Adventures in wonderland

ONE would never guess from the street that there would be so much to discover in the garden behind Colebrook House, a Grade II-listed, 17th-century Cotswold-stone building. It would be charming, of course (the village of Blockley was the setting for the ‘Father Brown’ series), with a narrow stream, the Cole Brook, running prettily along the leafy front garden before disappearing in a sudden rush into the ground. But no one ever anticipates the size of the garden nor the series of surprises that await behind the high walls.

Gardens are the result of a combination of influences, the most important of which are