200-year-old gardens to welcome visitors
16:26 21st April 2010
A 200-year-old horticultural attraction in Bedfordshire is set to welcome members of the public for the first time.
The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) revealed that it took renowned Victorian landscape designer Humphry Repton eight years to create the gardens at Woburn Abbey, with work finishing in 1810.
This year sees the 200th anniversary of their completion and current owner the Duchess of Bedford is planning a celebration that will welcome garden and greenhouse fans to the site.
Originally created at the request of the sixth Duke of Bedford, the gardens initially featured a menagerie with llamas, peacocks and antelope.
While a number of Mr Repton's features remain, visitors will now be able to enjoy informally planted woodland, as well as views over the Camellia Lake and the church tower of nearby village Woburn.
The celebrations will begin on the weekend of May 15th and 16th with a number of gardening events.
In other news, the National Botanic Garden of Wales is to undergo a funding review after it asked for a £250,000 grant from the Welsh Assembly, the RHS revealed.
