A 100-year-old watercolour painting of a garden on the outskirts of Evesham by an acclaimed royal artist is expected to fetch up to £5,000 when it is auctioned in London next month.

The picture, titled The Herbaceous Borders and Cut Yew Hedges at Cleeve Prior, was produced in 1901 - the year Queen Victoria died - by George Samuel Elgood, who three years later illustrated what is now one of the most sought-after Edwardian gardening books.

In fact, the book, titled Some English Gardens, written by trail-blazing garden designer Gertrude Jekyll, is so desirable that second-hand copies are currently changing hands for hundreds of pounds -- and one copy is being offered by an American dealer for £450.

But there is a mystery about the Elgood painting that will be auctioned at Christie's in London on Tuesday, June 5, and that is - where exactly in Cleeve Prior is the garden featured in the picture?

If you know and recognise the house in the background, please contact Tony Donnelly on 01386 444053.

Elgood was born in Leicestershire on February 26, 1851, so he celebrated his milestone 50th birthday when he produced the Cleeve Prior picture now up for sale.

He was one of the 10 children of Leicester yarn merchant Samuel Elgood.

When his father died, George interrupted his art studies in London to return home to run the family business.

He then went on to become an accomplished artist, specialising in refined and understated pictures of gardens.

His work was admired and acquired by Queen Victoria and Queen Mary, among others.

In 1904, he produced 50 garden illustrations for Gertrude Jekyll. Three years, he later published a book titled Italian Gardens.

As he grew older, Elgood became more eccentric and lived without electric light or piped water until his death, at the age of 92, on October 21, 1943.

When a local council tried to cut down trees on his boundary, he sat in his shed pointing a shotgun at council workers until they finally gave in and the trees were saved.