Coton Manor Gardens

This traditional English garden is laid out on different levels around a stone manor house dating from 1662.

The structure of the garden - old holly and yew hedges with immaculately cut lawns - ensures that it has interest throughout the year. Tiny springs rush down the hill and fill a pool overhung with a double pink cherry. Alliums, candelabra primulas, Welsh poppies, astilbes, azaleas and acers flourish along the banks of the stream.

Beside the house is a terrace filled with pots of tender plants and scented geraniums.

Other features include fine lawns, a rose garden and superb herbaceous borders with an extensive range of plants.

A tropical house has exotic plants with vivid colours and the kitchen garden has a splendid collection of herbs.

The water garden has a group of small linked ponds in meadowland under old apple and pear trees. These are home to ducks, geese and flamingos.

The ten acre garden also has a wild flower meadow and a bluebell wood.