THE bountiful delights of a Worcestershire garden remain in abundance despite the icy blasts of a bitter winter and an unseasonably dry spring.

Mel Bates and his wife Jan transformed the land around their garden at White Cottage, Earls Common Road, Stock Green, near Inkberrow, from what was a bland field into a veritable garden of Eden, rich in flora and wildlife.

The two-acre plot, rich in beds of herbaceous shrubs and which has featured in the magazine Country Living, has been a 30-year labour of love after work began on restoring it in 1981.

Mrs Bates said: “It’s looking extremely good at the minute.

Until recently it has been very dry.

You expect it to be dry in May but we had no April showers and the winter was hard on the garden, particularly on the evergreen shrubs. It would appear that we have lost quite a lot of them.”

However, the weather has been a mixed blessing and Mrs Bates said the tree peonies were looking particularly good. She said: “The garden really consists of different areas like rooms but without hedges or borders.”

There is, however, an area of formal garden bordered by hedges, a stream garden where the water trickles into pools and over falls, a wild garden and an old orchard through which visitors walk to get to the rose garden.

Mrs Bates said: “The roses have taken a hammering this year because of the cold weather. They have all looked very battered.

However, the herbaceous plants and the plants that come back from the ground each year don’t seem to have been affected. It’s the plants we would have expected to be fine that have been affected most, like the evergreens. You expect those to be hardy.”

The garden at White Cottage is also something of a haven for wildlife with a resident spotted woodpecker, nesting swallows, nuthatches and goldfinches to name but a few species.

There is also a vegetable garden where the couple grow onions, radishes, broad beans, peppers, aubergines, strawberries and raspberries. They also employ a gardener for six hours each week to ensure that their garden always looks its best.

Å White Cottage, Earls Common Road, Stock Green, near Inkberrow, B96 6SZ, will be open for the National Gardens Scheme on Sundays, May 22, and June 12, between 10am and 5pm. Admission is £2.50 and children are allowed in free of charge.