A GARDEN festival at Bowood House has been cancelled due to the organisers' overburdened summer schedule.

The Toby Buckland Garden Festival had been scheduled to take place at Bowood, near Calne, on June 4-5 but the organisers were forced to pull out of the event as they were not able to guarantee the quality of the show because of the close proximity of other festivals in their calendar.

Mr Buckland said: “Nationally and locally, garden events have proliferated in an already congested early summer season.

“This has impacted on the potential of our Wiltshire event and put its long term prospects in jeopardy.

“Post-Chelsea combined with the busiest time of year for the smaller nurseries, we seek to promote, together with clashing of other events nearby that weekend has resulted in a much reduced number of exhibitors able to attend our festival.”

Owner of the estate, Lord Lansdowne, said: "We are deeply distressed to learn the news of the Toby Buckland Garden Festival's decision to cancel as Bowood is such a respected centre of garden excellence.

"We know that many people will be extremely disappointed and we are currently looking at the possibility of working with gardening groups and clubs who were planning to attend the event to see how we can accommodate them on garden tours during the season."