Walk down the High Street past the Rose Vaults pub. On the 1846 Tithe Map this small building is described as a 'house, beer house and malt kiln' occupied by John Anderton. Anderton also owned the Rose Brewery (on the corner of Picton Road and Wellington Road) and residential property including Anderton Square (a 'court' on the site of Wavertree Gardens).

More roses are to be found (nominally) just beyond the pub: a landscaped area once the site of a row of small cottages. For many years, following the demolition of the cottages by the City Council, this area lay totally derelict and overgrown. In 1979, however, the Wavertree Society had the idea of transforming it into a Rose Garden. The Society's scheme was a prizewinner in the Merseyside Improved Neighbourhood Competition - organised by Merseyside Improved Houses to celebrate their 50 years as a housing association - and as a result the idea became a reality.

The name Rose Garden was suggested by the site's location, sandwiched between the Rose Vaults and Rose Cottage (No.35 High Street). Continue walking until you reach the front gate of Rose Cottage, with its unusual cylindrical sandstone gate-piers. Rose Cottage was once one of the showpieces of Wavertree, with its picturesque garden hidden behind the carefully-shaped privet hedge. Sadly, in 1986 it fell into dereliction and the garden was totally destroyed. Fortunately, Rose Cottage is now occupied and the garden and hedge are once again being taken care of.

Rose Cottage has been described as a last vestige of rural Wavertree. It is probably not the oldest building in the village - 1800 has been suggested as a possible date - but its roof of 'tun' (large) slates is noteworthy and its long front garden is a unique survival on this side of the High Street, where so many of the old houses have been converted to shops.