Welcome to 'Britain's best back garden'

The garden belongs to a retired couple in Walsall

"Alan Titchmarsh rated us the best back garden in Britain," says Marie Newton, who started working on her Four Seasons Garden in 1982.

The 70-year-old tends to it with husband Tony and, as the name of their pride and joy suggests, it is the garden's year-round appeal, they say, that has impressed the TV gardener.

Their landscaping appeared in his programme Gardeners' World, with praise, Mrs Newton said, for "achieving the impossible, which was to have a show garden no matter what the weather".

After a two-year hiatus, the private garden in Walsall is to be opened to the public once more.

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The garden has more than 3,000 trees, shrubs and plants

Their open-garden viewings have already raised more than £43,000 for charity.

The couple hopes the visits on Saturday and Sunday, to more than 3,000 trees, shrubs and plants, will generate more funds.

The Newtons raised more than £43,000 for charity

Their open days have attracted 13,514 visitors from 36 different countries.

'The best back garden in Britain'

The open-garden viewings have not been held for two years

Mr Newton, 69, said they saw the work on their garden as more than green-fingered.

Tony and Marie Newton are showing off their garden as it bursts into autumnal colour

He said: "It is a form of art and that's what we're doing, you look at each plant and you're working out; it's like painting a big picture."

The Four Seasons Garden re-opens on Saturday 20 October.