Camellia Festival 2011

Chiswick House and Gardens Trust celebrates our world famous camellia collection

Chiswick House and Gardens Trust is launching a new festival to celebrate the world famous Chiswick camellia collection, believed to be the oldest large collection of its kind in the West.

The festival will run from 19 February 2011 to 20 March 2011.

This is a brand new event in the national garden calendar and the first time the Chiswick camellia collection can be seen in the newly restored Conservatory.

In 1828 the Conservatory was planted with a large number of camellias. Most of these original trees survive today and are exceptionally rare, flowering every March with a fabulous array of blooms in pink, red, white and striped. The collections includes one of the world’s rarest Camellias, Middlemist’s Red, thought to be one of only two surviving examples; the other is in New Zealand.

These extraordinary plants were in danger of being lost as the conservatory fell into ruin in the early part of this century, but members of the International Camellia Society stepped in to tend them, ensuring their survival prior to a £12million restoration of Chiswick House Gardens, completed in June 2010.

The Chiswick House Camellia Festival 2011 provides a perfect destination for garden lovers and heritage enthusiasts alike.

Admission for individual bookings and groups are available every day between 10am to 3pm. There are limited spaces for group bookings at weekends. £5 per person. Group discounts of 10% applies to groups 10+ (maximum 25 per group).

This admits you access to the restored Conservatory and historic camellia collection with our Conservatory Stewards on hand to assist you and a special camellia brochure provided to all entrants. You’ll be able to purchase camellia plants and camellia associated products as well as enjoying a lovely scented spring flower display in the 19th Century Italian Garden which provides the setting for the Conservatory. You will also have access to the internationally famous Chiswick House Gardens designed by Lord Burlington and William Kent in the early 18th Century which are freely open to the public.

The Conservatory and wider gardens are fully accessible and suitable for wheelchair users.

Tickets can be bought in advance via TicketWeb Full details of the Festival can be found here.

January 27, 2011