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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Environment
Anita Roy

Country diary: A paradise inside four walls

Nigel Devon Tiverton
The walled garden at Ashley Court in Tiverton, Devon.
The walled garden at Ashley Court in Tiverton, Devon. Photograph: Anita Roy

Any 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.

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