Villa Frere

The Gardens of Villa Frere are one of the quieter secrets of the Valletta area, a terraced Neoclassical English landscape garden at Pietà that has survived in spite of the city growing up around it. A Heritage Malta site, it is looked after day to day by the Friends of Villa Frere, a small charity of dedicated volunteers.

For UK visitors there is an unexpected familiarity here: an English-style garden with water features, follies and carefully planned views, created by a British diplomat in what was then a British colony. It sits among the places in our directory of museums in Malta and is close to the sights in our Valletta guide. Another green space nearby is the Upper Barrakka Gardens.

The story of John Hookham Frere

The garden owes its origin to John Hookham Frere (1769 to 1846), a British diplomat and scholar who came to Malta in 1821 so that his ailing wife, Lady Elizabeth Errol, could enjoy a healthier climate. They first rented modest buildings on the Pietà waterfront, then bought adjoining land to extend the gardens behind. After Lady Elizabeth died in 1831, the property became his permanent home.

The estate once covered almost four acres and rose in terraces to the top of Guardamangia hill, giving views from Floriana and Valletta across to Mdina (see our Mdina guide), including the Msida Bastion Cemetery where his wife was buried. Frere also gave the house to scholars: the Maltese language reformer Mikiel Anton Vassalli is said to have spent long hours there, and Frere opened his library to students who could not afford to study abroad. That library was later donated to the University of Malta.

What the garden contains

The grounds were designed with architectural follies, including a Doric gazebo, a series of ponds and fountains and, at the top, a Doric tempietto. Water was harvested and stored in channels and underground tanks with decorative wellheads, which kept an orange grove, a Dutch-tulip garden and many other themed areas alive through Malta's hot summers. The planting and the terraces are still the main attraction today, along with a sunken garden and ponds with water hyacinths.

The garden has changed hands and fortunes many times. After Frere died in 1846, it was neglected for almost four decades until Commander Edward Price turned it into a botanical garden with exotic plants, attracting Grand Tour travellers and members of royalty. In 1930 the gardens were the subject of a feature in Country Life magazine.

Survival, restoration and the Friends

From the 1930s a new hospital took over parts of the grounds, and after the Second World War more terraces, paths, planters and trees were lost to development. By the late 1980s the estate had shrunk to roughly a third of its original size. The Friends of Villa Frere charity was founded in 2013 to protect what remains, and Heritage Malta took custody of part of the gardens in 2019 and works with the Friends under a formal agreement. In 2020 the villa was raised to the status of a Grade 1 national monument.

For more than ten years a small team of volunteers has maintained the plants, conserved the architecture, opposed several development proposals nearby and promoted the garden's social history. Restoration continues, including work on the stairs to the sunken garden, and the charity relies on donations from the public, businesses and benefactors.

Visiting and supporting the gardens

The gardens open on advertised open days, which are published on the charity's website and newsletter, so plan ahead rather than turning up on an ordinary day. The garden is best enjoyed when it is not too hot, so see our Malta weather guide when choosing your dates, and add it to a wider itinerary using our page on things to do in Malta.

Anyone who loves heritage gardens can help by donating or joining the newsletter. If you need a base in the capital, our page on where to stay in Malta compares areas, and hotels in Valletta lists places in the capital. More of the harbour area is in our Three Cities guide. To ask about the next open day or about supporting the work, use the VisitMalta.co.uk enquiry form on this page and we will pass your message to the team.