Crugsillick Manor at Ruan High Lanes near Truro, will be throwing its gates open for the first time this weekend as part of the National Gardens Scheme.

Described as a "young garden" it was designed and created by Alison Agnew, a retired scientist with a passion for creating colour and structure with plants. When Alison moved into Crugsillick Manor nine years ago, the two-acre garden comprised trees and lawned areas and was ripe for re-landscaping and replanting.

She began be creating a kitchen garden and a hot garden full of lush exotic plants flowering in fierce reds, oranges and yellows - daisies, dahlias and ginger lilies that can grow up to seven feet high in the summer. As the garden slopes away from the 17th century house, phase two needed a JCB to create two distinct terraces.

Sweeping yew hedges meander through the garden like tendrils creating calm green oval lawns. Unlike a conventional English garden, large loud flower beds sit on the opposite side of the hedges to the lawns creating swathes of colour. Hot flowers, a silver border to mark Alison’s silver wedding anniversary and a mixed border with roses.

The newest part of the garden sits at the very bottom and features trees and shrubs similar to a classic Cornish garden. The focus of the lowest terrace is a large pond surrounded by the exotic flowering trees and shrubs that thrive best in Cornwall.

Crugsillick Manor will open for the NGS on Sunday,July 17, from 11am until 5pm. Admission is £4, children free. Dogs on leads are welcome and home-made teas will be available. The garden is on several levels connected by steep gravel paths but there is partial wheelchair access.