A BEAUTIFUL garden enhanced by stunning sculptures can be seen as part of the National Gardens Scheme.

Gary and Kay Vanstone's Coombe Sculpture Garden is a two-acre sloping garden set around a 17th century farmhouse at Bradstone.

As well as the variety of garden habitats, sculptures by the Vanstones' son, Paul, stand like sensual sentinels throughout the site in a secluded wooded valley.

His fascination is with hardness and light-reflecting qualities of marble and how this can be transformed to portray the curvature of the human body and the delicacy and flow of covering cloth.

Paul trained in sculpture at Central and St Martin's School of Art and the Royal College of Art. Awarded the Henry Moore Award in 1991 and 1992, he graduated in 1993, and worked in Italy at the traditional marble carving studios near the famous Carrera quarries. He has also worked in Berlin and travelled to Rajasthan to learn about traditional religious, marble carving techniques.

The garden includes unusual trees, shrubs and herbaceous plants for all-year colour. There are also spring-fed streams, pools and a mill pond.

Coombe Sculpture Garden is open Wednesday to Sunday in June between 11am and 5pm as part of the National Gardens scheme, and will raise funds for the Children's Hospice South West. Admission is £4, children free and over 60s £3. There is wheelchair access to most areas and help is available if needed. The garden is off the B3362 Tavistock to Launceston road and is well signposted.