AMBITIOUS plan to transform an 18th century walled garden in Worcestershire into a tourist destination will be revealed for the first time next week.

The owners of the Walled Gardens, at Croome Court, will showcase the next phase of its development, which will include a visitor centre and cost about £800,000, when it opens its doors to the public over the Easter weekend.

Husband and wife, Chris and Karen Cronin, bought the walled garden in 2000, when it was nothing more than an overgrown wilderness with dilapidated buildings.

Since then, they have invested an enormous amount of time and money restoring the seven-acre site and its associated buildings to create one of the finest Georgian walled gardens in the UK.

Glass houses and walls have been rebuilt, a dipping pond has been restored and underground service tunnels have been discovered during the work.

The couple opened the garden up to the public for the first time in more than a century in August last year.

Now the pair are ready to reveal the new plans that will see a modern look introduced to the garden, one of the largest walled gardens in Europe, which they hope to finish by next year.

Mr Cronin said: "After nearly 16 years of major restoration work we are now finally ready to turn our attention to the garden itself.

"When landscape architect Capability Brown first arrived at Croome, his remit was to ‘revolutionise’ the English Landscape tradition. He did exactly that, and we want to embrace his legacy by introducing a 21st Century feel to the Walled Gardens.

"The plans show the new proposed layout of the paths and beds, and also reveals some of the new features,such as the new visitor centre, which we will be introducing along the way."

The Walled Garden will be open across 10 weekends throughout the year.

In addition to seeing the new plans, visitors will also be able to find out more about composting from a composting expert, or try their hand at sketching the garden and Croome Court estate from the art tent.

A children’s Easter egg hunt with chocolate prizes will also be held and refreshments will be available throughout the day.

The gardens will be open from 10.30am until 5pm, on Friday, April 3 until Monday, April 6. For more information visit croomewalledgardens.com.