WHEN Mike and Carole Dunnett decided to move to a two bedroom prefabricated bungalow with a two and a half acre plot on the side of Ankerdine Hill near Martley, their parents thought they were mad.

That was 44 years ago and both their home and the grounds, appropriately called High View, are unrecognisable now compared to how they were when the couple arrived.

Mike, a former nurseryman, and Carole wanted to move from Kidderminster, where Mike worked, and were looking for properties up to 30 minutes’ drive from his job. Ankerdine was right on the edge of the area and the property was affordable.

Apart from a couple of dozen fruit trees, there was nothing on the plot and while their three children were growing up and enjoying space to play, the couple didn’t make too many changes.

“When we first came here in 1973, we sledged from the top to the bottom,” said Mike.

But over the years the space, with its magnificent panoramic views across the Teme valley, south Worcestershire and the Cotswolds, has become a must for garden enthusiasts from far and wide.

Originally it was just admired by friends and relations who visited. Mike said: “They said we should show it to more people. We knew the county organiser for the National Garden Scheme (NGS) and we talked to her about it. That was it, we were off.”

The couple have been opening their garden to the public as part of the NGS for the past 10 years and have just been awarded a much sought after certificate and highly prized 10-year trowel.

Throughout that time they have raised a whopping £13,540 for the NGS charities which include Macmillan Cancer Support, Marie Curie, hospice UK and the Queen’s Nursing Institute.

They say the garden was not really planned but evolved over the years and they started with a hard area – patio garden – nearest the house. There are now three main areas – the patio garden, a wild flower bank with around 40 species of wild flowers and a hidden garden.

Shaping a garden from two and a half acres of steeply sloping land is no mean feat and Mike did most of the landscaping himself. There are many steps and terraced areas giving the garden form and demonstrating Mike and Carole’s green-fingered touches but the wildflower bank has never been cultivated. It just gets a strim once a year, said Mike.

He said: “The whole point of this garden is that you have to discover it. You cannot see more than a few yards and then you have to move and find the next bit.”

He describes the hidden garden as high intensity gardening. There are thousands of plants in that area. In the days when Mike and Carole held NGS open days one visitor complained there wasn’t much to see for the cost of entry, said Mike.

The visitor hadn’t discovered the hidden garden, which is furthest from the house, with its many different sections, borders, pond, trees, a rescued section of a chestnut fence thought to be around 100 years old and sculptures. On returning to the house from the hidden garden, he had most definitely changed his mind.

The garden reflects both Mike’s extensive knowledge of plants but also his sense of humour. The bottom of the garden meets rolling fields where sheep graze lazily. Mike has install a couple of his own sheep sculptures as a gesture towards the surrounding agriculture.

While meandering through the woods visitors will encounter Mike and Carole’s very own Giant’s Causeway. Mike explained that he recruited his young grandchildren to help stack some logs near the base of a tree but instead of piling them up, they laid them out like stepping stones.

Mike and Carole liked the effect so much they decided to keep it and call it after the County Antrim heritage site, which attracts nearly 900,000 visitors a year from all over the world.

Mike and Carole devote a huge amount of time and effort into the garden and the next couple of weeks is the most intense period as they prepare it for visitors. “By the middle of June it will be immaculate,” said Mike.

People can only come by appointment now and some parties book months in advance but they don’t just get to see and gardening masterpiece – Carole’s home-made cakes and tea are available.

“We like to have parties of 10 or more. It is a major hobby for us and we love that other people get so much pleasure from it. We think we have had 2,300 people through the garden in the 10 years we have been open through the NGS,” said Mike.

“We have met some very interesting people who have come to see the garden and we keep in touch with some of them.”

The couple agree one of the advantages of opening the garden to visitors is that it gives them an added incentive to maintain the garden to a high standard. They also enjoy the fact that proceeds from the visitors’ fees go to charity.

Even when taking a break from working in their own garden, their thoughts don’t stray far from plants – they both like visiting other open gardens and Mike runs the horticultural society in Martley.

For more information visit http://www.highviewgarden.co.uk/ and https://www.ngs.org.uk/find-a-garden/garden/20517/