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Inverewe: The making of 'The Oasis of the North' in a wind-battered corner of north-west ScotlandInnovative 21st-century composting and mulching techniques combined with a 19th-century shelterbelt ensure that the famous gardens of Inverewe in Wester Ross continue to thrive. Caroline Donald explains more; photographs by Andrea Jones.
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'Other people would have given up and turfed half of it over': The couple who turned 'the ugliest house with the nicest view' into a Somerset treasureWith many viewpoints and changes of level, Grove Ley in Somerton, Somerset — home of Dr and Mrs Michael Horder — was not an easy site on which to make a garden. But key to its success, writes Caroline Donald, has been enlarging the pond and creating long beds full of robust perennials and grasses. Photographs by Britt Willoughby Dyer.
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A lush, 'tropical' garden in Devon where bananas and ginger grow happily alongside the staples of an English country gardenSteep inclines and rocky outcrops are nothing to the owners of this coastal garden, which is filled with plants-many from the southern hemisphere-that thrive in such conditions, finds Caroline Donald.
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The Hollywood garden designers who turned their hand to a magical corner of SomersetCaisson House's fifteen abandoned locks were part of the draw for Amanda and Phil Honey, who have created this astonishing garden in the grounds of the former headquarters of the Somersetshire Coal Canal Company just outside Bath. Caroline Donald discovers more; photography by Jason Ingram.
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A English country garden that brings the four corners of the world to one corner of WiltshireEngland, Africa, Italy or China — it’s possible to travel the world without leaving this imaginatively designed garden, which divides into four distinct geographical sections, each with a resonance for the owners. Caroline Donald reports from the garden at Seend Manor in Wiltshire, home of Amanda and Stephen Clark.
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At a home designed by the architect of the Royal Botanical Society, a new garden takes shapeAlmost two centuries separate this Decimus Burton villa from its new contemporary garden and yet they suit each other perfectly.
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The gardens at Dunvegan Castle: Hard landscaping on the Isle of SkyeDespite their exposed position, the gardens of Dunvegan Castle, home of Clan MacLeod for 800 years, have nurtured an important historic collection of species from around the world and are now going from strength to strength, writes Caroline Donald.
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How to make a garden good enough for Country Life from scratchWithin only 14 years, seven acres of featureless grass around Charlton Farm in Wiltshire have been transformed into a garden full of incident and charm, writes Caroline Donald
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Lukesland: The romantic Dartmoor gardens bursting with exotic blooms and historic shrubsSet in a steep valley just below Dartmoor, Lukesland Gardens — in Ivybridge, Devon — are romantic woodland gardens filled with exotic trees and flowering shrubs, many of historic importance. Caroline Donald paid a visit; photographs by Mark Bolton.
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The Japanese Garden at Cowden: An iconic Oriental garden in the heart of ClackmannanshireDescribed in 1925 as the most important Japanese garden in the West, the Japanese Garden at Cowden in Clackmannanshire — the ancestral home of Sara Stewart — fell into decline and was eventually closed in 1955. Now, it has been magnificently restored, as Caroline Donald explains. Photographs by Clive Nichols.
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The gardens at Kestle Barton: A landscape of creeks and fields married to an award-winning galleryCaroline Donald visits the garden at Kestle Barton Gallery, near Helford, Cornwall, a garden that marries an award-winning art gallery with a landscape of creeks and fields. Photographs by Mark Bolton.
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The gardens of Armadale Castle: Clan Donald's crumbling, magnificent retreat tucked into a corner of the Isle of SkyeCaroline Donald visits the ancestral home of Clan Donald, Armadale Castle on the Isle of Skye, where the gardens are once again in safe hands and the historic trees will be given a boost with the planting of a new arboretum of endangered conifers. Photographs by Claire Takacs.
