A MUCH-LOVED garden, with a host of amusing and quirky features, nestling in the beautiful Worcestershire countryside is being opened to the public this weekend for its final garden party of the year.

Pear Tree Cottage, Wichenford – the home of Pam and Alistair Thompson – will be open as part of the National Garden Scheme (NGS) on Sunday August 27 for an extended viewing from 2pm to 10pm.

Earlier in the year it was opened for the NGS and again as part of the charity-fundraising Wichenford Open Gardens event.

The garden, with uninterrupted views across cider apple orchards towards Abberley Clock Tower, is known for an array of unusual and interesting features which can be seen in daylight or twilight during this event when the three quarters of an acre plot will be illuminated by hundreds of candles, lanterns and soft up-lighting during the evening.

As often found at NGS openings there will be home-made teas available, while a glass of wine can be enjoyed throughout the evening period.

Over the years the south-west facing garden at the Grade II listed Pear Tree Cottage has acquired a collection of unique attractions such as an old fashioned red telephone box – complete with working Bakelite phone – its animal shaped oil tank sculptures, a marine salvaged old buoy, a stone cairn monument marking the 70th anniversary of VE Day and a down-lit well with an original Worcester-made “Pumpy” Thomas pump.

This year people can peruse the Pear Hut – a contender for Channel 4’s Shed of the Year 2017 title. The shed arrived as a “pile of junk” in 2012 and Pam, a former West Mercia Police traffic officer, is an avid recycling enthusiast. She couldn’t resist the challenge.

Her garden helper Chris Pugh turned up with a pike of wooden panels – the remains of a garden shed being discarded by one of his customers.

Pam said: “It arrived as a pile of junk. Chris said it was a nice shed and there was nothing wrong with it apart from a rotten roof. He persuaded me it would look nice in the garden.”

She entered it in the Shed of the Year competition in 2014 and didn’t hear anything at the time but earlier this year she had a call from Channel 4, which airs the Amazing Spaces Shed of the Year programme, saying they wanted to come to Wichenford with a film crew.

Pam said: “I thought they must be desperate. It is too modest and humble. I never thought they would come.” But a film crew of six with all its equipment turned up in April and stayed for six hours.

“I am totally amazed that such a tiny humble little shed has attracted so much interest. I told the film crew ‘I cannot believe you are spending six hours filming a little wooden shed in deepest Worcestershire’.

“I think the attraction is that I only bought three things for it – everything else was rescued.”

The Pear Hut made it through to the finals of the budget section of the competition and the results are expected to be announced next month.

Other things to look out for at Pear Tree Cottage garden this weekend are a newly acquired Carolina Reaper – one of the hottest chillis on the planet. Chris brought it back from a visit to the annual chilli festival at Eastnor Castle, near Ledbury, this year. Pam said it has developed some baby fruit but they are too small to use in cooking yet.

Another interesting plant is a Wollemi Pine, which is one of the world’s oldest and rarest plants dating back to prehistoric times. Thought to be extinct but found in the Blue Mountains of Australia in 1994, there are fewer than 100 adult trees known to exist in the wild and it is classed as “critically endangered”.

Pam said: “Another endangered tree in the garden is a coastal redwood - Sequoia sempervirens - from the Californian coastal regions. It was a mere four inches when bought it and now it's about 20 feet high. These trees typically reach heights of 250 – 300 feet!

“Down in the Henclosure we have a dawn redwood - Metasequoia. Unlike the other redwoods, it's Chinese and is deciduous. It was rediscovered in the 1940s and in autumn is a fabulous soft gold colour.”

And those who like a bit of a challenge can try and find a particular nut tree in Pam and Alistair’s garden. It has been growing there for a number of years but so far only one person has identified it. A visitor working at Kew as a propagator spotted the pistachio tree earlier this year. It hasn’t produced any nuts yet though, said Pam.

To find out more about Pear Tree Cottage visit http://www.peartreecottage.me/ and for more information about the National Gardens Scheme visit https://www.ngs.org.uk/

• The NGS has been inviting garden owners since 1927 to open their exceptional gardens to the public for good causes, giving people unique access to some of Britain’s most beautiful and memorable gardens for around the cost of a cup of tea and a slice of cake.

• Over the past 90 years, it has donated £50 million to charities across the UK, thanks to the warm generosity of the garden owners, volunteers and visitors – a rich blend of generosity it says lies at the heart of the scheme.

• So far this year NGS has donated £500,000 to Macmillan Cancer Support; £500,000 to Marie Curie; £500,000 to Hospice UK; £400,000 to carerstrust; £375,000 to The Queen’s Nursing Institute; £130,000 to Perennial; £130,000 to MS Society; £130,000 to The National Autistic Society and £185,000 to other causes.