***************************************************************** * Gardens-Guide.com * 250,000 UNIQUE VISITORS in 2011 * 2,000 garden pages viewed per day from March to September 2011 * * 1,000+ Page Views! - One-Quarter of all gardens listed on Gardens-Guide.com * were EACH viewed more than 1,000 times in 2011. * * 500+ Page Views! - HALF of all gardens listed on Gardens-Guide.com were * EACH viewed more than 500 times in 2011. * ***************************************************************** *** UPDATE FORM *** Gardens of the Rose 1) Please COPY the entire FORM BELOW 2) Make any changes in BRIGHT RED -OR- mark changed Section Headers with: *** 3) email the ENTIRE FORM UPDATED backto us: wd (at) armchair-travel (dot) com **************************************************************** **************************************************************** **************************************************************** *** also - SEARCH ENGINE BOOSTING for both YOU and Gardens-Guide.com *** If your webmaster could place a link from your own website directly to your page on Gardens-Guide.com, this will improve it's rankings in Google and other search engines. Please use the following format and info on your own site to link to your page in Gardens-Guide.com: at Gardens-Guide.com http://www.gardens-guide.com The premiere directory of open gardens in the UK and Ireland today Ask your friends and suppliers as well to link to your page in Gardens-Guide as well. Every link we get into your page helps rankings for both of us in search engines. **************************************************************** **************************************************************** **************************************************************** Garden Name: Gardens of the Rose Last Modified: 26-01-2011 Garden ID: 0185 pic: 0185_GardensRose.jpg NOTE: If this says "missing", then please send us a picture for your page which is at least 1000 x 1000 pixels in size. Thanks! Owner: Roz Hamilton Address: Chiswell Green St. Albans Hertfordshire Postcode: AL2 3NR County: Hertfordshire tel: 01727-850461 and 0845 833 4344 fax: 01727 850 360 website: www.rnrs.org.uk email: info //at// rnrsorg English Heritage Grade: Opening Times: NOTE for 2012: Please check with garden owners or their website to confirm current dates open http://www.rnrs.org.uk Closed in 2010. No info as to opening dates 2011, possibly June. members can still visit the garden Mon - Fri, 10am - 4pm Best Times of Year to Visit: To see: National Collection: Roses National Garden Scheme days: No Comments: Parties / Coaches: Yes Comments: Viewing by Appointment: Yes Comments: Preferable but not essential House Open for Viewing: No Comments: Admission Prices: Old prices: (Adult £5; Children under 16 free with adult; Parties of 20+ £4 pp; Season tickets, single £15, double £25 RNRS members free.) Parking: Yes Lavatories: Yes Disabled Access: Yes Shop: No Plants for Sale: Yes Lunches: Yes Teas: Yes Refreshments: Yes Picnics: Yes Dogs allowed: Yes Only on Lead: Yes Events: Yes Other Facilities: Tea Room serving light lunches tea, coffee cakes. Features: Designer: Michael Balston Description of Garden: The Gardens as currently developed, cover more than five acres. Work started in September 2005. The plans, so far, include some 8,000 roses in approximately 2,000 different varieties - a veritable 'living dictionary of roses'. Visitors arrive along the curved President's Walk, which leads from the entrance circle towards the central pergola and ponds. The roses on either side are grouped by colour, ranging from whites to strong reds. Most are popular cultivars and readily available. The elliptical steel pergola, some 200 metres in length, is undoubtedly the most striking feature of the new gardens. It replaces the much-loved brick and timber semi-circle, dating from the 1950s, which had become unstable. There are 72 arches. Each of the arches is planted with a different pair of roses. Clematis and other flowering climbers are being added as the roses become established. The old Queen Mother Garden is now enhanced by a long vista and a striking new brick and wood pergola adjoining The Maze. The roses planted here were favourites of H.M. the Queen Mother, Patron of the Royal National Rose Society (1965 - 2001), and grew in her own gardens. They include the blue-purple Bourbon rose 'Reine des Violettes'. A recent legacy to the Society stipulated that it should be spent on a feature for children. The turf maze, designed by Adrian Fisher, is the result. It has the shape of a stylised Tudor rose, for many years the symbol of the RNRS. History: The gardens were recently re-built by Adam Frost Landscapes. Recent re-planting was by members of the Board of Directors with the help of the garden team. The roses forming the History of the Rose Collections come from all over the world. They are a living illustration of the development of roses and rose-breeding trends, past and present. The beds trace the development of rose breeding, following along the broad grass walk, from the Albas and Gallicas by the species border through to the more modern Hybrid Teas and Floribundas by the Presidents' Walk. They include examples of rare roses, bred in Britain but lost to cultivation here, which the Historic Roses Group of the Society has recently reintroduced from abroad. Local Inns: Black Lion Inn Accomodation: St. Michael Manor, St. Albans Sopwell House Restaurants: Magnolia Conservatory Village/Town/Sightseeing: