WITH stunning views of Worcestershire countryside, one award-winning garden’s visitors should have plenty to keep them enthralled. Nestled in three-and-ahalf acres of lush greenery, Gladderbrook Farm has been eight years in the making for owners Mike and Sue Butler.

The couple spent the years carefully shaping the one-acre garden and nearby wild meadow into the perfect hideaway and are now sharing the fruits of their labours with an open day for the charity National Garden Scheme on Sunday, August 24.

Mrs Butler said: “When we moved here in January 2000 all we had was a field with eight oak trees and nothing else. So we brought in 70 tonnes of top soil and loads of crushed brick to build up levels.”

A year later the garden was ready to plant and is now packed with shrubs, bedding blooms, trees and herbaceous plants. “It’s a beautiful setting it really is,” she said. “We’ve planted it in such a way as to make hidden areas.”

With twists, turns and plenty of shade and seating visitors have time to relax and take in the garden’s sights and smells. Among the plot’s secluded areas is a water feature while at the garden’s farthest end is a border of about 150 trees all handplanted.

With flowers all year round Gladderbrook is currently blooming with hardy geraniums and red hot pokers among others.

The garden’s success is even more impressive considering the underlying clay soil, which makes planting trickier than usual with the ground “either too wet or hard as concrete” making timing essential, according to Mrs Butler.

“I used to work as a garden designer and still do occasionally but when we came here it was just a field,” she said. “Usually I draw up a plan but this one showed me what it needed.”

The garden so impressed Bewdley In Bloom competition judges this year it was handed the best large garden category award.

Refreshments will be provided by parishioners from Heightington Church during the NGS opening between noon and 5pm.

Gladderbrook Farm, High Oak, Heightington, DY12 2YR. 01299 879923 sue.butler4@ btinternet.com. Admission £3, children free.

GARDENS TO VISIT

Whitlenge Gardens, Whitlenge Lane, Hartlebury, DY10 4HD. 01299 250720 whitlenge.co.uk. Admission £2, children free.

Open Sunday, August 24, and Monday, August 25, from 10am to 5pm. Three-acre show garden of professional designer with more than 800 varieties of trees and shrubs etc.

Frogs Nest, 8 Stratford Road, Honeybourne, Evesham WR11 7PP. Admission £3, children free. Open Monday, August 25, from 2pm to 6pm. S-facing front garden is quite formal with herbaceous borders and tongue-in-cheek woodland walk complete with boathouse. Northfacing back garden has ponds and all-year colour and interest.

Gadfield Elm House, Malvern Road, Staunton, GL19 3PA. Admission £2, children free. Open Monday, August 25, from 2pm to 6pm.

Garden created more than 25 years ago from scratch. Vistas, temples, statues, herbaceous borders. Field walk with view of the Malverns, Bredon Hill and the Cotswolds.

Red House Farm, Flying Horse Lane, Bradley Green, B96 6QT. Admission £2, children free.

Open Thursday, August 28, from 10am to 5pm.

Paths wind through borders planted with mature trees, shrubs, roses, climbers, herbaceous perennials and spring bulbs providing colour, scent and interest throughout the year.