I had been dying to meet Charlotte Molesworth for many years, so when the chance came up recently to add this garden onto an already packed itinerary, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity. ‘Come for lunch,’ Charlotte said to Marian Boswall, who had been showing me some other gardens that morning. So at the last minute, I found myself sitting down to a bowl of delicious pumpkin soup with Charlotte and her husband Donald in their tiny, characterful cottage in Benenden.

Charlotte is one of those people whose enthusiasm and love of life brims over, and her personality shines through in her garden. 40 years ago when she and Donald got married, they bought Balmoral Cottage and the acre of land that had once been Cherry Ingram’s kitchen garden. They asked for bare root yew plants for their wedding present, and planted them in rows, waiting patiently for them to grow. When they got bigger, Charlotte began to ‘waist’ them – giving them hourglass figures as the plant began to bush out – and subsequently brought her artist’s eye to each individual topiary piece in the garden.

Walking round the garden makes you feel like a tiny Alice among towering topiary chess pieces. Quirky chickens strut along the top of hedges, and narrow pathways beckon, inviting you to explore all the nooks and crannies of the garden. Charlotte is inevitably in demand for her topiary artistry, and runs practical masterclasses in her garden. She and Donald have converted an outbuilding into the most charming little Airbnb room, The Potting Shed, so you can go and stay right in the middle of this magical garden and lose yourself in it for a few days. The garden is open on certain days each year via the National Garden Scheme.