Roses at Emmetts Garden

June is a marvellous month for two reasons; it's my birthday and its the month of roses.

Roses aren't my favourite flowers if I were to receive a bunch (peonies win that one), but to visit an Italianate rose garden is quite possibly my favourite place to be. 

The scent as you enter this formal garden at Emmetts is just incredible! 

Frederic Lubbock, a banker and passionate plantsman, bought the property in 1893 and had the rose garden designed especially for his wife. Every June the roses reach their peak before filling the hillside with sweet scents all summer long. It is now owned and managed by the National Trust.

The statue and the surrounding area is bursting with roses, I could only dream of having a garden like this. It was so peaceful I wanted to sit and read a book all afternoon.

Created for Catherine Lubbock between 1910 and 1920, the rose garden at Emmetts was very much a central feature of the original garden design. It formed a frame for one of the key vistas from the house out towards the valley and weald of Kent.

Emmetts is also known for their year round interesting hillside features, you can read my previous posts about the bluebells and other seasons here and here.