the tea-room at Hidcote was painted directly on the wall at Kiftsgate by Major Johnson and moved to Hidcote in 1981 by the National Trust. Kiftsgate first became well known to the gardening public after Graham Stuart Thomas's article in the Royal Horticultural Society Journal, May 1951, in which the great plantsman observed, "I regard this as the finest piece of skilled colour work that it has been my pleasure to see." In April 1954 the magazine Gardening had an illustration of the Yellow Border on its cover and inside an article by A.G.L. Hellyer, reporting that Each rose bush has grown to its maximum proportions and to the conventional gardener these proportions will come as a revelation. Yet despite the luxuriance of Kiftsgate it is a garden upon which an extremely firm hand and a very discerning eye have been kept. There is nothing of the wilderness here and one is immediately conscious that everything is in its place and is there for a definite purpose. That purpose is to produce a series of pictures in colour that are rich but never glaring. They are the colours I associate with fine tapestry. Kiftsgate rose The gardens are well known for the famous Kiftsgate rose, a scented climbing rose, which is shade-tolerant and very vigorous. It is claimed that the Rosa filipes 'Kiftsgate' is the largest rose in Britain measuring x 90 feet x high at last measurement, as reported on the Kiftsgate website. It was planted in 1938 and named by Graham Stuart Thomas in 1951. The same official website says that it would be even larger were it not cut back, and the owners fear for the integrity of the beech tree which it has colonised owing to the weight of its foliage. Recognition The house features in England's Thousand Best Houses by Sir Simon Jenkins In 2003 Kiftsgate Court Gardens was named Historic Houses Association - Christie's Garden of the Year Kiftsgate is Germaine Greer's favourite garden References External links Kiftsgate Court Gardens Kiftsgate at the Chipping Campden website The Royal Horticultural Society details on Kiftsgate Kiftsgate at The Historic Houses Association Photos of Kiftsgate Court Gardens at geograph.org.uk Gardens in Gloucestershire Tourist attractions in Gloucestershire Country houses in Gloucestershire