After a life time arranging flowers for the Great and the Good, Penny Snell has turned her hand to developing the garden which surrounds her Victorian house in Cobham.

The garden which is now much visited and featured on television and in glossy magazines at home and abroad, is open under The National Gardens Scheme.

Thirty years ago the land around the house was mainly grass with a lot of mature trees. Seven of these came down in the worst storms since the 1700s during the night of 16 October 1987. A massive clean up began. Fences were patched up, gates replaced and tree surgeons were on site for a number of days.

Some years later access was provided to a neighbour along the western boundary of the garden enabling her to build seven houses next door. In exchange Moleshill House garden was surrounded by newly built brick walls and sturdy oak gates. This made the garden less prone to frost, inaccessible to rabbits and, critically, dog proof - until the escape artist dog, Henry, learned to climb trees and jump over the wall.

The garden now...