One of Norfolk's outdoor gems is set to go on show to mark a special milestone.

Eastern Daily Press: Foggy Bottom in Bressingham, 1966. Picture: Courtesy Adrian BloomFoggy Bottom in Bressingham, 1966. Picture: Courtesy Adrian Bloom (Image: Archant)

Bressingham Gardens will be open to the public on Saturday and Sunday to celebrate 50 years of its Foggy Bottom garden, a six-acre section of the 17-acre world-class beauty spot around Bressingham Hall, which was started by Alan Bloom in 1953.

Adrian Bloom, his son, started Foggy Bloom in 1967, naming it after a neighbourhood in Washington DC where he used to work.

He said: 'After my wife Rosemary and I got married we built a new house and began the garden, which eventually became six acres.

'I collected conifers in particular, from all across the world, to demonstrate how they could be used in a garden.

Eastern Daily Press: Foggy Bottom garden in Bressingham. Picture: Courtesy Adrian BloomFoggy Bottom garden in Bressingham. Picture: Courtesy Adrian Bloom (Image: Archant)

'It does get foggy here at different times of the year so Foggy Bottom seemed an appropriate name.'

Mr Bloom said he wanted to invite garden lovers and people from the area to help celebrate the anniversary,

He said: 'We feel we are a special garden in this part of south Norfolk that still a lot of people aren't aware of.

'It seems fitting to celebrate it having gone from an empty meadow to what is there now, and I've been very lucky in being able to do that in my lifetime.'

Eastern Daily Press: At Bressingham Gardens, 1977. Picture: Courtesy Adrian BloomAt Bressingham Gardens, 1977. Picture: Courtesy Adrian Bloom (Image: � Adrian Bloom)

The garden will also be featured on BBC2's Gardeners' World tomorrow (Friday, August 8) at 9pm.

On Saturday, Mr Bloom will give a lecture titled 'Lessons from the 50 year garden' and on Sunday, head gardener Jaime Blake will lecture on 'Alan Bloom's legacy to perennials and gardening'.

Mr Bloom's father pioneered using perennials, which are plants that live for more than two years, in island beds.

He said: 'Perennials are fast-growing plants and they last for many years but the traditional way of growing them was up against a wall or a hedge.

Eastern Daily Press: A place to rest among the beautiful plantings at the Foggy Bottom garden at Bressingham. Picture: DENISE BRADLEYA place to rest among the beautiful plantings at the Foggy Bottom garden at Bressingham. Picture: DENISE BRADLEY (Image: Copyright: Archant 2017)

'In Victorian times people who had bigger gardens also had time to tend to them, but few people were able to continue that after the war. So the idea that (my father) had was fairly revolutionary.'

The gardens will be open from 10.30am and 5.30pm, tickets for the gardens and steam museum: £8.99, concession £8.49, online £7.50

For more information about the open days and the garden, visit www.thebressinghamgardens.com

Eastern Daily Press: The pons and summer house at the Foggy Bottom garden at Bressingham. Picture: DENISE BRADLEYThe pons and summer house at the Foggy Bottom garden at Bressingham. Picture: DENISE BRADLEY (Image: Copyright: Archant 2017)

Eastern Daily Press: The pons and summer house at the Foggy Bottom garden at Bressingham. Picture: DENISE BRADLEYThe pons and summer house at the Foggy Bottom garden at Bressingham. Picture: DENISE BRADLEY (Image: Archant)

Eastern Daily Press: Some of the beautiful plantings with vibrant colours at the Foggy Bottom garden at Bressingham. Picture: DENISE BRADLEYSome of the beautiful plantings with vibrant colours at the Foggy Bottom garden at Bressingham. Picture: DENISE BRADLEY (Image: Copyright: Archant 2017)