Mottisfont Abbey Rose Garden

We are so fortunate to  live just twenty minutes' drive from Mottisfont Abbey with its famous Rose Garden, which looks at its most  stunning in May and June, This afternoon, we visited  with our friends M&P and L&P.
The Rose Garden was  designed fifty years ago by Graham Stuart Thomas,  to showcase the National Collection of pre 1900 Shrub Roses. The current gardeners still adhere strictly to the original planting scheme, which as well as the roses include many herbaceous plants such as perennial geraniums, peonies, pinks, irises, and spires of white foxglove flowers. It was warm and  still in the walled garden, and the scents of the  roses and  pinks were particularly intense, while the  colours of the flowers seemed especially vibrant under the overcast sky.
After strolling through the Rose Garden, we enjoyed tea and cake, followed by a walk by the rive Test which flows through the grounds. Truly an afternoon feast for the senses.