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Great Comp: The blissful garden flooded with rhododendrons and azaleas that's just beyond the M25Each spring, Great Comp Garden — just outside the M25, near Sevenoaks — erupts into bloom, with swathes of magnolias, azaleas and rhododendrons. Charles Quest-Ritson looks at what has become one of the finest gardens to visit in Kent.
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Totally tropical Tresco: The English country garden that brings the tropics to the British IslesA warm reception awaits visitors to Tresco Abbey Garden — the home of Robert and Lucy Dorrien-Smith — where the year-round temperate climate has created an extraordinarily colourful garden–even in winter. Tiffany Daneff reports, with photography by Clive Nichols.
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G&T to Gravetye and 'the David Attenborough of garden visiting': The Garden tours to book in 2025One of the best ways–often the only way–to visit the finest privately owned gardens in the country is by joining an exclusive tour. Non Morris tags along.
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The special magic of a frozen garden in winterWaking up to discover the garden transformed by a short, sharp hoar frost is a magical experience. Tiffany Daneff looks at how to make the most of it, and shares five of the best to visit over the holiday period.
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Alan Titchmarsh's garden: No insecticides, no herbicides, just beautiful flowers, lawns, a statue of Repton and a swing seat that's impossible to resistIt’s always fascinating to see what a high-profile gardening personality does with their own home. Tiffany Daneff visits Alan Titchmarsh’s Hampshire garden, to find a place of endless delights and charm. Photographs by Jonathan Buckley.
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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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The Cotswolds garden that's cleverly designed to defy the worst of the elementsCoates 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 masterpieceThe 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 31 July 2024Country 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 WightOnce 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 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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The gardens of High Moss, a Cumbrian paradise just moments from DerwentwaterNon 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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18 of the best places across Britain to go and see bluebells this springWe round up the best gardens to visit to see carpets of bluebells this spring and explain how to tell the difference between the native flowers and foreign interlopers
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The garden of Midsummer House: An Oxfordshire gem that's small but perfectly formedWith 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 scratchGrowing 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 trainingTiffany 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 CollectionThe 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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The gardens at Rockcliffe: Cold comforts that even Britain's worst winters can't spoilAt 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 gardenWhen 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 LibraryOxford’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 landscapeFormal 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.
