One of the most popular visitor attractions in Sussex is to close to the public leaving doubts over its future.

Staff at Borde Hill Gardens in Balcombe Road, Haywards Heath, were dismayed by the planned closure and said they had been left in the dark about the reasons for the decision to close from September.

Staff fear their jobs are under threat but they have not been told about any future plans for the gardens or if the grounds would ever reopen to the public.

One planned annual public event has been cancelled - a popular "animal antics" day which had been scheduled for May. No other cancellations have been announced.

Financial accounts for the charitable Borde Hill Gardens Trust show it has lost hundreds of thousands of pounds during the past ten years despite doubling visitor numbers.

More than 77,000 people visit the grounds each year, making it one of the top attractions in Sussex.

However, figures from the Charity Commission show that last year alone, the trust's gross income was £322,913 but its total expenditure was £402,885 - leaving a shortfall of almost £80,000.

It is understood the Stephenson Clarke family, which owns the 200-acre Borde Hill estate, which also contains residential and commercial properties, has helped subsidise the garden which became a charitable trust in 1966.

The decision to close the gardens to the public has been taken four months after a new set of trustees took control from the previous trustees, Charles Macintyre Erskine, James Gardiner and Rory Stephenson Clarke, last October.

Staff do not know why the incoming trustees have taken the decision.

The Grade II-listed 17-acre garden, which has a worldrenowned botanical collection started by Colonel Stephenson Robert Clarke in 1900, has won critical acclaim in recent years.

It was awarded Heritage Lottery money in 1997, named Attraction of the Year by Tourism South East in 1999 and Garden of the Year by the Historic Houses Association in 2004 following the appointment of Harvey Stephens from Cornwall's Eden Project as its head gardener.

One senior member of staff, who did not wish to be named, said there were plans to use the gardens in some capacity next year but that staff did not know if that would be for the public or not.

He said staff were worried about the future and their jobs.

He said: "The garden will be open until the middle of September and then it will close.

"It will open again under a different format for the 2007 season but we don't know what that will be yet.

"What is known is that it will no longer be 365 days a year.

Everybody is just wondering what's going on."

Borde Hill usually has a packed diary of events throughout the year including Christmas fairs, Hallowe'en events and its Autumn Festival.

However, the Borde Hill website has no events listed for 2006.

James Kerr, of the East Grinstead Town Council tourism department, said: "It's an absolute tragedy. I hope we can all rally round and try to save the place. I am shocked."

Thursday, February 16, 2006