Sculpture Park at Leonardslee Lakes and Gardens, Horsham, West Sussex

Leonardslee Lakes and Gardens launched in July 2021 a sculpture park, Europe’s largest exhibition by a single artist, the celebrated South African sculptor Anton Smit. The 240-acre estate features Grade I Listed woodland gardens, a Michelin Star restaurant, luxury accommodation and a programme of events throughout the year.

The exhibition, entitled The Walk of Life, comprises more than 80 figurative works, including Smit’s signature colossal heads, female forms and warriors. These are arranged around the estate, allowing visitors an opportunity to explore Smit’s extraordinary practice en plein air.

Rendered in various media, including steel, clay, stone, cement and bronze, the sculptures were created at Smit’s Cape Town and Gauteng studios. Leonardslee House also displays paintings as well as sculptures, featuring the works of both Smit and a range of guest artists. Visitors can enjoy the art to the accompaniment of the self-playing piano that is a feature of the magnificent hallway in the Grade II Listed Italianate mansion house.

The assembled works in the sculpture park include Faith, a monumental 7-metre tall sculpture sited next to the estate’s Italianate mansion. Of Faith, Smit says: ‘It investigates the landscape of the soul, offering a fleeting glimpse of eternity. The dimness of our reflection in the mirror of the universe leaves us gasping for immortality as we sink into the abyss of the self.’

Smit’s sculptures evoke themes of suffering, reconciliation, glory and sublimation, and are notable for their illusion of movement or gesture. A poet as well as an artist, he offers further meaning to the works with verses of his own and others, including Thomas Hardy and William Carlos Williams, which are featured alongside the sculptures. ‘[My work] is driven by faith; the spiritual essence of every piece is an answer to that inner call.’

Leonardslee’s owner, Penny Streeter, OBE, says: ‘With its woodlands and lakes, the grounds at Leonardslee are the perfect setting for displaying sculptures, and we are delighted to have an artist of Anton’s stature and international repute for our inaugural show.’

The gardens at Leonardslee were created in the late 1800s by Sir Edmund Loder, one of the great Victorian collectors of flora and fauna, including a colony of wallabies that still survives today. Loder most famously introduced exotic plants from as far away as the Himalayas and the Americas.

Landscaped around the series of lakes - there are now seven on the estate - the gardens were dug out originally as ‘hammer ponds’ for smelting iron ore which produced cannonballs for Oliver Cromwell’s armies. Indeed, Smit says this was an inspiration for the exhibition, which took three years to plan.

‘There is poetic synchronicity between the smelting of iron ore and the forging of massive sculptures and the creation of these beautiful gardens centuries ago,’ he says. ‘The intense heat, the roar and exhale of flames, the clamour of metal on metal; from this, great beauty is forged.’

Streeter acquired the estate, described as the finest woodland gardens in England, in 2017, following seven years of closure and neglect. She restored the estate extensively before it opened again to the public in 2019, and it is now under the management of her son, Adam Streeter.

She says: ‘The creation of the sculpture park is a further commitment by our family to this very special place, and we are looking forward to welcoming presentations by other artists in the coming years.’

The Walk for Life can be viewed seven days a week and is included in the entrance fee for Leonardslee Lakes and Gardens. The works are available for purchase.

About Anton Smit

Anton Smit’s first breakthrough into the art world came in 1977 after receiving a special mention at the South African Art Association’s New Signatures competition in Pretoria. Two years later, he won first prize in that very same competition.

Since then he has held numerous exhibitions of his sculptures throughout South Africa, in Witrivier, Nelspruit, Pietersburg, Johannesburg, Potchefstroom, Durban, Cape Town, in galleries such as the Crake, Kraft, Olivetti, Michaelatos, Beuster Skolimowski and Everard Read amongst others. His work has been exhibited in Rome and Milan, Italy. The M-Net Head Office bought large bronze sculptures, and he completed commissioned works for BMW’s head office in Midrand, South Africa.

In 1994, he placed 35 sculptures on exhibition in New York at the Grand Central Station as part of the Strengthening the Link initiative to boost trade between South Africa and the United States, organised by SATOUR in conjunction with the Department of Trade and Industry, represented by former president Nelson Mandela. A collection of his work was exhibited during the inauguration of President Nelson Mandela at the Union Buildings in Pretoria in 1994. Nobel laureate Desmond Tutu and ex-minister Pik Botha have his sculptures in their collections. Smit lives and works in Cape Town.

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Editors notes

Leonardslee Lakes and Gardens is a family-owned vineyard estate, near Horsham in West Sussex, which features ‘the finest woodland gardens in England’, Grade I Listed, as well as a Michelin Star restaurant and luxury vineyard accommodation.

The 240-acre estate was established by Sir Edmund Loder, the great Victorian plant collector, and now includes a Sussex Wine vineyard, with the first release of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier sparkling wine in 2024.

The estate features outstanding displays all year round. In the spring this includes rhododendrons, azaleas, camellias, magnolias and bluebells. The collection is exceptional in its diversity and maturity, with several rare ‘champion’ trees, threatened in their natural habitat.

The gardens offer a protected ecosystem for rare wildlife such as Emperor Dragonflies and Damselflies, White Admiral and Purple Hairstreak butterflies and migratory and native birds - Kites, Great Tits, Tree Creepers, Nuthatches, Woodpeckers and Nightingales.

The estate reopened in April 2019, following acquisition and two years’ intensive work by entrepreneur Penny Streeter OBE to restore the woodland gardens after eight years of closure and neglect under previous ownership. It was the largest garden restoration project in the United Kingdom since Heligan 30 years before.

Since further restoration work in 2021, visitors can also stay in the luxury vineyard hotel after dining at Restaurant Interlude in Leonardslee House, the Grade II Listed Italianate mansion house, to experience the Michelin Star multi-course tasting menu created by chef Jean Delport.

Visitors can view a magical world in miniature at the Beyond the Doll's House exhibition, which depicts the Edwardian estate and neighbouring villages at 1:12 scale. They can then enjoy a classic afternoon tea in the mansion house, making for a great family day out. It is one of the top places to visit in Sussex and is open all year round except Christmas Day.

For great days out, there is an extensive programme of entertainment that includes winter garden illuminations and light trails, wine and beer festivals, photo and art exhibitions, live music events, cooking and gardening demonstrations, arts and crafts fairs, modelling and toy shows, and children’s events and adventure trails.

Vineyards –

Leonardslee Estate: Acquired 2018 - 3.1 Acres - 2018 First vines planted - 4,000 Estimated bottles Experimental planting of Pinotage - 2022 First estate Pinotage

Mannings Estate: Acquired 2017 - 34 Acres - 2017 First vines planted - 70,000 Estimated bottles Sparkling wine cultivars 60% Chardonnay, 30% Pinot Noir and 10% Pinot Meunier - 2024 First release of wine