A FASCINATING 'forgotten garden' in West Devon which recently featured in an article in the national press will be opened to the public next month, to raise funds for the RNLI.

Coombe Trenchard in Lewtrenchard was chosen by Chris Beardshaw, the award winning garden designer and TV presenter, as one of his featured gardens in the Parks & Gardens section of The Guardian and Observer's Secret Britain series in April.

The new owners, Philip Marsh and his wife, are opening their gardens for the RNLI Open Gardens Scheme on June 7.

The gardens were laid out in 1906 by architect, Walter Sarel, who often collaborated with Gertrude Jekyll, as at Lewtrenchard Manor.

The gardens were designed for the property's wealthy Edwardian owners to entertain guests, so the size of the terraces, the numerous games lawns and pavilion, romantic walks and viewpoints are redolent of the Belle Époque.

The gardens contain a wealth of ancient yews, oaks and beeches as well as rhododendrons and azaleas.

A stream, actually the parish boundary, runs through the gardens and this offered the original designer the opportunity for ponds, water gardens and bridges. there are many garden structures, each providing a viewpoint of Dartmoor, Brentor or other parts of the garden.

Mr and Mrs Marsh acquired the gardens just over a year ago.

In the early years of the gardens, when six full time men were employed in their maintenance, the gardens would have been much more extensive than when the Marshes first saw them.

Many decades of minimal maintenance had left jungle areas with towering laurels and brambles, impassable paths and collapsed bridges.

A year into the restoration project, forgotten paths, a woodland garden, water gardens, kitchen garden and long forgotten Edwardian planting schemes have been discovered.

Mr and Mrs Marsh say many years of research and hard work lie before them but they are determined to bring Coombe Trenchard Gardens back to their romantic Belle Époque hey day.

The gardens are open for the RNLI Open Gardens scheme on June 7 between 2pm and 5 pm.

Other opportunities to view the gardens will be available to groups throughout 2009 by arrangement with the owners by emailing [email protected]">[email protected]