‘Chawton Cottage’ Rose unveiled

Jane Austen’s House Museum have once again teamed up with world acclaimed specialist rose growers Harkness Roses to launch a dedicated rose. Unveiled at RHS Chelsea Flower Show last week, the Chawton Cottage rose marks the 70th anniversary of Jane Austen’s House Museum opening to the public.

The rose, described by Harkness as a ‘sensational new climbing rose’, has a light scent and an enchanting deep red eye in every delicately shaped pearl pink flower. As well as being featured on BBC 2’s Chelsea coverage last Monday, the rose was included in the i newspaper as one of 25 new plants from RHS Chelsea to try in your home and hailed as ‘a climber of genuine novelty and beauty.’

Jane Austen’s House Museum, affectionately known as ‘Chawton Cottage’, first opened to the public 70 years ago, on 23 July 1949. Since then it has welcomed over one million visitors and has become one of the most important literary sites in the world.

The Chawton Cottage rose is the third rose Harkness Roses have developed for Jane Austen’s House Museum to mark key anniversaries. The ‘Chawton Cottage’ rose follows the ‘Jane Austen‘ rose, unveiled in 2017 to mark the bicentenary of Austen’s death and the ‘Pride and Prejudice‘ rose, unveiled in 2013 to mark the 200th anniversary of the novel’s publication. All three roses were launched at RHS Chelsea Flower Show.

As with the previous two roses, Harkness Roses are generously donating a percentage of their proceeds to help support the Museum’s fundraising appeal to restore and protect Jane Austen’s precious home.

The roses will be available for sale at the Museum as well as via Harkness Roses.