Gardening, cultivating allotments and all things green-fingered have probably never been more popular than they are today.

But it is one thing to tend plants in your own garden, nurture your spuds and carrots for personal consumption and create festoons of floral displays in containers and window boxes at your own home but it quite another to put in the spadework to regenerate someone else’s plot.

But that is exactly what a dedicated group of garden enthusiasts are doing in Tenbury Wells.

Known as Burford House Garden Angels, a group of about 40 volunteers are working to restore a charming garden to its former glory.

The garden, on the banks of the River Teme just off the A456 near Tenbury, was once the home to one of the best collections of clematis in the country and known as the National Clematis Collection.

But as site manager for Burford House Garden Store Paul Benson explained, the beautiful grounds started to fall into decline about 10 years ago.

“Towards the last years of the previous owner, the economic state of the business meant it was no longer viable to have three full-time gardeners. Over time two of them retired and were never replaced and we were left with one part-timer,” he said.

“Over three or four years the gardens were never touched and we also had the bad floods in 2007 which wiped out a lot of our plants.

“I have been here for the past 13 years. I saw it in its glory and I saw the decline, which has been devastating for me, the staff and the customers. It was a very difficult time for us.”

“If a garden is left, it becomes a complete mess. We were faced with the decision that we either did something about it or we let it go and I thought ‘We cannot let it go’.”

So in early 2013 a call was put out to local gardening enthusiasts to rally round and restore four acres of the site. And it wasn’t long before willing helpers started to appear.

There is now a pool of 40 volunteers with 15 to 20 regulars who turn up every fortnight to tackle some of the back-breaking work. One of the volunteers comes all the way from West Bromwich.

Bit by bit they cleared the weeds, established new plants and recorded the varieties of clematis.

“We had got to the stage where some of the beds were awful and completely choked,” said Paul.

“We now have 200 varieties of clematis and we have planted 100 different ones with three of each variety. It is quite phenomenal what has been done. We have gone over all the beds in the garden and there should be a good show of clematis this year. In a few years it will be a great show.

“Our plans this year are to look to the future and how we can make the gardens easy to maintain in the long term. It is all about making sure the gardens are here forever,” said Paul.

Apart from the garden, work is also being done to renovate and paint the historic gazebo, which once completed, will be an ideal setting for string quartets, jazz bands and harpists to perform.

He said the volunteers are passionate about what they do and, apart from restoring Burford Gardens to their former glory, they have formed a social group.

“They are all lovely and have knitted together very well. It is a great social group,” said Paul.

He added that they are always looking for new volunteers and, in return for their labours, the team members are rewarded with refreshments and trips to events like the RHS Chelsea Flower Show and Gardeners World Live at the NEC.

Paul said: “We make sure they are well looked after. They work very hard for us and the least we can do is repay them in that way.

“We are always looking for more volunteers and anyone interested in joining us should send an e-mail to paul@thegardenstore.ltd.uk.”

Burford House and Gardens, now owned by Hillview Garden Centres, is of both historical and geographical importance.

Once an early Georgian house set in seven acres of ornamental gardens, it is now home to Burford House Garden Store, a cafe and shop.

Entrance to the garden, laid out in their current form in the late 1950s by the late John Treasure who had a series of Gold Medal clematis exhibits at the Chelsea Flower Show, is free to visitors.

Apart from the proliferation of clematis with a flowering season from March to November, there are a number of specimen trees including a magnificent Wellingtonia. There is also a duck pond and a splendid wisteria covering the whole of the rear of the house.

“We do not charge for the garden but we ask for donations which go to garden charities and a local charity. “

If visitors look hard enough they can find the stone remains of an early Norman castle and there is one point in the gardens, where Ledwych Brook and the Rover Teme meet, which marks the spot where the three counties of Worcestershire, Herefordshire and Shropshire converge.

Originally part of the estate, the Grade I listed St Mary’s Church dating from the 12th century, is next door to the grounds and also said to be worth a visit.