POTS OF COLOUR

AWASH WITH JEWELLED COLOUR AND JOYFUL demeanour, the garden at Aston Pottery in Oxfordshire celebrates the seasons, with engagingly bold variations of enticing plant combinations throughout. The garden itself is a business sideline to the pottery and café that it surrounds, so you would be forgiven for imagining it might not be all that remarkable. But that’s where Stephen Baughan, the owner of Aston Pottery, comes in. His incredible enthusiasm for plants has helped to make this a destination garden: it’s a clear reflection of his passion, and the borders are brimming over with it.

Big bold borders are what this garden is all about, and there are five of them – each one bigger than the next. The smallest is a pair of dahlia borders on . The perennial border, which was Stephen’s first real foray into gardening, is 330m , and the largest, known as The Hot Bank, covers an incredible 1,120m , which, to add to the workload, is planted on a steep, three-metre incline. Such extensive pools of planting in what is a relatively compact area is something truly glorious to behold in the summer sunshine.