Spectacular display of 500,000 tulips draws crowds

An "incredible" garden of about half a million colourful tulips is being hosted in Warwickshire for the first time.

Tulleys Tulip Garden in Hatton, near Warwick, features more than 100 varieties of the flower with visitors able to tiptoe through them until 5 May.

They were planted in November by the organisers behind Tulleys Tulip Fest in Sussex and will bloom at various times this spring.

Shona Kelly, site manager at Tulleys Tulip Garden, said: "Seeing people's faces when they first see it is just absolutely amazing. Even I feel lucky every day to be able to see this. It's just incredible."

Tulleys Tulip Garden has been hosted in Warwickshire for the first time this spring

The event promised "a taste of Holland" – a country famous for its vast tulip fields – and also features Dutch street food and live entertainment.

While the garden is open, so-called tulip guardians will maintain the fields while encouraging visitors to stick to the paths between the rows of flowers, to avoid damaging the bulbs.

Ms Kelly said this would make sure the tulips looked as beautiful and vibrant as possible "from the first day until the last".

"Apart from that, we really do just let nature do what it needs to do," she added.

The Tulleys Tulip Farm windmill provides a backdrop to the colourful garden

The garden will be open until 5 May