At the heart of the Luton Hoo Estate lies a six-acre octagonal walled garden. Established in the 1770s by John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute, friend and advisor to George III and consultant in the planning of Kew Gardens.

For nearly two centuries it was both a botanical garden and the production centre for the Estate's fruit, vegetable and cut flower needs.

As with many great estates, the walled garden at Luton Hoo suffered a decline after World War Two and its original function as principal produce provider had ceased by the end of the 1950s. Today, the dignified but dilapidated glass houses, empty open ground and bare walls, stand as monuments to the glory days of kitchen gardening which reached its peak in the Edwardian period.

Ongoing research is piecing together the garden's history with a view to restoring the glass houses and re-creating the historical planting of the period just before the First World War. The central Mackenzie & Moncur conservatory will be filled with the varieties of orchids and malmaison carnations synonymous of that time.

These were grown for Sir Julius and Lady Wernher and used in displays in the mansion at Luton Hoo and in the drawing rooms of their London home on Piccadilly.