Discover more at Mottisfont
Find out when Mottisfont is open, how to get here, the things to see and do and more.
The Rose Garden at Mottisfont
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. We've now reached the end of the season for another year.
Over 1,000 individual rose plants bloom in our walled garden during peak season. Climbers are trained onto red-brick walls, and shrub roses are set in beds among other flowers with complementary colours and foliage to show them off at their best.
Rose season may be over, but there's still plenty of summer colour in our gardens.
Pruning and deadheading
Many of the roses we care for only flower once a year.
While it’s tempting to tidy a rose by cutting off the blooms once they've passed their best, we leave the once-flowering shrubs and ramblers to produce rosehips. As well as providing a colourful display in winter, the rosehips are also an essential food source for wildlife.
We deadhead any repeat-flowering shrubs by pruning directly after flowering. This encourages the rose to bloom again later in the summer, and often into the autumn.
We then prune all our roses over winter, starting in early December and working right through until March.
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 on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays during rose season, to give people more opportunities to visit.
- 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.
- We recommend car sharing or use of public transport where possible to avoid pressure on limited parking spaces. Mottisfont & Dunbridge station is just over a mile away on foot, across fields and some country roads.
- National Trust members, Art Fund members and under 5s visit for free. Please note that we otherwise charge peak admission during June. Off-peak admission applies from 5pm onwards during our evening openings.
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.
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.
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 with Emma McNamara, the Horticultural Development Specialist for the National Trust.
Allow video to play? This page contains content that is published to YouTube.
We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as this content may introduce additional cookies. You may want to read the Google YouTube terms of service and privacy policy before accepting.
Video
Watch a video tour of the rose garden
Join Emma McNamara, the Horticultural Development Specialist for the National Trust to explore the rose garden at Mottisfont
You might also be interested in
Article
The garden at Mottisfont
Enjoy every season at Mottisfont, with its ancient trees and babbling brooks, from rich autumn foliage and the scented Winter Garden, to spring bulbs and, of course, the world-famous Rose Garden.
Article
Our work in the garden at Mottisfont
We make compost in vast quantities at Mottisfont, keeping the soil healthy and ensuring the garden, including the famous rose collection, is looking its very best.
Article
Explore the Mottisfont estate
Explore Mottisfont’s diverse estate, traversed by the crystal-clear River Test, and south Hampshire countryside sites of Stockbridge Down and Marsh and Curbridge Nature Reserve.
Article
The house and gallery at Mottisfont
Explore Maud Russell’s 1930s neo-classical interiors, in an 18th-century house with medieval origins and enjoy changing art exhibitions in the spacious gallery.
Article
The history of Mottisfont
Discover Mottisfont’s eight centuries of history and transformation. From medieval priory to the 18th-century structure, housing Maud Russell’s stylish 20th-century redevelopment.
Article
Family-friendly things to do at Mottisfont
Join in the magic this Christmas with The Nutcracker decorated house and family trail. There’s sparkle indoors and adventures outside. Discover Mottisfont’s Wild Play area, river and meadow. There are activities every school holiday, plus lots of places to picnic, plus snacks in our cafes. Baby changing facilities available.