A VERY special garden is set to be opened by historian Sir Roy Strong.

The project was started by Ludlow Civic Society many years ago and there was a ceremonial opening of a kind by Prince Charles when he visited Ludlow.

Sir Roy Strong who is aged 82 has won global recognition for his work as a historian, museum curator and designer.

Now the project that has cost more than £100,000 including the purchase of the land is complete.

The Jubilee Garden is an important piece of land by the East window of St Laurence’s Church and next door to The Reader’s House. This had historically always been green land right in the centre of the town, as part of the setting of these two Grade I listed buildings.

A developer sought to build five executive homes on it having acquired the rights to the land in 2003. There followed a nine-year battle to defeat this, with many prominent local, national, and even international celebrities coming to assist the town in their fight.

After much legal wrangling, the developer was finally defeated, and with the assistance of a “white knight” lender, the land was saved. It was agreed that part of the plot would have a new almshouse built on it to be managed by Hosyer’s, and the remainder would be bought by the Ludlow Civic Society with the eventual aim of turning it into a publicly accessible garden.

With many public donations, the Society raised £112,000 to purchase this in 2012, the year of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. HRH Prince Charles visited later that year and cut the first symbolic weed.

However, the new almshouse had to be built before work could start on creating the garden. More delays - mostly involving relocating a BT pole - meant that this could not start until 2016.

Now the garden will provide pleasure plants that include many shrubs and annuals in order to keep down the amount of maintenance that his needed. It is opened on Tuesday.