A few weeks ago, we went to see our nearest NGS garden. NGS is the National Gardens Scheme, a charity where people who have a particularly beautiful private garden, open it to the paying public for one or two afternoons a year. The money generated goes to charity. The majority of NGS gardens are domestic gardens that have come under the care of a particularly enthusiastic and talented gardener.

To give an idea of the high standard of these gardens, here’s a gallery of pictures that were taken at the one we visited.

This NGS garden was a large domestic garden and its special feature is a 116ft long pergola covered with climbing plants and roses flanked by 180ft of herbaceous borders on either side. As if that wasn’t enough, there is also a natural pond with fish and a bridge going over it.