To make the task more manageable, the couple started with the west border first, dividing it into two sections separated by a terraced seating area with four tall stone pillars. “These were once part of the porch on the main Hall, but in the 1950s my grandfather pulled them down and they lay around for nearly 70 years before we found a use for them,” says Tom. Jenny set about planting the backbone of the border with ceanothus, cotinus and gleditsia, then a gardening friend of Tom’s parents asked if they’d like to dig up her blue border.

They leapt at the chance, coming home with herbaceous perennials to fill in the gaps.

The garden is still evolving with plans for a greenhouse and a Mediterranean garden along the sun-baked south wall. “We don’t really have holidays,” says Jenny. “We’ve put so much care and love into this garden, why would we want to leave it.”

The Walled Garden’s borders brim with the romantic cottage garden-style planting Tom and Jenny love, where a calming pastel palette of Alchemilla mollis, Lychnis coronaria ‘Alba’ and Centranthus ruber ‘Albus’ sits within a formal framework of yew hedging.

The border known as Regent Street was riddled with ground elder, so Tom dug down around a metre, replacing the old soil with fresh topsoil. A wisteria now covers the stone wall and self-seeding foxgloves intermingle with a mix of shrubs such as Cotinus coggygria ‘Royal Purple’ and Rosa Darcey Bussell (= ‘Ausdecorum’).

Tom and Jenny embrace self-seeders for the informal feel they give the garden. In the Hall Garden, Linaria purpurea, Nigella damascena and fennel emerge above a carpet of aromatic herbs, which spill over the winding cobble path laid by Tom.

In the Walled Garden the west-facing border features the repurposed stone pillars from the old Hall. These lend height and scale to the one-acre space, as does a row of clipped Prunus lusitanica under-planted with an annual seed mix that includes calendula and poppies to provide a contrast to the formality of the trees.

A curving border in the House Garden leads past a silver-leaved, weeping ornamental pear to a wirework gazebo nestled in a sheltered spot and clad in the fragrant, buttery-yellow blooms of the climbing rose Rosa The Pilgrim (= ‘Auswalker’) and the violet-blue flowers of Solanum crispum ‘Glasnevin’.

Near the house, a circle of pleached Malus ‘Evereste’ encloses an area of cobble, slate and millstone laid by Tom and edged with Erigeron karvinskianus. The crab apple has a frame made from bamboo from Tom’s parents’ garden, which he cut and used while it was still pliable enough to bend into a circle. The crab apples are pruned in late summer back to the frame to form spurs that will produce more flowers and fruit.

8 key plants of The Laundry

Centranthus ruber ‘Albus’

The white form of valerian with grey-green leaves and clusters of tiny flowers, which are a magnet for pollinators. 75cm x 50cm.

Geranium pratense ‘Summer Skies’

Hardy geranium that has masses of ruffled pale-lavender, double blooms throughout summer. Its trailing habit makes it ideal for edging paths. 75cm x 75cm.

Here’s our guide to the best hardy geraniums. 

Rosa ‘Chevy Chase’

Grown on the Walled Garden’s west wall, this rambling rose makes a spectacular sight in early summer with its deep-red flowers. 4.5m x 3m.

Rosa Joie de Vivre (= ‘Korfloci 01’)

Floribunda rose with neat habit and clusters of scented, peachy-pink blooms borne in flushes from June to September. 60cm x 45cm. AGM*.

Persicaria microcephala ‘Red Dragon’

A vigorous spreading perennial with eye-catching, red-purple leaves splashed green and silver; slender stems of tiny white flowers emerge in late summer. 50cm x 1m.

Here’s our guide to persicaria.

Nepeta racemosa ‘Amelia’

This compact catmint has aromatic, grey-green foliage and arching stems studded with pale-pink flowers from May to September. 80cm x 75cm.

Here’s everything you need to know about nepeta. 

Erigeron karvinskianus

Used under the pleached crab apples, Mexican fleabane forms frothy clumps of white and pink daisies from May to November. Self-seeds readily and thrives in dry, poor soil. 50cm x 50cm. AGM.

Looking for ground cover plants? Here’s our guide to the best plants for gound cover.