Description:Front and rear gardens are broken up into garden rooms, incl small kitchen garden. Front garden incl small woodland area planted with early spring flowering shrubs and bulbs, white garden and hot dry terraced area. Rear garden has mirror borders, small decorative vegetable garden and 'red' border. Grit and grasses garden. Organic and environmentally friendly. Home of author and Principal of The English Gardening School

In the press:Featured in The Garden and Saga magazine

Disability information:Gravel paths, a few steps

Further details:Although only just over an acre, and divided into 2 gardens lying on either side of the house, there are many different, contrasting and inspirational areas within this small space. A compulsive plant collector, Rosemary Alexander (Principal and owner of the English Gardening School) has amassed interesting and unusual groupings of plants for each area. Approached by an opening cut through a beech hedge, the first space contains a woodland garden, contoured by peat blocks, with winding gravel paths and a collection of ferns. Plants have been chosen for their varied leaf forms and autumn colour. Here there is also a wide gravel path, planted with iris, aquilegia, convolvulus cneorum and thyme, all bounded by a lavender hedge. A ‘grit’ garden surrounds the terrace. The rear garden has a potager and small gazebo, a double rose border, a grasses border, plus a border planted in ‘sunshine’ colours inspired by the brick wall behind. An exercise in making the most of limited space. New wild flower meadow laid as a bio-degradeable turf carpet ( grown on mesh and rolled out as carpet) around cottage area. Changes made for 2011. Area planted with 3 native Acer campestre and multi-stemmed Betula ( Silver Birch). Border area there planted only with drought tolerant plants Hebe vernicosa and H. toparia used as low hedge or structure planting, and as an alternative to disease prone Buxus. Native hedge - Euonymus europaeus, Cratageus monogyna, Viburnum opulus, Corylus avellana, Acer campestre planted as staggered wild life boundary hedge 2 half standard Photinia fraseri ‘Red Robin’ used as structure in red border New ‘pagoda’ style Chinese red bird table used as feature in new Large Leaf Border. Existing grasses border re organised and an Acacia baileyana ‘Purpurea’ added Lyonothamnus floribundus (Ironwood) by front door removed as growing too large. Replaced with Magnolia ‘Goliath’ and the China rose R. ‘Crimson Bengal’, which flowers 9 months of year. Garden will feature in 2011 edition of Saga Magazine – written by Vanessa Berridge, photos by Clive Nicholls. Garden featured in Gardens Illustrated September 2010. Written by Matt Wilson, Photos by Elke Borkowski