Huxley¹s Experience started off as a private collection and was finally moved and opened to the public at Horsham, West Sussex in 1993. The site was previously a dumping ground for the adjoining garden centre, and required a lot of hard, backbreaking work! We are proud of the fact that the garden has won awards in its own right - Gold award for the best commercial premises in Horsham in Bloom, and has also been featured in national gardening magazines.

Julian Ford is a highly qualified horticulturist and has managed to combine the two interests in his life, plants and birds of prey, the result of which is now known as the most colourful bird of prey centre in the country. In the summer the herbaceous border is a mass of colour, with roses heightening the overall colour scheme. There is a large collection of tropical plants, such as Passifloras, Thunbergias and various Tree Ferns to name a few, some of which are quite rare.

The Hawk Walk and Fernery is just as the name suggests, a place where you can get close to our flying team (helpful for photos) whilst walking round a collection of Tree Ferns in the centre display complete with a water feature too! Our Japanese water feature, completed in Spring 2003, has a variety of Acers planted around the pond and in front of our Asian Wood Owl¹s aviary are some Bonsai Trees. Scattered around the garden are seats for you to sit and relax in, away from the stresses of everyday life! In fact on those lovely summer days it is not uncommon for people to bring a picnic!

Our aviaries are set around the sides of the garden so plenty of scope to wander round the path and still smell the roses! The Display Lawn is central to the Centre with plenty of seating to watch the birds flying and the seating area is also where you can meet an owl or two at our handling times during the day.

Our aim is to ensure that our visitors have a pleasant day with us, with plenty of information about our birds and birds of prey in general, including habitat and conservation. There is always staff around if you have a particular question to ask, and of course mention must be made of a good friend of ours, JoJo, the Sulphur Crested Cockatoo, who you can meet in our Education Centre.

We look forward to welcoming you to the Centre!