Aged seven as I recall, I asked my mother (a keen gardener) whether I could tend a patch of ground which had been revealed by the removal of two aged hydrangeas. During the ensuing years my care expanded to encompass the whole garden and by the age of ten, I had a regular Saturday gardening job. Such was my fascination with plants that whilst my contemporaries received Beano annuals and train sets for their birthdays, I was the proud owner of titles by D G Hessayon and Percy Thrower.

I have a fond memory of sitting with my father in the café of Percy Thrower’s garden centre in Shrewsbury when the great man himself asked if he might share our table. He could have stepped straight out of the TV screen, wearing his trademark brown tweed suit and woollen tie.

The seed of a passion for gardening having been planted so young (although having lain dormant during a necessary spell of accountancy and lecturing) has meant that now, thirty years on, I’m eager to share my passion with you. The ‘Plant Terrace’ at Long Barn is unashamedly my personal selection.

I’m not in competition with commercial garden centres and I think the best way I can describe my aim is to ask you to think of me as a kind of horticultural personal shopper: on your behalf I have narrowed down the plethora of plants available to what I hope you’ll agree is the choicest few.

If you are a relative newcomer to the glorious world of plants, we are always on hand to offer advice, and if you are a seasoned gardener, can I tempt you with the following gem? In Graham Stuart Thomas’s weighty tome ‘Perennial Garden Plants’ under the entry for Aster x frikartii ‘Mönch’ he wrote, “One of the six best plants that should be in every garden. Don’t ask me to name the other five “. I have finally managed to track down the very same and I’m now delighted to be able to offer them for sale. If you can understand why I was driven to do that, then I promise you will not be disappointed by a trip to Long Barn.

Richard Norris, Founder of Long Barn .