ALAN Titchmarsh has told of his sorrow at the closure of Sir Roy Strong’s world-famous The Laskett Garden following financial losses.
The TV gardener has spoken of his sadness after the renowned attraction was put up for sale amid mounting financial pressure.
Sir Roy Strong, the former director of both the Victoria and Albert Museum and the National Portrait Gallery, created the spectacular garden in the 1970s with his wife.
The 90-year-old donated the beloved site to horticultural charity Perennial so it could be opened to the public, after it was famously rejected by the National Trust.
But the attraction has struggled to draw enough annual visitors to stay afloat.
The Laskett — the largest private formal garden created in England since the war — was built by Sir Roy and his late wife, theatre designer Julia Trevelyan Oman.
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Built on a four-acre field beside their Herefordshire home, the couple developed the garden over three decades.
Trustees for Perennial closed the grounds in January after years of losses, and have now announced the “only viable option” is to sell it.
The garden was valued at £1.65 million when it was left to the charity in 2021.
Perennial president Titchmarsh, 77, said: “It is sad that Sir Roy Strong’s generous donation of The Laskett to Perennial can no longer be sustained.”
Sir Roy had previously offered the garden to the National Trust in 2014 — but it was rejected as not meeting the organisation’s strict historical criteria.
He had hoped the garden would stand as a lasting tribute to Julia, who died in 2003 and whose ashes remain beneath a quince tree in the garden.
Titchmarsh, MBE, said practical problems — particularly the lack of parking — had made the attraction impossible to run profitably.
A Perennial spokesman said the garden would need a 330 per cent increase in visitors to become financially sustainable.
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