Image: King's Gallery, London
Windsor Castle is opening its newly transformed Venus Garden to summer visitors from 30 July through 13 September, offering a rare chance to see views of the Castle’s east façade that are “seldom seen as part of the usual visitor route.” Entry to the garden is included with a standard Castle ticket, according to Royal Collection Trust’s announcement.
The garden forms part of the wider Windsor Castle visitor experience this season, which also includes a free multimedia guide tracing 1,000 years of royal history and a range of specialist tours. Royal Collection Trust says visitors can explore the Castle more deeply through after-hours access and themed tours, including the Great Kitchen Tour and the Conquer the Tower Tour, both scheduled to begin during the summer period.
The Venus Garden’s transformation is being discussed in a digital event on 4 August, when Windsor Castle Gardens & Nursery Manager Adam Scott will join broadcaster and gardener Alan Titchmarsh. The online session, due to run from 19:00 to 20:00 BST, is set to cover the garden’s planting schemes, creative inspiration and the stories behind its design. Tickets must be booked in advance.
Royal Collection Trust is also using a new film to outline the site’s long history. In the film, Learning Curator Dr Richard Williams traces the garden’s evolution from the era of Charles II, who established three bowling greens on the site, to George IV, who created the first private garden. The account also notes that the area was repurposed during the Second World War as part of the “Dig for Victory” campaign, before its modern redesign.
The Trust says His Majesty The King played an active role in the garden’s transformation, though the announcement gives no further detail about the process. The focus of the current presentation is on the garden as both a renewed visitor space and a historical landscape layered with earlier uses and royal interventions over time.
Alongside the Venus Garden programme at Windsor, the same Royal Collection Trust email highlights other summer offerings across its sites. These include an art-focused pop-up at The King’s Gallery, London, where students from the London College of Fashion will present designs inspired by ‘Queen Elizabeth II: Her Life in Style’, with an introduction by Caroline de Guitaut, Surveyor of The King’s Works of Art and curator of the exhibition. Elsewhere, the Trust points to tours at Holyroodhouse featuring highlights from Prince Philip’s private collection and a film on Queen Elizabeth II’s use of fashion as a diplomatic tool.
For Windsor visitors, the immediate practical detail is straightforward: the Venus Garden is open until 13 September, and access is included in the Castle ticket.
