EVERYTHING’S coming up roses, as the North East’s newest visitor attraction prepares to open to the public.
With just one month until Wynyard Hall Hotel, Teesside, unveils its £1.6m Walled Garden development, the very last rose has now been planted in what will eventually become one of the largest rose gardens in the country.
Staff from Wynyard Hall’s nominated charity; Stockton-based autism organisation, Daisy Chain, were specially invited to plant the 3000th rose bush, in time for the opening event on Tuesday 4 August.
Built by the Hall’s former owners, the Marquises of Londonderry, in the 19th century, the Walled Garden has been entirely re-developed by Yorkshire-based landscape architect Alistair Baldwin.
Along with the colour and fragrance of 3000 roses, visitors will see yew and beech hedging, shrubs, and a few thousand herbaceous perennials, interspersed with walkways and water features.
“I am delighted we were able to involve Daisy Chain in the creation of the Walled Garden,” said Allison Antonopoulos, Managing Director at Wynyard Hall Hotel.
“The scale of the planting has been immense and the last rose was always going to be especially significant, so it is only fitting that it was planted by people with whom we’ve forged very strong links.”
The Walled Garden development, to the north of the Hall itself and within the estate’s 150 acres of grounds, will also house a state-of-the-art visitor centre, shop and café, stocking and serving locally-sourced goods and produce.
It is the second stage in a rolling programme of work to create The Gardens at Wynyard Hall, which will eventually cover four acres and be one of the largest rose gardens in the UK.
The first stage, adjacent to the Walled Garden, was the £1.7m installation of a Grand Marquee and management suite, for weddings and large scale corporate events and further stages will include a £2m investment in the creation of a cookery school, children’s garden and valley walks through the parkland.