On the eve of Chelsea Flower Show, Warren House on the Coombe Estate, threw open its doors in support of the National Garden Scheme charity, welcoming over 150 local garden enthusiasts to its beautiful formal gardens, created over 100 years ago by the Paget family. It was no coincidence that the neighbouring Japanese Watergardens created in the 1860's by Chelsea horticulturist James Veitch and Sons and until 1986 part of the Warren House Estate, were also open to visitors a week before the famous flower show opens in London.

Both gardens are an important legacy to the Victorian horticulturist and the intrepid plant hunters who travelled the globe in search of exotic new plants. Successive owners of Warren House, like so many other Victorian and Edwardian enthusiasts, popularised many new plant varieties many of which, like Japanese Acers, Rhododendrons, and Hydrangea are now taken for granted in this country.

The gardens will both be open again under the National Garden Scheme in October but if you can't wait until then a beautifully illustrated history of this remarkable house it's owners and their fabulous gardens is now available in a newly published book, The Warren House Tales, available exclusively from Warren House, Warren Road, Kingston, KT2 7HY.

For further information contact tales@warrenhouse.com or phone 020 8547 1777.

Based on information supplied by Joan Middleton.