THE following gardens will be open in Gloucestershire for the National Gardens Scheme:

Sunday 17 July

  • Barrington Downs, Aldsworth.

Surrounded by farmland, this rural garden is ornamented by sculptures by William Pye and others.

The herbaceous borders and shrubs are specifically designed to look their best at this time of year, while the herb and vegetable garden will be brimming with produce.

There’s also a children’s play area to give you a chance to look round at your leisure.

Nearby, and also covered by the £5 admission price, is 1 Drive Cottage, Aldsworth, a garden with perennials, shrubs and young acers.

The hot bed is full of echinaceas and other bee and butterfly friendly plants in July and August. Flat grassed paths lead through the planting.

Both open from 2-6pm. Combined admission with 1 Drive Cottage £5, children free. Home-made teas.

  • Littlefield, Hawling

This is a garden full of interest, with a beautiful yew walkway lined with crabapples and cherry laurels, underplanted with lilies and two types of lavender.

The garden runs straight out into terraced fields which hide the medieval, lost village of Hawling.

With this in mind, garden owner Federica Wilk has commissioned Gloucestershire garden designer Jane Fearnley-Whittingstall to create a medieval herb garden this year, and it is already looking well-established and charming.

Open from 11am-5pm. Admission £4, children free. Home-made teas.

  • Trench Hill, Sheepscombe

Approximately three acres set in small woodland with panoramic views.

Variety of herbaceous and mixed borders, rose garden, extensive vegetable plots, wild flower areas, plantings of spring bulbs with thousands of snowdrops and hellebores, woodland walk, two small ponds, waterfall and larger conservation pond.

Interesting wooden sculptures, many within the garden. Run on organic principles.

Open 11am - 6pm. Admission £4, children free. Home-made teas.

  • Westonbirt School Gardens, Tetbury

A 28-acre garden, once the home of Robert Holford, founder of the Westonbirt Arboretum.

These formal Victorian gardens include a restored, walled Italian garden with herbaceous borders and a border of exotics. There are also rustic walks, lake, statuary and a grotto to be enjoyed.

Open from 11am-5pm. Admission £5, children free. Tea, coffee and biscuits in the Great Hall.

Monday, July 18

  • The Old Rectory, Duntisbourne Rous

Lines of poetry by Alice Oswald, composer of Dart, and arguably the UK’s greatest living poet, are inscribed round the garden.

That's because Alice, herself a gardener trained at the Rothschilds’ garden at Waddesdon in Buckinghamshire, is the daughter of Mary Keen, The Old Rectory’s owner.

Mary is a designer and writer who has created a garden which is full of interest throughout the season.

In a spectacular valley setting, with hot-coloured and intriguing herbaceous planting to appeal in late July.

Open from 12-5pm. Admission £5, children free. Tea in schoolroom.