Laid out in the early 18th century as kitchen garden, today part of the garden is still given over to vegetables and cut flowers but the remainder of the area has been transformed into a garden of roses, dedicated to the memory of Lady Cecilia Howard.
The Rose Gardens originally comprised three adjoining enclosures - Lady Cecilia's Garden, the Sundial Garden and the Venus Garden. With their romantic Italianate trellises, hornbeam hedges and backdrop of brick walls, these gardens are a sheltered paradise of colour and intoxicating perfume, where visitors will enjoy a spectacle of massed roses. In total there are 2000 modern roses of all types making this one of England's most comprehensive collections.
The Sundial Garden is home to an ornamental vegetable garden styled on a French kitchen garden, known as a "Potager", where vegetables, fruits and flowers intermingle and are formally laid out for ornamental purposes. Each harvest - the first is usually by mid-June, the produce is replaced to ensure there is always something to see. The harvested produce is used in our kitchens and sold through our Farm Shop.