Open to the public for the first time this year is the newly replanted walled garden at Osborne House, Queen Victoria's country retreat on the Isle of Wight.

The official opening of the walled garden took place in July and already this ambitious new project is well worth a visit.

This is not simply a restoration, for many details of the Victorian layout and planting scheme have been lost.

Good quality photographs of the terraces near the house survive from the Victorian period, but only one photograph remains of the walled garden and that is a close-up of a fruit tree.

Head gardener Deb Goodenough explained: "When I first came here in 1996, the walled garden was virtually derelict. It was weedy and overgrown. I knew at once that I would love to bring it back to life and reopen it to the public, so initially we just started clearing the weeds.

"We had some plans which showed the layout of the paths in the garden and we were able to find traces of the wooden edging which marked out the paths, but there were relatively few other details.

"Queen Victoria and Prince Albert used the walled garden to grow cut flowers for the house. It was also a nursery area with young plants and we knew that there were fruit trees trained to grow up the walls and over special arches. There were four greenhouses.

We gave these details to five top designers. It was a competition to create a design which would be sympathetic with the estate."

The designers were told that was a budget of £35,000 to cover the planting and any design features. They were asked to keep the layout of the paths and to include fruit production and flowers for cutting. They were also told to provide a relatively labour-saving design, which could be maintained by one full-time gardener, plus one working part-time. All plants were to be correct to the Victorian period and the overall design was to be sympathetic to the rest of the garden.

The winning design, by Rupert Golby, has proved very successful. It includes many design details featuring the initials V and A for Victoria and Albert. Large terracotta pots have been made with a V and A design and these are now filled with giant cannas. Metal arches, decorated with a V and A emblem, are already in place and these will eventually be covered with espalier apple and pear trees.

The massive brick walls will once again be covered on the inside of the garden with fantrained apricots, cherries, plums, greengages, oranges, lemons and other fruit trees, while around the outside of the walls, herbaceous borders are already flourishing.

Once again, there are nursery areas where young plants can be grown and there are many authentic Victorian-style labels some made of zinc and others of painted wood, with plant names written in neat copperplate.

The two glasshouses have been restored and filled with a variety of plants which would have been familiar to the Victorians, including ferns and subtropical plants such as palms and strelitzias. The greenhouses will be heated in cold weather, providing a pleasant refuge for visitors.

There is also a grand front entrance to the garden. This was originally the portico of a Georgian house that once stood nearby. When the house was demolished, Prince Albert arranged for the portico to be moved to the walled garden.

Although it has not been possible to create an exact historical replica of the garden, it is authentic in style. Deb is particulary pleased that cut flowers from the walled garden can now once again be used inside the house.

"We hope to have fresh flower arrangements with flowers from the walled garden on occasional weekends during October," she said. "This will start again next season."

At a glance

Osborne House and grounds are open daily until October 31. October opening hours are 10am to 5pm. Winter tours (of the house only) are available from November 1 to December 17. Prebooking is advisable

Tel: 01983 200022.

It is also possible to visit the house during October, although many windows are shuttered at the moment because of restoration work on the outside of the building. Scaffolding is also in place.

The terraces next to the house can also be seen, although they are being replanted during October with winter bedding, including wallflowers and pansies.