Hushed by frost

The quiet beauty of winter sets the stage in this garden, where topiary shapes and the borrowed landscape are the main performers

- WORDS ANNETTE WARREN

The walled garden at Broughton Grange in Oxfordshire is something of a misnomer, since brick walls enclose only two sides. The two remaining boundaries are defined instead by tunnels of clipped beech to the east and open countryside views to the south. 'When viewed from above, the beech tunnels look rather like the hinges of a book,' says head gardener Andrew Woodall.

Broughton Grange sits southwest of Banbury, on the edge of the Cotswolds where farmland meets horticulture. Covering some 25 acres and with an 80-acre evolving arboretum, the Broughton Grange landscape is designed to impress and endure. However, it is the terraced 'walled' garden, designed by Tom Stuart-Smith in 2001, that takes centre stage in winter.