Set in open countryside on the edge of a pretty Northamptonshire village, The Old Rectory is a fine Georgian house surrounded by a two-acre Plantsman's Garden which was started in 1984. The Old Rectory Gardens comprise a blend of traditional style and contemporary design that changes form and colour with the seasons. The pond area features a mass of spring bulbs and unusual trees, but nearby an extensive collection of hellebores forms an early spring border and colour-schemed herbaceous, mixed shrub and rose borders contrast with a more formal trellis-backed rose garden. Year round, in courtyards and terraces, containers add texture and tone.

The renowned potager, designed in 1985 by Rosemary Verey and developed over the years, offers decorative as well as practical schemes in summer and autumn. The Ilex crenata-edged beds are filled with a variety of herbs, vegetables and fruit. Narrow brick paths add formality, while hazel arches and tripods create strong vertical lines which are covered by climbers in the summer.

The woodland park, which starts at Harper's Brook, is along part of a disused narrow gauge ironstone tramway. The owner, assisted by garden designer Rupert Golby, see the gardens as a continuous project and improvements are undertaken year by year. The gardens have been featured in many books and national publications, including Rosemary Verey's Garden Plans and David Hicks' My Kind of Garden.