Valley Gardens
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Valley Gardens are 220 acres (0.89 km2) of woodland garden, part of the Crown Estate located near Englefield Green in the English county of Surrey, on the eastern edge of Windsor Great Park. The Valley Gardens and the nearby Savill Gardens are Grade I listed on the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens.[1]
They contain unrivalled collections of azaleas, camellias, magnolias and many other spring-flowering shrubs and trees. There are several acres of daffodils. A heather garden of 10 acres (40,000 m2) gives pleasure even in winter.
History
The gardens were planted from 1946 onwards by King George VI and Queen Elizabeth. It was J.B. Stevenson of Tower Court who urged the selection of the Kurume azaleas for the Punch Bowl and it was his famous collection of rhododendrons which was added to the Gardens in the 1940s after his death. The work was undertaken at a time of great austerity. Contemporary publicity noted that the gardens "open to the public would provide pleasant hours of relaxation for many a tired worker from factory or office". They were and should remain "private gardens accessible to the public".