Dating to around the 17th century and Grade II listed, The Stalls in Worcestershire’s Bushley Green is a handsome timber-framed building that occupies a wonderfully secluded location at the end of a privately owned driveway, set in three acres of pretty gardens and orchards, and surrounded by open farmland.
The garden has been a labour of love for the current owners, Richard and Marigold Webb, for the past 18 years. Richard is the founder of Webbs Garden Centres and a previous chairman of the Royal Horticultural Society herbaceous committee. Marigold is a garden designer with three past Chelsea gold medals to her credit. So, you could say they started with plenty of experience.
‘It is designed for year-round interest and easy maintenance,’ says Marigold. ‘The year starts with a bank of massed snowdrops on a stream bank. By March, the wild garden in front of the house is full of primroses and daffodils; these are followed by chionodoxa, anemones, snakeshead fritillaries, specie tulips, and cowslips ending in May, with dark blue drifts of quamash, a dwarf form of camassia. In summer, the area becomes a grassy landscape with mown paths.
‘By the end of May,’ she continues, ‘attention shifts to the garden behind the house, where mixed borders of shrubs and herbaceous plants, supplemented by native wildflowers, provide an ever-changing succession of flowers and scent. The lawns contain a mix of native plants, red and white clovers, trefoil, daisies, buttercups and selfheal.’
The house itself extends to nearly 4,000 square feet (excluding outbuildings) over two floors and is offered to the market in great condition, having been significantly improved after the current owners bought it in 2007. The house has lovely feeling with character features, such as fireplaces and exposed beams. It is also well-proportioned throughout briefly comprising a kitchen/breakfast room with separate pantry, three reception rooms, a utility room, cloakroom, five bedrooms, two bathrooms and a further first-floor WC.
Towards the rear of the house with clear scope to easily become an annex, there is a generous ground-floor bedroom suite, complete with a dressing room and bathroom. Furthermore, attached but independently accessed, is a large home office which has previously been used as an artists’ studio with consistent light due to the large north-facing window.
‘The raised bed vegetable garden provides easy working conditions and delicious vegetables,’ continues Marigold. ‘A succession of fruit starts with rhubarb in May, followed by peaches and nectarines from the greenhouse, figs, plums, greengages, melons (Richard’s speciality!), pears, and apples.’
And, possibly best of all?
‘Free-range chickens eat the slugs,’ she smiles.
The Stalls, Bushley Green, Bushley, Tewkesbury, Worcestershire, GL20 6AG. Guide price £1,400,000
Knight Frank, Cheltenham, tel: 01242 246951, knightfrank.com
