Introduction
Rosemoor is a 20th-century plantsman's garden featuring a range of informal tree and shrub plantings in the grounds of a country house.
The original eight-acre garden contains a series of garden 'rooms'. The site is now managed by the RHS, which has created new demonstration gardens and built a visitor centre. There are themed ornamental gardens, a lake, stream and bog garden, and fruit and vegetable gardens.
- Visitor Access, Directions & Contacts
- History
20th Century
This notable modern garden derives its character from informal plantings of choice shrubs and trees which thrive in the Devon soil and climate. Since 1959, under the guiding hand of Lady Anne Palmer, Rosemoor developed into a plantsman's garden in the grounds of a pleasant country house. In the eight acres of the original garden there is a series of discrete ‘rooms', with lawns, shrub borders, a pond with water-loving plants in and around it, a collection of smaller ornamental trees, and a heather garden. Woodland garden plantings, bright in the springtime with rhododendrons and azaleas, clothe the steep slopes to the north and east. There are 4000 or so different plants in the garden.
In 1988 Lady Anne presented her house, garden and a further 32 acres of pasture to the Royal Horticultural Society who have developed the site as a Regional Centre for the West Country. On the former pasture, the RHS have constructed a visitor centre, a formal garden on the grid iron pattern, with rose gardens, herbaceous plantings, and theme gardens. The stream feeds a number of small pools and marginal areas, a bog garden and a lake. There are also fruit and vegetable gardens and demonstration gardens.
In 1999 the gazebo from Palmer House, Torrington was reconstructed at Rosemoor by the Devon Historic Buildings Trust, helped by a contribution of £5,000 from the Devon Gardens Trust. A new underpass links the old and new gardens.
- Features & Designations
Designations
The National Heritage List for England: Listed Building
- Reference: House and Gazebo
- Grade: II
Local Listing or Building of Local Importance
- Reference: Area of Great Landscape Value
Soil Type
Heavy clay
Style
Informal
Features
- Lawn
- Ornamental Pond
- Planting
- Description: Heather garden.
- Planting
- Description: Woodland garden plantings, bright in the springtime withrhododendrons and azaleas, clothe the steep slopes to the north and east.
- Planting
- Description: Formal garden on the grid iron pattern, constructed by the Royal Horticultural Society.
- Stream
- Description: The stream feeds a number of small pools and marginal areas, a bog garden and a lake.
- Lake
- Planting
- Description: Fruit and vegetable gardens.
- Planting
- Description: Demonstration gardens.
- Gazebo
- Description: The gazebo from Palmer House, Torrington was reconstructed at Rosemoor by the Devon Historic Buildings Trust.
- Latest Date:
- Key Information
Type
Garden
Purpose
Ornamental Garden
Principal Building
Recreational
Survival
Extant
Hectares
3
Open to the public
Yes
Civil Parish
St. Giles in the
- References
References
- Pugsley, Steven {Devon gardens : an historical survey} (Stroud: Sutton, 1994) 18, 80
- Gray, Todd {The Garden History of Devon} (Exeter: Exeter University Press, 1995) 193
- Lees-Milne, Alvilde and Verey, Rosemary {The Englishwoman's Garden} (London: Chatto & Windus, 1980) 97-100