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A English country garden that brings the four corners of the world to one corner of Wiltshire
England, 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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The Cotswolds garden that's cleverly designed to defy the worst of the elements
Coates Barn in Warwickshire — home of the Sonneborn family — presented a challenge: how to lay out this exposed north-Cotswold site so as to protect new planting from the elements, and simultaneously provide a garden that three generations of residents could enjoy. Tiffany Daneff explains how they did it; photographs by Britt Willoughby Dyer.
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‘My God! What’s he done?… look at it!’: How George Harrison left The Beatles, turned his hand to gardening, and created a masterpiece
The garden at Friar Park in Henley-on-Thames — the Oxfordshire home of the late Beatle George Harrison and his wife Olivia — is breathtaking. The ‘Gardening Beatle’ did a spectacular job of reviving an historic alpine garden in the shadow of the ‘Henley Matterhorn’, and Olivia has enhanced what was Britain’s largest rock garden with her exceptional and imaginative planting schemes. Charles Quest-Ritson reports.
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Country Life 11 September 2024
Country Life 11 September 2024 visits George Harrison's garden, picks the perfect pelargonium and enjoys the songs of the thrush.
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Country Life 31 July 2024
Country Life 31 July 2024 looks at fountains and chalkstreams, violins and pirates, and visits the Duke of Beautfort's garden.
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The Hampshire house and garden where D-Day was planned is now a haven with sun-drenched views across calm azure sea to the Isle of Wight
Once the haunt of smugglers and sailors, the Hampshire seashore now shelters a garden where pre- and interwar plantings sit happily with impressive new areas. George Plumptre visits the garden of Lepe House.
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The gardens at Dunvegan Castle: Hard landscaping on the Isle of Skye
Despite 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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The gardens of High Moss, a Cumbrian paradise just moments from Derwentwater
Non Morris visits the much-loved gardens of High Moss, in Portinscale, Cumbria — home of Peter and Christine Hughes — and finds a historically fascinating Arts-and-Crafts garden which has been imaginatively brought back to life. Photographs by Val Corbett for Country Life.
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The garden of Midsummer House: An Oxfordshire gem that's small but perfectly formed
With a stream running through it and views of the Uffington White Horse, the garden of Midsummer House in Oxfordshire — the home of Mrs Penny Spink — is a garden of great natural beauty cleverly designed and planted to make it seem much larger than it actually is. George Plumptre paid a visit; photographs by Mimi Connolly.
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The walled garden at Whithurst Park — and the owners who made it from scratch
Growing your own is one thing, but at Whithurst Park in West Sussex, fruit and vegetables aren't the only thing rising fresh from the ground.
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How Morton Hall's owner has reinvented the art of clematis training
Tiffany Daneff visits Morton Hall in Worcestershire to discover the secret of its owner’s new clematis-training technique. Photographs by Clive Nichols.
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Floral fireworks: The treasures you’ll find at the National Dahlia Collection
The National Dahlia Collection in Cornwallwas scheduled to be grubbed up in 2020, but was saved in the nick of time. Kirsty Fergusson visits the 1,700 dahlias now happily settled in their new home and finds out the best to order now for late-summer colour. Photos by Mimi Connolly.
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Long Barn Gardens, Kent: The place where Vita Sackville-West and Harold Nicolson learned how to make a garden great
The garden at Long Barn, near Sevenoaks — the home of Lars and Rebecca Lemonius — shares many of the elements that make Sissinghurst Castle famous, says Christopher Stocks. Photographs by Clive Nichols.
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The gardens at Rockcliffe: Cold comforts that even Britain's worst winters can't spoil
At 600ft above sea level, the garden at Rockcliffe in Gloucestershire —the home of Simon and Emma Keswick — suffers in harsh winters. But as Tiffany Daneff writes, even the worst weather cannot subdue its many charms. Photographs by Clive Nichols.
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George Harrison's Garden: How the Beatle and his wife turned a 'tangled jungle' into a magnificent garden
When George Harrison first saw the famous Topiary Garden at Friar Park in Oxfordshire, it was a tangled jungle of overgrown yews. The work he began has been continued by his wife, Olivia, and, now, the display is back to its full glory, finds Charles Quest-Ritson.
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24 hours in Oxford, from the Botanic Garden to the Bodleian Library
Oxford’s unique mix of history, art, nature and architecture make it the ideal place for a short break. Our gardens editor Tiffany Daneff paid a visit to the famous Botanic Garden — and found she still had time to fit in several more of the city’s great treasures.
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The Garden at Standen Barn, Kent: A garden that ties together house and landscape
Formal elements have provided firm foundations in the garden at Standen Barn, near Biddenden, Kent — the home of Prof Roland Rosner and Prof Denise Lievesley. But it is also a garden that is planted for wildlife and surrounded by newly established woodland, reports Tiffany Daneff. Photographs by Jason Ingram.
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The gardens at Great Dixter: How Christopher Lloyd's labour of love lives on
The swashbuckling dahlias still thrill in the late, great Christopher Lloyd's at Great Dixter — in Northiam, East Sussex — but Mary Keen, a lifelong friend of this incomparable spot, is equally impressed with how the garden has evolved in the care of Fergus Garrett.
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The Cotswolds farmhouse gardens transformed from dilapidation to beauty
This former working farm in the Cotswolds with its scattering of ancient buildings has been transformed into a series of beautiful gardens surrounding the main house, writes Tiffany Daneff. Photographs by Jason Ingram.
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West Lavington Manor: The gardens four centuries in the making
Originally laid out in the 1630s, the garden at West Lavington Manor in Wiltshire is today the home of Mr and Mrs Andrew Doman. And in its latest iteration, says Charles Quest-Ritson, has found a perfect balance between planting and design. Photographs by Jason Ingram.
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The gardens of Melbourne Hall: A spectacular outdoor space 500 years in the making
The gardens at Melbourne Hall in Derbyshire have been in the same family for 500 years. Non Morris meets Lord and Lady Ralph Kerr to find out about this rare example of an 18th-century Anglo-French Baroque garden, which has not only been sensitively restored but added to with wonderful new plantings in its wilder parts. Photography by Andrea Jones.
