| RHS Garden Bridgewater | |
|---|---|
 The Weston walled garden | |
  Location in Greater Manchester | |
| Type | Garden |
| Location | Worsley New Hall |
| Nearest city | Salford, England |
| Coordinates | 53°29′59″N2°24′01″W / 53.4998°N 2.4004°W |
| Area | 154 acres (62 ha) |
| Created | 2020 |
| Operated by | Royal Horticultural Society |
| Open | 18 May 2021 |
RHS Garden Bridgewater is the Royal Horticultural Society's fifth public display garden. It is located in the village of Worsley in Salford, Greater Manchester, England.
Bridgewater Gardens has been created in 154 acres (62 ha) of the former Worsley New Hall estate, with the Bridgewater Canal forming the southern boundary. It is the RHS's first new garden since it acquired Harlow Carr in North Yorkshire in 2001, and is one of Europe's largest gardening projects. [1]
Landscape architect Tom Stuart-Smith has created the overall plan, [2] in which the walled kitchen garden will be restored, historic features such as the tree-lined Garden Approach recreated, and the lost terraces reworked. [3] Marcus Chilton-Jones has been appointed the first curator of the garden. [4]
The expected total cost of the project was £32.7m, of which the RHS invested £15.7m of its own funds and received (by December 2019) a further £12.7m through grants and fundraising, [5] including a £5m grant from the Garfield Weston Foundation [6] and further donations from Salford City Council.
In May 2022, the visitors' centre The Welcome Building was crowned by the Royal Institute of British Architects as the North West Building of the Year. It was praised for its "sustainable and engaging" design. [7]
The BBC filmed a four-part series about the construction process at the garden titled The Great Northern Garden Build, which began broadcasting on BBC Two from 10 May 2021, just before the 18 May 2021 opening date. [8]
The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), founded in 1804 as the Horticultural Society of London, is the UK's leading gardening charity.
The RHS Chelsea Flower Show, formally known as the Great Spring Show, is a garden show held for five days in May by the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) in the grounds of the Royal Hospital Chelsea in Chelsea, London. Held at Chelsea since 1912, the show is attended by members of the British royal family.
Worsley is a village in the City of Salford, Greater Manchester, England, which in 2014 had a population of 10,090. It lies along Worsley Brook, 6 miles (9.7 km) west of Manchester.
Boothstown is a suburban village in the City of Salford in Greater Manchester, England. Boothstown forms part of the Boothstown and Ellenbrook ward, which had a population at the 2011 Census of 9,599. The village is within the boundaries of the historic county of Lancashire, west of the City of Salford, bordered to the north by the East Lancashire Road A580 and to the south by the Bridgewater Canal. Historically, it was a hamlet partly in Worsley township in the parish of Eccles, and partly in Tyldesley in the parish of Leigh.
The Bridgewater Monument is a Grade II* listed monumental column in the Ashridge estate in Hertfordshire, England. It was built in 1832 to commemorate Francis Egerton, 3rd Duke of Bridgewater (1736–1803), known as the "Canal Duke".
RHS Garden Wisley is a garden run by the Royal Horticultural Society in Wisley, Surrey, south of London. It is one of five gardens run by the society, the others being Harlow Carr, Hyde Hall, Rosemoor, and Bridgewater. Wisley is the second most visited paid entry garden in the United Kingdom after the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, with 1,232,772 visitors in 2019.
Worsley and Eccles South is a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The seat is currently held by Barbara Keeley MP of the Labour Party. It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election.
The Victoria Medal of Honour (VMH) is awarded to British horticulturists resident in the United Kingdom whom the Royal Horticultural Society Council considers deserving of special honour by the Society.
Walkden is a town in the City of Salford in Greater Manchester, England, six miles northwest of central Salford, and seven miles of Manchester.
RHS Garden Hyde Hall is a public display garden run by the Royal Horticultural Society in the English county of Essex. It is one of five public gardens run by the society, alongside Wisley in Surrey, Harlow Carr in North Yorkshire, Rosemoor in Devon, and Bridgewater in Greater Manchester.
RHS Garden Rosemoor is a public display garden run by the Royal Horticultural Society in north Devon, England.
RHS Garden Harlow Carr is one of five public gardens run by the Royal Horticultural Society. It is located on the western edge of Harrogate in the English county of North Yorkshire.
The Garfield Weston Foundation is a grant-giving charity based in the United Kingdom. It was established in 1958 by Canadian businessman W. Garfield Weston (1898–1978), who during his lifetime contributed to numerous humanitarian causes, both personally and through his companies. His philanthropic works continue through the Garfield Weston Foundation in London and the Weston Family Foundation in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Peter John Seabrook MBE was a British gardening writer and television broadcaster, presenting programmes including the BBC's Gardeners' World. He wrote a gardening column in The Sun newspaper for over 40 years. He was appointed an MBE in 2005.
The Lindley Library in London is the largest horticultural library in the world. It is within the headquarters of the Royal Horticultural Society,
Dan Pearson is an English landscape designer, specialising in naturalistic perennial planting.
Thomas Richard Stephen Peregrine Stuart-Smith is an English landscape architect, garden designer and writer. He specialises in making gardens that combine naturalism and modernity.
Worsley New Hall is a former mansion and gardens by the Bridgewater Canal in Worsley, Greater Manchester, England, 8 miles (13 km) west of Manchester. The gardens were renovated by the Royal Horticultural Society and opened as RHS Garden Bridgewater in 2021.
Matthew Wilson is a garden designer, writer, radio and television broadcaster and lecturer. He is a regular participant on Gardener's Question Time on BBC Radio 4.
Sue-Anne Hilbre Biggs was the Director General of the Royal Horticultural Society, retiring in June 2022 as the longest-serving Director General in the charity's history. Biggs began her career in the travel industry, where she worked for 30 years, and was awarded an Outstanding Achievement Award by the Travel Weekly Globe Travel Awards. She was made a CBE in the 2017 New Year Honours, for her services to the environment at ornamental horticulture industries.