Hill Close Gardens Trust

About the garden

Owned by

Rosemary Mitchell

Hill Close Gardens are a great choice to visit all year round, as there is so much to see throughout the year in these 16 hedged town gardens. They are situated between the town centre and Warwick Racecourse, easily accessed and just a five-minute walk from the Market Square. It is an opportunity to experience what was a very common horticultural feature in Victorian times, when many towns had similar detached gardens on their boundaries. These were owned by the tradesmen who lived in the town centres, often above their businesses.

Only four rare examples of this type of gardens remain. The others have been subsumed by urban sprawl. However, the efforts of an energetic and knowledgeable residents association, which in 1994 obtained Grade II listing on four of the summer houses and later Grade II* for the whole site, prevented houses being built on the site. A great restoration took place in 2005, transforming a totally overgrown and neglected site, to the delightful secluded corner of tranquillity that we see today.

These gardens differed from allotments in that there was a rich diversity of fruit trees and soft fruit, flowers and exotic vegetables and lawns, as well as summerhouses or wooden shelters. This diversity is maintained so that each plot or garden has its own individuality, with a wide range of flowers, perennials and annual. The vegetables vary, often with heritage varieties being grown alongside the most recent introductions. You can also wander among about 60 different varieties of historic apple and pear trees.

There are four borders of special interest: the Victorian Border where only plants grown in Victorian times are to be found; the Rare Plant Border supported by Plant Heritage and used for the conservation of rare plants at risk; the Bulb Border; and the Chrysanthemum Border with the National Collection.

Please note: this garden is partially accessible.