SPRING has sprung at Abbey House Gardens in Malmesbury this week.

The gardens will be ablaze with colour created by more than 70,000 tulips for the next six weeks.

Orange, every shade of pink and red will be on display as varieties such as the parrot tulip, named because of the shape of its petals, and lily flowered tulips, whose petals turn back in a delicate point, freely bloom .

Garden owners Barbara and Ian Pollard who have spent years restoring and planting the garden, featured in a special edition of BBC Gardeners' World.

Mrs Pollard said the tulips played an important role in the history of gardening. She said: "A few hundred years ago when they were first discovered, they were fetching prices equivalent to around £1,000.

"There are some lovely stories about tulips. Someone who bought one for his garden left it carelessly in a room of house. It was picked up and given to the cook who put it in his soup."

The tulips at the Abbey House Gardens have been planted in the rose beds and give colour at this time of the year before more than 2,000 roses come into bloom, added Mrs Pollard.

More than £730 was raised for charity from the gate receipts over two consecutive Saturdays this month. The garden was open as part of the National Garden Scheme.

Beneficiaries include Marie Curie Cancer Care and Macmillan Cancer Relief.