Peter Truman Photography

One of the most likely things to happen when a Dutchman works with an Englishman is an argument. However, when you put the foremost Dutch garden designer to work with the foremost English garden designer the result is something of outstanding beauty, something sublime, something that reaches out at your senses and tickles them all simultaneously. The gardens at Trentham in Staffordshire must rate as some of the most magnificent and deserve their own gold medals; after all the designers who have helped in their development are gold medal winners themselves.

Piet Oudolf, from the Netherlands, has developed a very natural style of planting where colours and textures are combined to give a unique depth to a garden. He has worked on many prestigious gardens including those at Trentham, Wisley, Scampston, Pensthorpe (all UK), Battery Park (New York) and others in Sweden, Canada, Germany and of course his own garden in the Netherlands. He has won Gold Medal and Best in Show awards at Chelsea in 2000 and the RHS Veitch Memorial Medal. Tom Stuart-Smith has won six gold medals at the RHS Chelsea flower show and three Best in Show awards. His style, more than any other, describes the current state of English garden design with features drawn from the UK's rich heritage and traditional design to which he has added his own touches - lots of green, swathes of plants and a sense of magic.

So, put the two masters of their craft together and the results are shown across the gardens at Trentham. The guide books do not say whether they actually worked together as in collaboration, rubbed shoulders or simply trod the same paths at different times and I have not asked the questions to learn just what went on, but what I do know is that the gardens at Trentham are simply sublime. There are parts which are clearly Oudolf, the Rivers of Grass and the Floral Labyrinth, whilst the large Italian Gardens are being brought back to life by Stuart-Smith. Two long borders flank and complement the Italian Garden and have been designed by Oudolf. There are further, much smaller gardens at Trentham - a back garden, a yard, a seaside themed garden and a hobbit-styled garden, amongst others. All of these are domestic sized and beautifully crafted but rather lack the grandeur and pulling power of the larger gardens, hardly surprisingly! Nevertheless, they are well worth a look.

Also remarkable is that the Tren tham Estate is now a commercial enterprise under the banner of St Modwen Properties plc, a regeneration specialist, whereas so many gardens on this scale are looked after by organisations such as the National Trust. Trentham is a £100 million regeneration project to develop the gardens and parkland, shops, hotels and other facilities. The project can only be described as impressive and I hope it proves successful as a long term investment and enterprise.

Piet Oudolf's Rivers of Grass is the first garden on the way in and is easy to miss; the footpath leads along the border to the lake, Medusa statue and Italian Gardens. But to miss it would be a travesty and it simply must be walked through, preferebaly with arms outstretched to wave through the Molinia grasses. With a little wind the effect is mesmerising and takes me back to my childhood. The contrasts between the grasses and the dividing wall of Betula nigra (River Birch) trees are also spectacular.

The Floral Labyrinth needs quite a bit of time to take it in. I suggest walking around the perimeter before walking along its footpaths that take you inside the structure and drama of the garden. Do not rush, time your time and walk in both directions to take in the views. This garden is simply magnificent and epitomises Piet Oudolf's natural planting style. I particularly like the drifts of plants and the contrasts - colours, textures, heights and forms.

If you are able to tear yourself away from the Floral Labyrinth there are further treats in store. There's the Italian Gardens on two levels with quite different planting in each. This regeneration is in keeping with the original 1842 designs of Sir Charles Barry and has been designed for today by Tom Stuart-Smith. If you have seen his work at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show you know what you can expect...

The Italian Gardens are divided into two - the Upper Gardens and Lower Gardens. The Upper Gardens are very formal, Italian with bright planting and box borders trimmed to perfection. The Lower Gardens are somewhat less formal and allow the visitor to walk round all the paths, admire and enjoy the planting and see the fountains. The planting is classic (if such a thing exists) Stuart-Smith with a combination of textures and colours arranged to perfection.

Runnin g down each side of the Lower Garden are magnificent long borders - designed by Piet Oudolf. These form a perfect complement to the gardens they contain and I assume it is here where the two designers must have collaborated in depth. Nothing could work together that perfectly without.

Given the drama and excitement of the large gardens at Trentham, it would be very easy to overlook and miss the others. There's the 100m long David Austin Rose border designed by Michael Marriot (who is the Technical Manager at David Austin Roses) and running adjacent to the Italian Garden. There's the Hornbeam arch, the maze and several small gardens grouped together under the title "100 Ideas Gardens". These demonstrate different ideas and themes in normal domestic garden sizes and are no less interesting, albeit on a very different scale to the others!

Trentham Gardens Gallery