Buckingham Palace is preparing to open its stunning garden to the public for picnics and self-guided tours for the first time ever this week.
The garden will open for the first time on Friday and the demand for tickets has been so high that additional places have been made available on dates throughout July until September.
Members of the public, who must pre-book, will be able to picnic on the sweeping lawns and can pre-arrange to join guided tours around the south west of the garden - including the Rose Garden, summer house and wildflower meadow.
The public area of the garden encompasses the 156-metre Herbaceous Border, the Horse Chestnut Avenue, plane trees planted by and named after Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, and views of the island and its beehives across the 3.5-acre lake.
Buckingham Palace is preparing to open its stunning garden (pictured) to the public for picnics and self-guided tours for the first time ever this week
The garden will open for the first time on Friday and the demand for tickets has been so high that additional places have been made available on dates throughout July until September
Members of the public pre-arrange to join guided tours around the south west of the garden - including the Rose Garden, summer house and wildflower meadow
People were welcomed into the gorgeous grounds on Thursday for a photo-call preview head of the garden officially becoming available to the public on Friday
On Thursday, people were welcomed into the gorgeous grounds for a photo-call preview head of the garden officially becoming available to the public on Friday.
Guests were seen setting up picnics in front of the Queen's London home while other excited visitors enjoyed taking an afternoon stroll to enjoy the vibrant green scenery.
Daily talks by visitor services wardens and trails for families are included as part of the general visit.
Art and craft activities will be available for those with children on Mondays in July and August, from July 19, and as part of two Family Festival days on August 26 and 30, with warden-led family tours.
A new range of summertime picnic-inspired products have also been launched by the Royal Collection Trust to coincide with the garden's much-anticipated opening.
The items feature a design inspired by royal ceremonies and summer flowers and include a picnic blanket, a sandwich bag, cotton napkins and a reusable water bottle.
Daily talks by visitor services wardens and trails for families are included as part of the general visit to Buckingham Palace's gardens (pictured on Thursday)
The public area of the garden encompasses the 156-metre Herbaceous Border (pictured) and the Horse Chestnut Avenue
Eager tourists and other members of the public, who must pre-book, will be able to picnic on the garden's sweeping lawns
On Thursday, guests were seen setting up picnics in front of the Queen's London home while other excited visitors enjoyed taking an afternoon stroll to enjoy the vibrant green scenery
The public area of the garden encompasses the plane trees planted by and named after Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, and views of the island and its beehives across the 3.5-acre lake (pictured)
Visitors enjoy a picnic on the lawn during a preview of the Garden at Buckingham Palace, Queen Elizabeth II's official residence in London, just one day ahead of its official opening
Art and craft activities will be available for those with children on Mondays in July and August, from July 19, and as part of two Family Festival days on August 26 and 30. Pictured: Visitors sit on the lawn in the newly opened gardens on Thursday
The sandwich bag, priced at £7.95, features colourful motifs of corgis, cupcakes, carriages, butterflies, flowers and soldiers in red tunics and bearskin hats - and will no doubt prove to be popular among excited tourists.
The Buckingham Palace hand sanitiser, decorated with a mauve crown and two sprays of flowers costs £3.95, while the pale blue picnic rug, priced at £35, is rolled and secured with a floral fastening, which is also decorated with a blue and white china teapot.
Strawberry and champagne jam and buttery shortbread biscuits are among the treats being sold by the Royal Collection to commemorate the occasion.
The 200g Strawberry and Marc de Champagne Preserve costs £4.95, a tin of Buckingham Palace orange and lemon shortbread is £6.95, and a white cotton napkin embroidered with a gold fork and spoon is £8.95.
Adam, 25, a visitor services warden for the Royal Collection, said of the garden opening: 'It's an offer that we've never offered before.
'It's an exciting prospect to allow people to come in and picnic in the gardens and explore to their own leisure.
