Lady Sybil Stern donated Highdown Gardens to the people of Worthing in 1968, since when the local authority has managed the historic estate for the public.
Today the gardens are a living library, featuring horticultural exhibits collected at great expense from around the world by plant hunters working for Lady Sybil and Sir Frederick Stern over more than 50 years from 1909.
What arrived in the UK as seeds and cuttings has grown into a nationally-renowned collection on the slopes of the South Downs.