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Marianne North Centre Hastings - Conditional Site!
Hastings, East Sussex, United Kingdom
Aim
£20,000 to develop a community-centred Marianne North Centre in Hastings, the artist's birthplace
Panorama of White Rock and Bohemia, Hastings, possible site for a Hastings Botanic Garden honouring local artist and eco-visionary Marianne North
Courtesy: South East Photography
Summary
A Major New Development for the Hastings Botanic Garden Project
Our Crowdfunder – and a major step forward
We originally set up this Crowdfunder in 2022 to raise £2,500 towards consultant costs and architectural concept designs for a landmark botanic garden in Hastings, honouring local artist and eco-visionary Marianne North (1830–1890). A further £2,500 match funding was promised from East Sussex Public Health.
Now, we are delighted to report a major development.
In mid-August 2026, Hastings Borough Council invited us to submit a fully costed proposal for an initial garden in White Rock Gardens.
This is a significant step forward for a project that began as an idea in 2021.
Professional concept design
Following the Council's invitation, we asked FRLA (frla.co.uk), whose work includes renowned botanic gardens around the world and projects at Chequers, the Prime Minister's country residence, to develop a concept garden design.
We have applied for £13,000 of Pride in Place capacity funding to cover FRLA's fee. The decision has now been delayed until November because of the overwhelming response to the first round of applications.
We will also need a further £7,000 for PR, community engagement and project management, including work with local brand and PR agency 181st Street.
Our immediate project-development budget is therefore £20,000.
While we await the outcome of the Pride in Place application, we are actively exploring alternative sources of finance. We have also received an unsolicited offer of collaboration from a local mental health charity.
Meanwhile, renowned architects Mizzi Studio, whose latest project is the stunning Carbon Garden at Kew, remain interested in developing concept designs for a full-scale Marianne North Centre.
A director of Kew Gardens, home to the Marianne North Gallery, has described the project as a "major asset for Hastings".
Why this matters for Hastings
Hastings has enormous potential, but its visitor economy remains highly seasonal. The town needs more year-round, high-quality attractions capable of encouraging longer stays and attracting higher-spending visitors.
The new town-centre Premier Inn, which opened in December 2025, is one example of the changing visitor economy. At the same time, Town Deal investment—including a major upgrade to Hastings Castle's visitor facilities and improvements to the town centre—together with the £20 million Pride in Place programme over ten years from 2026, creates an exceptional opportunity for regeneration.
We believe a landmark botanic garden could become an important part of that opportunity.
White Rock: an extraordinary opportunity
White Rock is a 33-hectare area between Hastings and St Leonards-on-Sea, with a glorious location overlooking the Pier and English Channel.
Yet much of the area is underused, dilapidated and little visited, particularly during the winter.
Access from the seafront and the two nearby railway stations is currently poor, but this could be improved.
A landmark Marianne North visitor centre and botanic garden, whether at the southern end of White Rock or closer to Hastings Museum and Art Gallery in Bohemia, could help open up this remarkable area.
It could provide:
- a year-round educational and cultural attraction;
- a family destination for local residents as well as visitors;
- a new reason to visit Hastings outside the traditional summer season;
- a major new attraction for eco-tourism;
- opportunities for collaboration with East Sussex College, Bexhill College, Plumpton College, local schools and charities;
- education, training and employment opportunities for local young people; and
- a catalyst for wider regeneration.
The Hastings Local Plan 2025–2041 also provides for housing at the Convent of the Holy Child Jesus, on the western side of White Rock.
Other possible locations for the project include Hastings Station Approach, which is badly in need of regeneration, and the Old Bathing Pool in West St Leonards.
The potential economic impact is considerable. An economic impact assessment by Destinations Research, a leading tourism consultancy, calculates that a facility with a £1 million turnover could support around 50 jobs, either directly or in the immediate area.
That would help address the brain drain from Hastings while providing valuable year-round employment.
An international story with its roots in Hastings
Marianne North's work is loved and admired around the world.
In January 2023, celebrated American essayist Maria Popova, whose website reaches around 1.2 million readers online, featured Marianne North:
https://www.themarginalian.org/2023/01/23/marianne-north/
When we told Maria about our plans, she immediately responded: "wonderful project".
In December 2024, a journalist in India—the world's future economic superpower—published a well-researched article about Marianne North and botanical exploration in The Week:
https://www.theweek.in/voices/columns/brijeshwari-gohil/2024/12/13/botanical-marvels-and-taj-mahal-tales.html
Marianne North was also referenced in China Daily in February 2025:
https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202502/28/WS67c17827a310c240449d7e33_1.html
Closer to home, Marianne North was celebrated in the Women in Horticulture section of the RHS Chelsea Flower Show in May 2023 and profiled by Country Life later that year.
This international recognition represents an important and currently underused source of tourism potential for Hastings.
Financial viability is central to our plans
We have consulted a number of established botanical gardens in the UK about their experience of financial sustainability.
The message is clear: a successful attraction needs more than simply a beautiful garden.
Events, weddings, hospitality and a strong retail offer can all be important sources of income, alongside public and philanthropic funding. It is also vital to establish a reserve to protect the organisation against unforeseen events.
The National Botanic Garden of Wales, itself a Millennium Project which opened 25 years ago, has advised that an ideal ratio between public funding and self-generated income is approximately 1:3.
Engaging children and young people is also essential to building a successful attraction with repeat visitors.
We want the Marianne North Centre to be somewhere that people return to—not simply somewhere they visit once.
Two important anniversaries – and a forgotten Hastings history
Our project brings together two important anniversaries and a fascinating heritage of Winter Garden proposals in Hastings.
Marianne North's birth bicentenary – 2030
Marianne North was one of the most remarkable female artists of the 19th century.
At a time before colour photography and mass tourism, she travelled independently around the world, painting exotic plants and introducing previously little-known flora to Victorian audiences.
She was also a pioneer environmentalist who warned about habitat destruction and extinction.
Born in Hastings in 1830, she deserves a permanent memorial in her birthplace.
Her art—and her message—are arguably even more relevant today.
A little-known exhibition in Hastings in 1878
We have recently discovered evidence of an exhibition of Marianne North's work in Hastings in 1878, when her collection numbered around 500 paintings.
The exhibition was held at the Brassey Institute, then home to Hastings & St Leonards School of Art, in what is now the public library.
Curiously, this episode does not appear to be mentioned in the standard biographies of Marianne North.
The paintings had previously been exhibited at the forerunner of the Victoria and Albert Museum, the South Kensington Museum, while North was in India.
This discovery provides another fascinating connection between Marianne North and her hometown.
Hastings has been dreaming of a Winter Garden for 150 years
Our proposal also has a much longer local history.
The opening of a Winter Garden in Eastbourne in 1875 prompted newspaper campaigns for a similar facility in Hastings.
Indeed, the southern end of White Rock, opposite the Pier and then known as White Rock Meadow, was sold to Hastings Borough Corporation in 1903 on the condition that:
"it shall be used solely as a site for Municipal Buildings Winter Garden and Recreation Grounds".
Four bowling greens and a pavilion were eventually built—but the Winter Garden never materialised.
In 1904, a design for a Winter Garden opposite Warrior Square appeared in a special supplement of the Hastings and St Leonards Observer.
A further Scheme of Improvement in 1913 proposed a huge Winter Garden opposite Hastings Pier, on the site where the theatre now stands.
The idea of a tropical greenhouse and related facilities has also reappeared in more recent consultations and master plans for the areas around Falaise Road.
Our proposal therefore builds on a remarkably long local tradition of imagining a Winter Garden for Hastings.
FRLA: developing the garden concept
Following the Council's invitation to submit a proposal, FRLA will focus on concept development and community engagement.
Their experience of working with major botanic gardens gives the project access to specialist expertise at precisely the stage when we need it most.
The full proposal is available on request.
For more information about FRLA:
https://www.frla.co.uk/
Mizzi Studio: a potential landmark building
We are equally excited that Mizzi Studio remains willing to work with us on the design of a full-scale Marianne North Centre.
Their portfolio includes distinctive kiosks in London's Royal Parks and two projects at Kew: the playful and vibrant Family Kitchen and the landmark Carbon Garden.
Jonathan Mizzi and colleagues visited Hastings in February 2022, meeting senior members of the Council, including Paul Barnett and Julia Hilton, as well as local councillors Judy Rogers and Claire Carr.
They also hosted a return visit to Kew in October.
They have been impressed by the potential for a landmark community asset and have offered to produce the concept design at cost.
As Jonathan Mizzi said in July 2026:
"We are truly excited to have been approached to undertake the concept design for a botanic garden in Hastings St. Leonard's. Having ourselves recently completed two projects at The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, we are very much aware of how remarkable a person Marianne North was. The stunning proposed site deserves a landmark structure that gives back to the community and reflects Marianne's love for the natural world."
For more information about Mizzi Studio and the Carbon Garden:
https://www.mizzi.co
Growing local support
Since first proposing the idea of a botanic garden in the Hastings Online Times in July 2021, our community has continued to grow:
https://hastingsonlinetimes.co.uk/hastings-life/green-times/a-covered-botanic-garden-for-hastings
The Hastings Botanic Garden Instagram account now has nearly 2,500 followers, while our Marianne North Centre Facebook page has around 1,400 followers. A separate account promotes our annual garden festival.
The project received initial funding through Making It Happen, administered by Hastings Voluntary Action, because the project is based in Castle Ward, which includes the White Rock area and is also home to the project's founder, Alexander Wilberforce.
During the 2021–22 academic year, a class of computer design students at the Hastings Campus of East Sussex College worked on visualising a botanic garden as a work-experience project.
Their work was displayed at an exhibition in Alexandra Park on 5 June 2022 as part of the Jubilee Picnic, attended by hundreds of local residents.
In summer 2023, our inaugural Hastings Garden Festival attracted 750 advance bookings and nearly £1,000 worth of raffle prizes donated by local businesses.
A similar event took place in summer 2024 next to Falaise Indoor Bowls Club, with participation from a member of the North family and a re-enactment group from Dorset.
We have also held two Marianne North Celebrations at the Seafront Room at the White Rock Hotel, one sponsored by Eden Project Communities.
For our third celebration, in October 2024, we were honoured to welcome bumblebee and insect specialist Professor Dave Goulson, who gave a lecture at East Sussex College.
In September 2025, our "Back to Brazil with Marianne North" event at Hastings Museum and Art Gallery attracted around 700 attendees.
We were honoured to welcome National Geographic explorer and Peruvian Amazon expert Dr Rosa Vasquez Espinoza as keynote speaker, in the presence of the Lord Lieutenant of East Sussex and a great-great-niece of Marianne North.
Most recently, we won the Expression of Interest bidding process to stage the Midsummer Festival on 25 July, with part-funding from the Council.
One objective was to attract as wide a demographic as possible to White Rock. We therefore arranged for Head On Board CIC to stage a skate jam at the same time.
An estimated 500 people attended the two locations.
These events demonstrate that there is already a community around the idea—not simply an abstract proposal for a future attraction.
Our team
Local resident Alexander Wilberforce has led the project, working with experts in Hastings and further afield.
He has consulted Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI), the world's principal organisation for botanic gardens, as well as seeking advice from or meeting representatives of leading UK botanical gardens including Kew, Chelsea, Oxford, Wales and Edinburgh.
Particular attention has been given to financial viability.
Alexander continues to work as a financial analyst, and the project's pitcher plant logo reflects the importance of developing several sources of income, including events and a café, while making the facility somewhere that children will want to revisit.
On the advice of Hastings Voluntary Action, we established a non-profit company limited by guarantee, Marianne North Centre Hastings Ltd, in February 2024 to take the project beyond the concept stage.
We have a small board but are always keen to hear from people who would like to contribute their time, knowledge or expertise.
Why Marianne North matters now
The world is grappling with climate change, habitat loss and extinction.
Marianne North's work speaks directly to these challenges.
She understood the extraordinary diversity of the natural world and documented plants and habitats at a time when few people had the opportunity to see them.
The Covid pandemic also forced many of us to reconsider how we live and how we relate to the natural world.
We believe Hastings now has an opportunity to create something positive and enduring: a landmark centre where art, plants, science, education, tourism and community wellbeing come together.
A project for Hastings—and beyond
The Council's invitation to submit a fully costed proposal represents a major milestone.
We now have the opportunity to move from an idea to a professionally developed scheme.
The 2030 bicentenary of Marianne North's birth gives us a natural target, while the current regeneration of Hastings and the focus on White Rock create an exceptional opportunity to establish a major new attraction.
We are therefore continuing to seek funding, expertise and partners to help us take the next step.
If you would like to support the project, contribute your expertise, explore partnership opportunities or simply follow its progress, we would love to hear from you.
Please follow our social media for updates:
Instagram: Hastings.Botanic.Garden
Facebook: Marianne North Centre
Feedback and offers of support are welcome at:
Help us make the vision a reality
A landmark Marianne North Centre and botanic garden would not simply commemorate an extraordinary woman from Hastings.
It could become a new year-round attraction, a centre for education and wellbeing, a catalyst for the regeneration of White Rock, and a new international reason to visit Hastings.
The opportunity is now real.
We need your help to take the next step.
Further background
For more background on why Marianne North is so special:
https://www.hastingsindependentpress.co.uk/features/i-am-a-very-wild-bird-and-like-liberty-marianne-north-1820-1890/
Excerpts from The Remarkable Miss North are available here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_nALt1P7UtU
(DVD available from Kew Gardens.)
Media coverage
Hastings Online Times:
https://hastingsonlinetimes.co.uk/hastings-life/nature/marianne-north-botanic-garden
The Marginalian:
https://www.themarginalian.org/2023/01/23/marianne-north/
Hastings Garden Festival:
https://hastingsonlinetimes.co.uk/arts-culture/festivals/inaugural-hastings-garden-festival
Sussex Express:
https://www.sussexexpress.co.uk/news/people/in-pictures-hastings-garden-festival-4189276
The Week:
https://www.theweek.in/voices/columns/brijeshwari-gohil/2024/12/13/botanical-marvels-and-taj-mahal-tales.html
Sussex Express – Midsummer Festival:
https://www.sussexexpress.co.uk/news/people/in-14-pictures-people-enjoy-free-midsummer-festival-in-hastings-8823367
Thank you very much for your interest and support.
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Funding method
Keep what you raise – this project will receive all pledges made