Benthall Hall

Benthall Hall is a modest stone house of around 1580 in Benthall, part of Broseley, a few miles from the Ironbridge Gorge. The National Trust has owned it since 1958, but the Benthall family still live there, which gives the place a lived-in feel. The garden is not grand or formal. Its interest comes from two Victorian tenants who were both keen plantsmen, and it rewards visitors who like looking closely at plants rather than sweeping vistas.

George Maw, a local pottery manufacturer and a crocus enthusiast, developed the garden from around 1865, so crocuses are part of its identity. After him the painter and sculptor Robert Bateman, the son of a well-known horticulturalist, added the rockeries and terraces that shape the garden today. As you walk round, look for the way the terraces step the planting down the slope and how the rockeries give homes to smaller plants that would be lost in a border.

Close by stands the church of St Bartholomew, built in 1667 to 1668, and the Shropshire Way long-distance footpath runs through the woodland to the north between the estate and the River Severn, so the garden can be paired with a walk. For home gardeners, the rockeries and terraces are the part to study: they show how a sloping site can be turned into a series of planting pockets. The house and garden are also small enough to combine with a day exploring the Ironbridge Gorge.