Rose Walk

Rose Walk was laid out in 1907, and the first plots were offered for sale in 1911. It is one of the more famous roads on the estate, and some of its characteristics are remarkable.

Forty feet wide, Rose Walk winds from east to west for half a mile and boasts twenty five foot wide flower beds in which Webb planted six thousand roses of some four hundred varieties. Queen Mary used to visit the road each year to admire the roses, as did many others. A newspaper report from the 1920s described the amazing display of colours and wealth of perfume.

Rose Walk is gated at each end and single storey lodges were erected for gatekeepers, at the east end in Surrey style and at the west in Sussex style. The gates are of wrought iron with volluted tops and hang from red brick pillars. The final word on Rose Walk should come from Webb himself. "Floral decoration on the roadside is capable of endless variety, but it was perhaps natural to choose the Queen of Flowers for the first experiment in that direction, and the notion that roses would lend themselves well to that style of treatment has not been dispelled by subsequent experience".