RHS Bridgewater: Europe's 'biggest horticultural project' opens

The first Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) urban garden opens later, completing what the charity has billed as Europe's "biggest hands-on horticultural project".

The 154-acre Garden Bridgewater in Salford is opening a year later than planned, due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

RHS Director General Sue Biggs said the £35m garden was "the result of years of hard work".

The charity said it was hoped a million people would visit the site annually.

A spokesman said the project had created more than 100 jobs, half of which were filled by locals living within five miles of the garden, and should generate about £13.2m a year by 2030.

It has been built on the former grounds of Worsley New Hall, the estate once owned by the Earl of Ellesmere which was itself home to "glorious, formal landscaped gardens", the charity said.

However, during the early 20th Century, the hall fell into disrepair and following a fire in 1943 it was finally demolished by a scrap merchant, who had bought it for just £2,500.

In subsequent years parts of the grounds have been used as a garden centre, a Scout camp and a rifle range.

Ms Biggs said the RHS and its partners, Salford City Council and Peel Group, were thrilled to be able to celebrate the "monumental achievement" of bringing the area back to life.

Visitors will be able to discover a host of gardens, including the 11-acre Weston Walled Garden - believed to be the largest publicly accessible working walled garden in the UK - and the Paradise Garden, which will showcase exotic planting inspired by Asiatic and Mediterranean gardens.

Salford City Council's Chief Executive Tom Stannard said the authority's £19m investment had "played a pivotal role in making the garden a reality".

"For every single pound we invest in this, we will see several pounds come back into our city," he said.

The garden is the RHS's fifth garden and will sit alongside its sites at Harlow Carr in North Yorkshire, Hyde Hall in Essex, Wisley in Surrey and Rosemoor in Devon.

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