Country diary: A paradise inside four walls

Tiverton, Devon: On days like this, there's no finer place to be than in a walled garden, and this one is bursting with gooseberries, beans and buttercupsAny garden is a special thing, but a walled garden? That's something truly special: an outside that is an inside. When Tara Fraser and Nigel Jones first came to view this semi-derelict Regency house in 2016, they had no idea Ashley Court included a walled garden. "We saw this wooden door and pushed it open - and there it was. Just like The Secret Garden. Total jungle."Nine summers and countless hours of labour later, and it is transformed. Nigel opens the door; I follow him and have to stop at the threshold as I catch sight of it. Continue reading...