The orange trees give a Mediterranean feel

The Italian garden, which is now part of the Museum of Welsh Life in St Fagans near Cardiff, remained out of sight after falling into disuse in the 1930s.

But when the area came up for sale, staff at the museum decided to buy it and restore it to its former glory.

The garden was designed by Kew-trained gardener Hugh Pettigrew in 1902 for the Earl and Countess of Plymouth, who owned the estate.

Mr Pettigrew's family grew up there, and his son Andrew and his future wife Margery conducted some of their courtship in the grounds.

Mrs Pettigrew, 90, came to see the garden's re-opening on Thursday 68 years after she had last set foot there.

Margery Pettigrew last saw the garden in 1935

Her father was the estate auditor for the Plymouth family, and she grew up in the village of St Fagans.

"The last time I was here really was about 1935," she said.

She regretted that her late husband Andrew could not be present to see the gardens renewed and said it was "like a dream coming back".

"We met in our prams," she told BBC News Online. "We knew each other from infancy."

The pair and their siblings played together as children, but as they grew older their relationship became more serious.

"Then in 1940, he popped the question in the rose garden. He pulled me onto his lap and asked me, and I said yes."

Andrew Pettigrew in the pond in the 1920s

Gerallt Nash, the museum's curator of historical buildings, explained the Plymouth family had not included the garden in the original donation of the estate to the museum after WWII.

"Some years ago, it was offered for sale and we bought it because it was one little piece of land in the midst of the estate which didn't belong to us.

"When we came in here, it was totally derelict. The walls had collapsed or were collapsing. We had to rebuild and restore 95% of it."

"There was the restoration of the terraces, the paths, the enamelling room, and then the gardening side was the responsibility of the gardening team."

The work only took three months and was completed last year, but the museum has waited until now to open the doors to allow the garden time to bed in.

Senior garden conservator Juliet Hodgkiss said the garden used orange trees and agapanthus to give it an Mediterranean feel.

Other plants had been included to try to recreate the original feeling of the garden.

She explained: "One of the older estate workers remembered a lot of the flowers being blue, so we've planted a lot of them, but also added white and yellow to brighten it up."

The estate children used to swim in the pool

The Plymouths decided on an Italian theme for the garden to reflect the Countess' upbringing in Italy.

It became a favourite spot for the Countess and her mother, Lady Paget.

However, the existence of the Italian garden was kept quiet from the beginning, and a Country Life feature on the estate early in the 20th century made no mention of it.

The garden is bordered by the old enamelling room, which was used by Lady Paget - who had a reputation for eccentricity - to enamel giant candelabras.

The building now serves as an interpretation centre for the garden.