In David Austin’s 17th-century Shropshire farmhouse, time has stood eerily still. The pretty red-brick property that was home to the renowned rosarian until his death in 2018 remains exactly as he left it. In the study, piles of old catalogues detail the myriad roses he brought to market. Stacks of notebooks reveal meticulous handwritten breeding lists, stretching back to his first creation: the soft-pink, deeply cupped climber “Constance Spry”, launched in 1961. One wall is lined with books: novels, plays and works of poetry that inspired the names of some of his best-loved blooms – the graceful English roses that have made David Austin a household name.
The Pergola Pathway between the Lion Garden and the Renaissance Garden at David Austin Roses in Albrighton, Shropshire © Julian Broad
The business that was founded at the kitchen table in 1969 today sells around 2mn roses annually. Its turnover was just less than £30mn for the year ending 31 July 2024. On the outskirts of the village of Albrighton, the sweetly scented empire stretches out from Austin’s former home as far as the eye can see. There are the sprawling show gardens where more than 4,000 roses flower in borders, clamber across walls and climb over arches. Nearby, the glasshouses are the beating heart of David Austin Roses HQ, where more than 200 of Austin’s cultivars began life, including the pink-cupped “Sceptre’d Isle” and the deep-pink “Gertrude Jekyll”, named after the 19th-century garden designer and writer, and last year voted the world’s favourite rose by the World Federation of Rose Societies.
