Rose Week at Sudeley Castle

Sudeley Castle’s popular annual Rose Week returns once more, to celebrate 2011’s blossoming floral gardens at their very best.

The award-winning Queen’s Garden at Sudeley Castle will be in full bloom from Monday 20 to Sunday 26 June 2011, when visitors from across Gloucestershire and beyond can expect to experience a riot of colour in this rare example of an English Rose Garden.

Grown by organic methods, there are more than 800 modern and old roses on show – including David Austin varieties, as well as herbaceous and annual plants, combined in a decadent display that organisers promise will take visitors’ breath away.

During Rose Week 2011, garden-lovers will get the chance to discover more about the historic castle’s diverse and fascinating gardens. As well as the Queen’s Garden, Sudeley is also home to the intricate Elizabethan-style Knot Garden, The Mulberry Garden featuring a grove of Mulberry trees planted in 1865, and the aptly-named White Garden full of white flowers.

There is also The Victorian Kitchen Garden containing rare and endangered plants, The Tithe Barn Garden growing in the ruined shell of a medieval tithe barn with a Koi Carp-stocked canal running alongside, and the romantically named Secret Garden which has more than 1,000 tulips in purple, lavender, white and pink hidden away behind ancient walls.

Sudeley’s gardeners will also be giving guided tours during Rose Week 2011, with booking in advance to reserve a place coming highly recommended.