Ahoy Families! Model Boats at Leonardslee’s Grade I Listed Gardens
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The Schooner Radio Control Group is returning to Leonardslee Lakes and Gardens over a number of weekends in 2023 and children are invited to experience the thrills of remote-control model boating.
Leonardslee members and other visitors to the historic woodland gardens are invited to a relaxing and fun-filled family day out in Sussex to see a variety of model radio-controlled boats and other attractions on the estate - which include a magical world in miniature at the Beyond the Doll's House exhibition, gift shop, refreshment rooms and classic afternoon tea at Leonardslee House.
The RC group will be sailing yachts, steamboats and warships and are happy to answer any visitors’ questions about sailing and the boats that the club members have built by hand.
Chairman of the RC group, Alan Woodroffe, says:
“Visitors are very welcome to come and watch. At each outing, we have two or three remote control yachts specially designed for children to use, with guidance for their parents in their use from our team. Leonardslee is a wonderful setting, the best place to sail a model boat. The conditions are superb and usually there is good wind for the yachts. We have non-cotton sails for when it rains, so it's an all-weather experience."
There are usually some 12 members present with powered craft and sailing boats that are around 6ft long and 7ft tall. There are many outstanding examples including, on occasion, an 8ft long Arab warship that is powered by an internal car battery.
Alan says the group's aim is to encourage and support members in the building and operation of scale sail, motorised and steamboats in a friendly and convivial atmosphere with like-minded people. Almost all the boats are built by hand rather than from kits.
Model ship making has a 4,000-year tradition. It dates back to antiquity. Ancient Egyptians were buried with small models of boats that both looked like real boats and were thought to be needed for religious purposes by the dead in the afterlife.
Modern hobbyists enjoy building and sailing models for relaxation, skill development, artistic expression, and the sense of satisfaction that comes with successfully completing a big or complex model. Many people are interested in military or naval history and wish to spend time with family and friends sharing a common passion.
The events will be held on one of the seven interlaced lakes at Leonardslee, located near Horsham, with lovely vistas of the surrounding Grade I Listed woodland gardens, from 10am to 3pm on the following dates -
15 - 16 April | 13 - 14 May | 17 - 18 June | 15 - 16 July | 12 - 13 August | 19 - 20 August | 16 - 17 September
Membership or a garden entry fee is required.
Please see the website for more information and the Schooner Facebook Group.
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Editors notes
Woodland Gardens
Leonardslee Lakes and Gardens, near Horsham, is a West Sussex estate and Sussex Wine vineyard with Grade I Listed woodland gardens.
Visitors to the model boat display can make a full day’s outing of it, including a visit to 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 the refreshments rooms or a classic afternoon tea in the Grade II-listed mansion house before dining at the Michelin-starred Restaurant Interlude and staying overnight in luxury accommodation.
Sir Edmund Loder, the famed Victorian plant collector, founded the 240-acre estate. The gardens are located in a valley with seven interconnected lakes and offer beautiful walks through woodlands and parkland. There is a Pulham rock garden, established in 1890, a deer park, and a wallaby colony that roams the estate.
Leonardslee offers beautiful displays of rhododendrons, azaleas, camellias, magnolias, and bluebells. The collection's diversity and maturity is exceptional, including numerous rare 'champion' trees that are threatened in their natural habitat.
The gardens provide a safe haven for endangered wildlife. This includes migratory and native birds such as Kites, Great Tits, Tree Creepers, Nuthatches, Woodpeckers, and Nightingales. The estate is also home to Emperor Dragonflies and Damselflies, White Admiral and Purple Hairstreak butterflies.
Leonardslee Lakes & Gardens is a lovely place for a day out all year round and is open every day except Christmas Day. Winter garden illuminations, wine tastings and festivals, photo and art exhibitions, live music events, cooking and gardening demonstrations, arts and crafts fairs, modelling, and children's entertainment are all part of a very full entertainment schedule this year.
The estate reopened in April 2019 following the Streeter family's acquisition and two years of extensive rehabilitation to restore the woodland gardens after eight years of closure and neglect under prior ownership. It was the largest garden restoration project in the United Kingdom since Heligan 30 years previously.
