Coach Hire to Wakehurst Place and Glow Wild

Coach and minibus hire to Wakehurst Place

Coach hire to Wakehurst Place with JRP Direct takes your group to Kew’s wild botanic garden near Ardingly in West Sussex and brings everyone home together after dark. The company behind the trip is JRP Direct, a locally owned minibus and coach operator near Heathfield in East Sussex with 15 modern vehicles on the road and drivers who all hold enhanced DBS checks. This page covers the Glow Wild 2026 dates and entry times, group tickets, the sessions designed for visitors with additional needs, and daytime group visits to Wakehurst Place outside the Christmas season.

Glow Wild 2026 dates, entry times and closing times

Glow Wild runs at Wakehurst Place on 31 evenings between Thursday 26 November 2026 and Saturday 2 January 2027. The trail is open between 26 and 29 November, 2 and 6 December, 9 and 24 December, and 27 December and 2 January.

Entry is by timed slot. Slots start at 4pm, standard entry runs from 4.15pm and the final slot is between 7.45pm and 8.15pm depending on the night, or 7pm on Christmas Eve. Closing times depend on the night. On off-peak nights the gardens close at 9.30pm, on standard nights at 10pm and on peak nights at 10.15pm, with 9pm closing on 26 November and on Christmas Eve. Wakehurst Place recommends allowing about an hour for the trail and advance booking is essential.

Group tickets for Glow Wild

Wakehurst Place offers 10 per cent off Glow Wild tickets for adult groups of 7 to 20 people, and asks groups of more than 20 to contact its events team directly. All the tickets for one booking arrive in a single attachment and every member of the party has to enter together. Children must be accompanied by an adult, and every guest, including children under four, needs their own ticket.

Once your entry slot is confirmed, send it to us with the number of passengers and we will plan the collection time around it.

Relaxed and Reduced Sensory sessions for SEN groups

Wakehurst Place runs a Relaxed Session at 4pm every night of Glow Wild for visitors with hidden disabilities, such as autism, and their essential companions. Reduced Sensory Sessions, designed for children with special educational needs and sensory processing needs and capped at 50 visitors, take place at 4pm on 29 November, 4, 9 and 17 December 2026 and 1 January 2027. A free essential companion ticket is available to disabled visitors.

The trail itself is accessible on hard standing and flat gravel paths, with some slopes and uneven ground, and wheelchairs can be borrowed on a first come, first served basis. For SEN settings, our drivers include staff trained to support passengers with special educational needs, and the fleet includes a wheelchair-accessible executive coach with 51 seats plus a wheelchair position.

Daytime group visits to Wakehurst Place

Outside Glow Wild, Wakehurst Place welcomes garden clubs, horticultural societies and community groups across more than 500 acres of gardens, woodland and nature reserve, home to the Millennium Seed Bank. Groups of 10 or more paying visitors receive a discounted rate, with a lower price for groups that book and pay at least a week ahead. Essential carers are admitted free.

All coach drivers arriving with a group are admitted free and receive a catering voucher. Wakehurst Place charges a £100 coach parking fee only where more than half the group are visiting on National Trust membership. Private 75-minute walking tours with a volunteer guide can be added, booked at least a month in advance. During the Glow Wild period, daytime visitors leave the gardens at 3pm, with last entry at 2pm.

Collecting across Sussex and Kent

Our base is at Cross in Hand, near Heathfield. Groups are collected from workplaces, village halls, schools and care settings in Heathfield, Uckfield, Crowborough, Lewes, Haywards Heath, Burgess Hill, East Grinstead, Crawley, Tunbridge Wells and other towns in Sussex and Kent.

More of our evening and group travel is covered on our minibus hire for events and coach hire in Sussex pages, and theatre groups can see coach hire to Chichester Festival Theatre.

Book coach hire to Wakehurst Place for Glow Wild

For coach hire to Wakehurst Place, for Glow Wild or a daytime garden visit, send us the date, your entry slot, the number of passengers and your pickup address, and you will receive a written quote with transparent pricing.

Ring 01435 515099 or email info@jrpdirect.co.uk. The quote form on our website is another option.