

Stone House Cottage Garden has been on my list to visit for some time and I am really glad we made the effort to get there. Just outside Kidderminster, it sits in the tiny village of Stone on the A448. The garden has been created inside a one acre walled kitchen garden and is one of the most eccentric and romantic gardens I have visited.
The style is very much English Romantic and includes the classic yew hedges, abundant herbaceous borders and garden rooms. But far from been a cliché it has a very personal touch and feels like the private garden of a passionate plantaholic. It has distinct areas and the use of hedges to create separate rooms and passage ways makes it feel larger. The wandering visitor is presented with tempting glimpses and vistas leading you one way and then another - one of my favourite design techniques.

Next door to the garden is a small nursery where you can buy many of the plants you have been admiring in the garden, some of which are the rarer and more special varieties that you just don't see in the larger, everyday garden centre. Well worth a visit to get ideas on how to create mystery and surprise in a garden and for some beautiful plant combinations - particularly the good use of contrasting shapes and colours in foliage. Its not a nursery to visit for your standard everyday bedding or plants but a good source of the more unusual varieties of perennials and shrubs. Its not the smartest or tidiest of nurseries but for some of us that's part of the charm and the plants themselves look in robust condition. They do not offer mail order but you can view their plant lists online or order a catalogue.