Situated beneath the main house and at the top end of the Long Borders, this formal parterre was laid out in 1998. Inspired by the owner’s first visit to Villandry in the Loire valley, it consists of a series of borders that run along two sides and low spindle (Euonymus japonicus ‘Jean Hugues’) hedging marking out 16 separate compartments through the centre. This hedging was originally box (Buxus sempervirens) but was replanted with Euonymus in spring 2020 due to an outbreak of box blight disease (Cylindrocladium buxicola). In winter 2018 and 2019 the Parterre and Rose garden was extended westwards towards the tree house to link in with the newly developed Fountain Garden. The extension is set on two terraces and contains a further four compartments, its planting design follows the same pattern as the original garden. The parterre features an east to west aspect and is framed on the western side by a sloping avenue of pin oak (Quercus palustris) and a pair of Italian cypress (Cupressus sempervirens).
Along each side of the garden are alternating white and blue and pink and blue colour themed borders. These borders contain many different David Austin shrub roses such as Rosa Kew Gardens, Tranquillity, Gabriel Oak and Princess Alexandra of Kent. These are combined with perennials such as Veronicastrum virginicum ‘Album’ and ‘Pink Glow’, Delphinium ‘Blue Jay’, Astrantia major ‘Shaggy’ and ‘Abbey Road’, Sanguisorba tenuifolia var.alba and Geranium ‘Brookside’.
In the compartments planting is seasonal; during the spring planting combines wallflowers (Erysimum) and forget-me-nots (Myosotis) with tulips (Tulipa spp.). The wallflowers and tulips are lifted in early summer and replaced with a summer planting scheme. Summer bedding consists of plants such as Cosmos, Dahlia, Nicotiana, Plectranthus, Rudbeckia hirta or Verbena rigida. In the centre of each compartment Clematis ‘Suzy Mac’ and ‘White Arabella’ and sweet peas Lathyrus odoratus are grown up wooden obelisks.
