R H S Garden Rosemoor

Places of Interest in Torrington

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Rosemoor Garden
Torrington
Devon
EX38 8PH

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days out, garden, garden centre



About

About Us...

The story of RHS Garden Rosemoor

Rosemoor became home to Lady Anne Palmer and her mother following the death of her father, Robert Horace Walpole, the fifth and last Earl of Orford, in 1931. At that time the garden was, as she describes it, 'dull and labour intensive, typically Victorian with a great use of annuals in beds around the house.' The Stone Garden, designed by Lady Anne's mother, was the first area of hard landscaping.

After the Second World War, Lady Anne returned to live permanently at Rosemoor with her husband Eric Palmer and young son. During the war the house had been used by the Red Cross as a temporary refuge from the bombing for people from London's Docklands and East End. The Palmers regained possession of the land and, with a herd of 50 Ayrshire cows, ran the estate as a dairy farm for a number of years. With the combined pressures of a young family and a career in local government allowing little time for dairy farming, the herd was sold and the farm reverted to pastureland rented out to local farmers for grazing. These grass lets continued until the estate was generously given to the RHS in 1988, since when they have been transformed into the acclaimed ornamental gardens and Bicentenary Arboretum.

Lady Anne's interest in gardening began in 1959, when she caught measles from her children and, while recuperating in Spain, met the noted plantsman Collingwood 'Cherry' Ingram. He opened her eyes to the beauty of the Spanish maquis and this became the first of many expeditions around Spain and England to see plants. Ingram also invited her to visit his garden in Kent and to take some cuttings and young plants back with her to start a garden of her own. She did just that and so started the plantsman's paradise we know today at Rosemoor. Lady Anne travelled widely to form her collection, including South America, Papua New Guinea, New Zealand, the USA and Japan, and such wide travels have led to great diversity among the 4,000 plants represented in Lady Anne's Garden.

The original garden at RHS Garden Rosemoor was created by Lady Anne Berry, and is a true plantsman's garden. The whole of Rosemoor is surrounded by woodland, and the acidic soil and valley-bottom location proffer their own challenges, as despite a generally mild climate, the garden is subject to frosts from October through to May.

Highly ornamental gardens with shrubs, roses, perennials and bulbs were established during the first ten years of the gardens' life, and now the emphasis has shifted to more extensive, long-term projects. For example, the surrounding woodlands have been purchased and are being carefully managed to reintroduce native trees and wild flowers - and of course encourage wildlife. Here we share some the highlights of RHS Garden Rosemoor.

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Some of the garden areas to explore

The Garden Room, RosemoorNew for this year
Curator Jonathan Webster looks at what's new around the garden this year, including an exciting orchard of heritage apples and a striking new events space.

Stream and rock gully
The stream runs alongside the main pathway leading to Lady Anne's Garden, it was landscaped using boulders to achieve the effect of walking through a deep rock gully.

Woodland garden
The woodland garden and woodland banks sit on a steep west-facing slope and form part of Lady Anne's original garden. The planting features a huge variety of ornamental woodland trees and shrubs.

The fruit and vegetable gardenFruit and vegetable garden
The fruit and vegetable garden contains a mouth-watering display of produce grown in a variety of ways to demonstrate to the home gardener the possibilities for their own plot.

The hot gardenHot garden
The vibrant hot garden reaches a peak in summer, when the form, texture and vivid colours of the perennials provide an exciting contrast with the delicate flower heads of ornamental grasses.

The Cottage Garden in summerCottage garden
Here, we have fulfilled the romantic ideal of the cottage garden, with brick pathways and beds crammed with a classic mix of flowering shrubs, perennials, annuals and biennials.

The Stone GardenStone Garden
This sheltered courtyard-style garden offers excellent growing conditions for a range of plants including camellias, acers, peonies and a selection of choice woodland perennials.

Call or visit our website for more information.

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