Castle garden designed by King to open to public

A newly designed and renamed Windsor Castle garden will be open to the public between July and September.

The Venus Garden, formerly known as the East Terrace Garden, was designed according to plans by King Charles.

Around 11,000 spring bulbs have been planted to ensure vibrant displays from early in the year, the Royal Collection Trust said.

Adam Scott, Windsor Castle's gardens and nursery manager, said: "This has been a significant project to reshape this historic garden for the future, reflecting His Majesty's vision to create a space that will offer beauty, interest and biodiversity throughout the seasons and for generations to come."

"After around 18 months of careful transformation, we are delighted to open the Venus Garden to visitors this summer, marking the start of an important new chapter in the garden's 200-year history," he added.

Visits to the garden will be included as part of a standard visit to the castle between 16 July and 13 September.

The garden was first laid out in the 1820s on the site of Charles II's bowling green and has been reshaped by successive generations of the Royal Family.

It has intermittently been open to the public, mostly recently over weekends in the summers of 2020 and 2021.

Planning permission is currently being sought to move a sculpture of Hercules and writhing serpent Achelous into the garden after it was removed from Kew Gardens in the autumn.

It had stood there 1963, having been bought by George IV in 1829 and first installed in the Windsor Castle garden in 1909.