diff --git a/CHANGELOG b/CHANGELOG
index a2a129fde..7c4c983d2 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG
+++ b/CHANGELOG
@@ -1,6 +1,9 @@
 Changes between 2.3.5 and 2.4.DEV
 -----------------------------------
 
+- fix issue300 - Fix order of conftest loading when starting py.test
+  in a subdirectory.
+
 - fix issue323 - sorting of many module-scoped arg parametrizations
 
 - add support for setUpModule/tearDownModule detection, thanks Brian Okken.
diff --git a/_pytest/config.py b/_pytest/config.py
index f3c4034eb..87d3e0a2a 100644
--- a/_pytest/config.py
+++ b/_pytest/config.py
@@ -196,27 +196,20 @@ class Conftest(object):
                     self.getconftestmodules(x)
 
     def getconftestmodules(self, path):
-        """ return a list of imported conftest modules for the given path.  """
         try:
             clist = self._path2confmods[path]
         except KeyError:
             if path is None:
-                raise ValueError("missing default confest.")
-            dp = path.dirpath()
+                raise ValueError("missing default conftest.")
             clist = []
-            if dp != path:
-                cutdir = self._confcutdir
-                if cutdir and path != cutdir and not path.relto(cutdir):
-                    pass
-                else:
-                    conftestpath = path.join("conftest.py")
-                    if conftestpath.check(file=1):
-                        clist.append(self.importconftest(conftestpath))
-                clist[:0] = self.getconftestmodules(dp)
+            for parent in path.parts():
+                if self._confcutdir and self._confcutdir.relto(parent):
+                    continue
+                conftestpath = parent.join("conftest.py")
+                if conftestpath.check(file=1):
+                    clist.append(self.importconftest(conftestpath))
             self._path2confmods[path] = clist
-        # be defensive: avoid changes from caller side to
-        # affect us by always returning a copy of the actual list
-        return clist[:]
+        return clist
 
     def rget(self, name, path=None):
         mod, value = self.rget_with_confmod(name, path)
diff --git a/testing/python/fixture.py b/testing/python/fixture.py
index e82e38366..87cd4f928 100644
--- a/testing/python/fixture.py
+++ b/testing/python/fixture.py
@@ -102,6 +102,77 @@ class TestFillFixtures:
             "*2 passed*"
         ])
 
+    def test_extend_fixture_module_class(self, testdir):
+        testfile = testdir.makepyfile("""
+            import pytest
+
+            @pytest.fixture
+            def spam():
+                return 'spam'
+
+            class TestSpam:
+
+                 @pytest.fixture
+                 def spam(self, spam):
+                     return spam * 2
+
+                 def test_spam(self, spam):
+                     assert spam == 'spamspam'
+        """)
+        result = testdir.runpytest()
+        result.stdout.fnmatch_lines(["*1 passed*"])
+        result = testdir.runpytest(testfile)
+        result.stdout.fnmatch_lines(["*1 passed*"])
+
+    def test_extend_fixture_conftest_module(self, testdir):
+        testdir.makeconftest("""
+            import pytest
+
+            @pytest.fixture
+            def spam():
+                return 'spam'
+        """)
+        testfile = testdir.makepyfile("""
+            import pytest
+
+            @pytest.fixture
+            def spam(spam):
+                return spam * 2
+
+            def test_spam(spam):
+                assert spam == 'spamspam'
+        """)
+        result = testdir.runpytest()
+        result.stdout.fnmatch_lines(["*1 passed*"])
+        result = testdir.runpytest(testfile)
+        result.stdout.fnmatch_lines(["*1 passed*"])
+
+    def test_extend_fixture_conftest_conftest(self, testdir):
+        testdir.makeconftest("""
+            import pytest
+
+            @pytest.fixture
+            def spam():
+                return 'spam'
+        """)
+        pkg = testdir.mkpydir("pkg")
+        pkg.join("conftest.py").write(py.code.Source("""
+            import pytest
+
+            @pytest.fixture
+            def spam(spam):
+                return spam * 2
+        """))
+        testfile = pkg.join("test_spam.py")
+        testfile.write(py.code.Source("""
+            def test_spam(spam):
+                assert spam == "spamspam"
+        """))
+        result = testdir.runpytest()
+        result.stdout.fnmatch_lines(["*1 passed*"])
+        result = testdir.runpytest(testfile)
+        result.stdout.fnmatch_lines(["*1 passed*"])
+
     def test_funcarg_lookup_error(self, testdir):
         p = testdir.makepyfile("""
             def test_lookup_error(unknown):
diff --git a/testing/test_conftest.py b/testing/test_conftest.py
index 6b9689fe3..d753f5672 100644
--- a/testing/test_conftest.py
+++ b/testing/test_conftest.py
@@ -204,3 +204,14 @@ def test_conftest_confcutdir(testdir):
     """))
     result = testdir.runpytest("-h", "--confcutdir=%s" % x, x)
     result.stdout.fnmatch_lines(["*--xyz*"])
+
+def test_conftest_import_order(testdir, monkeypatch):
+    ct1 = testdir.makeconftest("")
+    sub = testdir.mkdir("sub")
+    ct2 = sub.join("conftest.py")
+    ct2.write("")
+    def impct(p):
+        return p
+    conftest = Conftest()
+    monkeypatch.setattr(conftest, 'importconftest', impct)
+    assert conftest.getconftestmodules(sub) == [ct1, ct2]
diff --git a/testing/test_terminal.py b/testing/test_terminal.py
index edbd1f51b..804f3b656 100644
--- a/testing/test_terminal.py
+++ b/testing/test_terminal.py
@@ -654,9 +654,9 @@ def pytest_report_header(config, startdir):
 """)
         result = testdir.runpytest("a")
         result.stdout.fnmatch_lines([
+            "*hello: 42*",
             "line1",
             str(testdir.tmpdir),
-            "*hello: 42*",
         ])
 
 @pytest.mark.xfail("not hasattr(os, 'dup')")