Alan Titchmarsh returned to his native Yorkshire today to open a new Himalayan garden at Harewood House near Harrogate.

The celebrity plantsman was shown around the three-acre site by Harewood’s head gardener Trevor Nicholson, who has looked after the estate’s gardens for 15 years. Mr Titchmarsh formally declared the attraction open to the public by cutting a ribbon with a traditional Himalayan sword.

The new garden is a redevelopment of the former rock garden which was created in the 1930s by Princess Mary – known fondly as Yorkshire's Princess – and her husband the 6th Earl of Harewood. The sunken glade situated below Capability Brown’s majestic lake has now been developed and replanted with flowers and shrubs from Asia. New paths, a bridge over the beck and a walk-through gorge lead to a profusion of colour which is the result of many study trips made by Mr Nicholson to the mountains of Nepal, China and Bhutan.