Tantalise your senses at the ‘Sweet Pea Festival’

Visitors can tantalise their senses at a special Sweet Pea Festival which takes place at Anne Hathaway’s Cottage, near Stratford-upon-Avon from the middle of June into July.

Admire the scented varieties of over 37 different varieties of Sweet Peas including the very first Sweet Pea to have been introduced in the UK in 1699, interspersed with Oriental and Asiatic Lilies. All of the plants have been grown from seed by the gardeners at The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust using traditional methods and hazel sticks! Visitors can also purchase the seeds from the shop and grow their own Heritage Sweet Peas at home.

Also on display in the gardens will be over 20 varieties of Heirloom vegetables dating back to the 1500s, also grown from seed. The ancient vegetables will also be proudly showcased at the Hampton Court Flower Festival in July at ‘The Shakespeare Allotment’.

The award-winning gardening team will be giving talks on ‘Sweet Peas and Vegetables’ which will take place at 2pm on Friday 18, Saturday 19 and Sunday 20 June at Anne Hathaway’s Cottage. Admission for the talks is £2 plus the normal house admission fee.

Abi Moore, Operations Manager at Anne Hathaway's Cottage stated “We are delighted to be hosting our second Sweet Pea Festival which I am sure will be even more popular than last years. When the Sweet Peas are in full bloom, the gardens look stunning and are a riot of colour and scent which we want all our visitors to enjoy”.

Tickets to all five Shakespeare Houses are great value and best of all, valid for a period of 12 months - with unlimited entry. So for the price of one ticket, you can enjoy days out at the Shakespeare houses all year round – for free! For details of all activities, visit: shakespeare.org.uk