboretum is owned and managed by the Tatton Garden Society. It has a dedicated website – The Lovell Quinta Arboretum.

View a 2024 video filmed by Horticultural Magazine about the site.

The arboretum is in the village of Swettenham and extends for about 11 hectares. It was created by Professor Sir Bernard Lovell FRS, from open grassland after he purchased the property in 1948. In 1996 it passed into the hands of the Cheshire Wildlife Trust who transferred it to the Tatton Garden Society in the autumn of 2003.

There are some 800 species and some 2,500 trees and shrubs, including currently two National Collections. There is a hebe collection with over 100 species in trial beds planted by The Hebe Society. In 2005, over 60 new rhododendron taxa were planted. There is a lake and many species of wildlife.

For more details see The Arboretum website.

Admission and Prices

The arboretum is open to the public every day, except Christmas Day, from 9 am to sunset. Entry is by the outside eating area of the Swettenham Arms and visitors may use the large pub car park. For one day each year the site is open for the National Garden Society (“yellow book”) charity.

Entrance is a donation of £2.50 per adult and £1 per child under 16, but is free to members of the Society and to RHS members. If no one is present to receive the money, it may be put in the brick box at the entrance. The money is badly needed to help maintain this beautiful site.

There are two recommended walks, one long and one short, around the site. The walks are marked with colour coded posts.