This summer, step back in time and celebrate the 950th anniversary of the Battle of Hastings with the Normandy Tourist Board and Hastings & 1066 Country at the RHS Hampton Court Palace Flower Show 2016. Taking place from Tuesday 5 July to Sunday 10 July with a press day on Monday 4 July, Le Clos d'Hastings Medieval Garden will be showcased on stand HC/718 in the competitors' category.

Normandy and Hastings & 1066 Country share more than just William the Conqueror, and both sides of the Channel have a strong tradition of parks and gardens. To mark the 950th anniversary of the Battle of Hastings, famously depicted in the Bayeux Tapestry, the Parks and Gardens of Normandy and Hastings & 1066 Country are exhibiting a medieval-themed Norman garden, Le Clos d'Hastings, which celebrates the natural synergies between England and Normandy. 

Designed and created by Normandy natives Stéphane Marie, gardener and TV presenter, and Alexandre Thomas of the Agapanthe Gardens near Rouen, the idea behind Le Clos d'Hastings Medieval Garden has been to re-create a centuries-old landscape: hedges built up on steep banks and traditionally planted with bushes and low trees then trained to form a fence of interwoven branches. These hedgerows were also planted with larger trees to create the effect of a linear forest that typifies Normandy's so-called bocage landscapes.

Le Clos d'Hastings Medieval Garden evokes ancestral meadows, with barley growing alongside flax (the plant that provided the material on which the Bayeux Tapestry was embroidered), daisies and meadow flowers. It also features a densely planted area designed like a Baroque tapestry and plants from across the globe that the English and Normans have enjoyed exchanging for centuries.

Join the celebrations on stand HC/718 at the RHS Hampton Court Palace Flower Show and experience Le Clos d'Hastings and the gardens of Normandy and 1066 Country. Normandy's lush landscape lends itself perfectly to a wide range of garden types, such as the contemporary Bois-Guilbert Sculpture Garden, the regal park and gardens of the Chateau de Miromesnil and the exotic Dragon Wood at the Shamrock Collection, home to many rare and beautiful Asian plants. You will be equally spoilt for choice on the other side of the Channel, for the gardens of Pashley Manor and Herstmonceux Castle are fine horticultural examples of what the English do best.

Come and watch some sculpting with Jean Marc de Pas of the Bois-Guilbert Sculpture Garden and embroidery with Chantal James of Bayeux Broderie, a professional artisan embroiderer specialising in the stitching technique used in the 11th century to create the 70m-long UNESCO-listed Bayeux Tapestry! Find out about all the medieval merriment taking place this summer for the 950th anniversary of the Battle of Hastings throughout Normandy, with street markets, festivals, sound and light shows and special exhibitions in the towns and villages associated with William the Conqueror and his momentous expedition.

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Find out more about parks and gardens in Normandy and Hastings & 1066 Country here:

www.normandy-tourism.org/gardens | www.visit1066country.com/gardens

Join us to commemorate the 950th anniversary of the Battle of Hastings in this exciting year:

www.medieval-normandy.co.uk | www.visit1066country.com/950  

For more information on the RHS Hampton Court Palace Flower Show 2016, click here.

To request an invitation to the press day on Monday 4 July, please contact the Normandy Tourist Board by 5pm on Friday 24 June:

Fran Lambert, Press Officer for the Normandy Tourist Board

Tel: +44 (0)20 7061 6637 | +44 (0)7801 922 183

Email: fran.lambert@atout-france.fr

Twitter: @NormandyPRUK