ONE of the largest rose gardens in the country is to open in the grounds of a North-East's country house in August as part of a larger £5.3 million development.

The £1.6 million garden at Wynyard Hall, near Stockton, will contain more than 3,000 roses and is the realisation of a long-held dream of Wynyard Hall's owner, former Newcastle United chairman Sir John Hall.

It has been designed and planted by multi-award-winning Royal Horticultural Society landscape architect Alistair Baldwin and will open on Tuesday, August 4.

The walled garden will be to the north of the hall itself and within the estate’s 150 acres of grounds, and will also house a state-of-the-art visitor centre, shop and café selling locally-sourced goods and produce.

There will be 140 varieties of roses which have already been planted.

Thirty new jobs have been created by the re-development of the Walled Garden, which is the second stage in a rolling programme of work to create The Gardens at Wynyard Hall. It will eventually cover four acres and be one of the largest rose gardens in the UK.

The wider development of Wynyard Hall has already included a £1.7 million installation of a Grand Marquee and management suite, for weddings and large scale corporate events.

Further stages will include a £2 million investment in the creation of a cookery school, children’s garden and designated walks through the estate.

Property magnate Sir John, who grew up in a Northumberland pit village and bought Wynyard Hall in 1987, said: “When I was a lad I used to watch my father grow roses in the little strip of garden in front of our cottage and I decided, there and then, that one day I would have one of the most spectacular rose gardens in the country; and this is just the start.”

Mr Baldwin, who is based in York, said: "Visitors will see a truly dazzling display of roses, in a design which pays tribute to the ancient heritage of the walled garden, yet takes it firmly forward into a new stage of development."

The walled garden area was originally created by Wynyard Hall's 19th Century owners, the Marquises of Londonderry, but its oak gates have been closed for many years.

The Wynyard estate can trace its history to 1230 when it was leased by King Edward I to Sir Huge de Chapell. There were earlier buildings but the grand house was not completed until 1846. The Duke of Wellington was a frequent visitor in that period.