Middleton Hall came to my attention a while back in a lecture at Birmingham University by Professor Ian Dillamore, who introduced the work of John Ray, an English naturalist (1627 - 1705) who stayed a while at Middleton. This post is to focus on the garden itself, not Ray, but I'd urge anyone who hasn't heard the name John Ray to at least read through the Wikipedia page dedicated to him; he made a significant contribution to botanical classification and deserves more appreciation.
