A sweet disorder
Country Life UK|June 03, 2020
Moor Wood, Gloucestershire Charles Quest-Ritson visits the National Collection of rambling roses, which shows these most romantic of plants at their very finest
Charles Quest-Ritson
A sweet disorder
THE National Collection of Rambler Roses at Moor Wood is a glorious tableau of colour, beauty and scent, worth a long journey to see at the height of its midsummer loveliness. The collection began in 1983 and is still expanding, thanks to the commitment of Henry and Susie Robinson, who put it together and remain faithful to their dream of collecting all known varieties of rambler roses before they are lost to gardens and gardeners. Most were bred between 1890 and 1930; many are rare and some are extinct, at least in Britain. Making the collection is conservation in action.

It all came about in an unusual way. The Robinsons were about to be married and knew that, eventually, they would take over the big house at Moor Wood. They decided that they needed a good theme to resurrect the two-acre garden and adapt it to modern exigencies. This was a time when Plant Heritage, then known as the National Council for the Conservation of Plants and Gardens [NCCPG], was looking for people to establish National Collections (‘I lost my heart to a hosta’, July 22, 2015).

The Robinsons’ friend Andrew Lyndon- Skeggs showed them a list of the genera for which the NCCPG was hoping to find custodians and the Robinsons realised immediately that rambler roses were a perfect choice for the Cotswold stone of their walled garden, fitting with the wild, rather romantic effect they thought they could create. Ten years later, the 100 different roses they had planted were recognised by the NCCPG as the National Collection of Rambling Roses. Still expanding, it now stretches to more than 150 ramblers—Multifloras, Wichuranas, Ayrshires, Sempervirens hybrids and more.

This story is from the June 03, 2020 edition of Country Life UK.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.

This story is from the June 03, 2020 edition of Country Life UK.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.

MORE STORIES FROM COUNTRY LIFE UKView All
Love and logic
Country Life UK

Love and logic

Two lovers who endured adversity and separation in life would become united in Paris after death, discovers Eileen Reid

time-read
3 mins  |
March 27, 2024
Don't mock them
Country Life UK

Don't mock them

Plant a philadelphus, or mock orange, now for improbably lovely scent and cascades of sparkling blossom this summer, says John Hoyland

time-read
3 mins  |
March 27, 2024
Home is where the art is
Country Life UK

Home is where the art is

No trouble is too much for the Marquess of Cholmondeley to display to best effect Sir Antony Gormley's sculptures against the magnificent backdrop of Houghton Hall, even if it means cutting a hole in the floor, as Charlotte Mullins discovers

time-read
6 mins  |
March 27, 2024
Bold and beautiful
Country Life UK

Bold and beautiful

The gardens at Broughton Grange, Oxfordshire The home of Sir Stephen and Lady Hester An arboretum, woodland garden, stumpery and heather garden all planted for artistic effect are among the many features that mark out this exciting garden, says Charles Quest-Ritson

time-read
6 mins  |
March 27, 2024
Land of liquid gold
Country Life UK

Land of liquid gold

Greek cuisine-from delicious mezes to shellfish-might be 'tightly bound to the sparse soil and the blue sea', but it is sorely underrated, laments Tom Parker Bowles

time-read
4 mins  |
March 27, 2024
An old way of life in rural France
Country Life UK

An old way of life in rural France

Arcadian tranquillity, a wealth of cultural richness and a slow pace of life enchant John Lewis-Stempel as he reflects on his existence in France profonde

time-read
5 mins  |
March 27, 2024
Deep in Hardy country
Country Life UK

Deep in Hardy country

Hardy's beguilingly pretty Wessex is the setting for three houses with links to people and places that fuelled the writer's imagination

time-read
5 mins  |
March 27, 2024
The benefit of foresight
Country Life UK

The benefit of foresight

The ability to anticipate the future is the secret of a successful building project

time-read
1 min  |
March 27, 2024
Nature's rarest gems
Country Life UK

Nature's rarest gems

G. Collins & Sons specialises in the sourcing and setting of the finest natural fancy coloured diamonds the world has to offer

time-read
2 mins  |
March 27, 2024
A prickly subject
Country Life UK

A prickly subject

Resembling a jumbo jacket potato on surprisingly long, scurrying legs, the hedgehog is Britain’s favourite mammal. Marianne Taylor takes a closer look beneath its spines

time-read
5 mins  |
March 27, 2024