The Rose Garden at Mottisfont

The Rose Garden in June at Mottisfont, Hampshire — The Rose Garden in June at Mottisfont | © National Trust Images/Clive Nichols

The walled garden at Mottisfont is home to the National Collection of Pre-1900 Shrub Roses, which creates an annual spectacle in early summer. Unlike modern species, these 'old-fashioned' roses tend to flower just once a year, so their blooming season is an extraordinary annual sight.

This year, we're celebrating 50 years since the collection was brought here for everyone to enjoy, and our garden team are preparing it to face the climate challenges of the future. You can find out more about our work in the garden when you visit during rose season.

The beauty of the garden

Over 400 varieties of rose bloom in Mottisfont’s walled garden at its peak. Discover varieties such as Rosa ‘Souvenir de la Malmaison’ – a sumptuous pale pink bourbon rose inspired by the Empress Josephine’s famous garden – and delicate China and tea roses in shades of cream, pink and red.

Ancient varieties include Rosa ‘Gallica Officinalis’, a light crimson and deeply scented shrub brought to England from Persia by the Crusaders, and the highly scented ‘Quatre Saisons’, an autumn damask which was grown by the Romans.

Plan your visit

Flowering just once a year, in late May to mid-June, the blooming season of this unique collection of roses attracts thousands of visitors. Here's some information to help you plan your visit at one of our busiest times of the year:

Most of our visitors tend to arrive before 2pm. If you arrive in the afternoon, there’s still time to enjoy all that Mottisfont has to offer. We extend our garden opening hours during rose season, to give people more opportunities to visit: the gardens will remain open until 8pm (last entry 7pm) on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays from 30 May - 29 June.
On Fridays 7, 14 and 21 June you can enjoy 'celebration evenings' with live jazz from the FB Pocket Orchestra, plus wine tastings and wine for sale by the glass and bottle from award-winning Hampshire vineyard Black Chalk.
If you have the flexibility, a weekday visit is generally quieter than a weekend, even during school holidays. If you can only visit over the weekend, Saturdays are usually less busy than Sundays.
Please note that we charge peak admission between 10am and 3pm from 27 May - 30 June. Standard admission applies from 3pm onwards, including evening openings. National Trust members, Art Fund members and under 5s visit for free.

Making your way through the Rose Garden

The first walled garden is our recently revived Kitchen Garden, where two beds of 11 types of rose provide a modern introduction to the hundreds you’ll find beyond.

Walkway arbours are decorated with four varieties of climbing rose, based on Graham Stuart Thomas’s choice of companion roses. Hedging of Rosa rugosa ‘Rubra’ leads you into these arbours, mirroring the entrance to the central garden.

In the central garden, you’ll find deep box-lined borders full of rambling and climbing roses and clematis trained on the high brick wall behind. The main paths crossing the site converge on a central round pond and fountain, surrounded by eight clipped Irish yews.

Either side of this historic central pathway are two deep herbaceous flower beds boasting many of Graham Stuart Thomas’s favourite perennials, chosen for their structure, scent and wide colour palette.

Agapanthus, geraniums and peonies mingle with pinks, lilies, phlox and nepeta. The centres of the borders are a mass of soft blues, pinks and whites, whilst stronger yellows, oranges and dark pinks draw your eye along the length of the border.

Visitors in the walled Rose Garden at Mottisfont, Hampshire — Visitors in the walled Rose Garden at Mottisfont | © National Trust Images/James Dobson

Long borders brim with plants chosen to complement and underplant the roses. They also extend the season, providing colour, shape and scent before the roses bloom and after their petals fall. In June the roses are accompanied by striking spires of white foxgloves.

The northern section of the walled garden, with its wide paths, is deliberately planted with a 'cool' colour palette to provide a counterpoint to the central Rose Garden.

A gardener's dream

Created by Graham Stuart Thomas – one of the most important figures in 20th-century British horticulture – in the 1970s, Mottisfont’s walled garden was chosen to house many varieties that may otherwise have become extinct.

‘Few better sites could have been found for a garden of old roses than this.’

- Graham Stuart Thomas, An English Rose Garden (1991)

With an artist's eye and consummate knowledge, Graham Stuart Thomas designed a garden that would combine roses with a mix of perennials to give a season-long display.

Taste the roses

Pop into the café to try Jude's rose flavoured ice cream, as well as a range of other delicious flavours.

Pruning and deadheading

We don't tend to deadhead our unique rose collection, which can be a surprise for some visitors.

Most of the old-fashioned types only flower once a year and afterwards, produce ornamental fruit or ‘hips', which, as well as brightening the garden in autumn, provide local birds with an important source of winter food.

For repeat flowering roses the team remove the spent blooms by cutting the stem back to a healthy new bud which will encourage them to keep flowering.

Take a virtual tour of Mottisfont’s Rose Garden

We know that not all of you will be able to visit during the rose season, so please enjoy this video tour that we made in 2020 when the gardens were closed. Former General Manager, Louise Govier, talks about her favourite blooms and reveals the rich history of this magical garden: Enjoy highlights from Mottisfont’s Rose Garden