Stone House Cottage Garden

Stone House Cottage Garden is a small walled garden in the village of Stone, just outside Kidderminster, with a specialist plant nursery alongside. It is the kind of place plant collectors seek out, because the walls are crowded with rare and unusual climbers and wall shrubs, and the beds are full of plants you are unlikely to find at a general garden centre. The towers built into the walls give it a character all of its own and let you look down over the planting.

As you walk round, pay attention to the walls themselves. A walled garden gives shelter and warmth, and here that is used to grow plants that might struggle in an open garden in the Midlands. Look at how climbers are trained and layered, with one plant flowering through another, and at how the narrow beds at the foot of the walls are planted. The nursery is the obvious place to finish, since many of the plants you have just seen may be on sale.

For home gardeners, the most useful lessons are about walls and fences. Most gardens have a boundary of some kind, and this garden shows how much can be grown on one, from climbers to tender shrubs. Note down names as you go, check labels, and ask about hardiness before buying. The garden has opened for the National Garden Scheme, and it is worth checking current opening arrangements in advance.