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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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Long Barn Gardens, Kent: The place where Vita Sackville-West and Harold Nicolson learned how to make a garden greatThe 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 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.
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Larch Cottage, Cumbria: An immersive journey amid a wealth of architecture, ornaments and plants to find magic and tranquillityCharles Quest-Ritson joins the legion of garden enthusiasts who make the pilgrimage to the dramatic plant nurseries at Larch Cottage in Cumbria. Photographs by Val Corbett for Country Life.
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The gardens at Great Dixter: How Christopher Lloyd's labour of love lives onThe 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 beautyThis 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 makingOriginally 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 kitchen so spectacular that an entire new garden was planted to make the most of the viewA modern kitchen extension was the catalyst for a bold new flower garden at Park House, Cambridgeshire, explains Tiffany Daneff.
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The gardens of Mounton House: A masterpiece restored, and a dream fulfilledThe gardens of Mounton House near Chepstow in Monmouthshire are the masterwork of Henry Avray Tipping, into which he poured his vast inheritance. Yet they would have gone the way of so many Edwardian gardens had it not been for its new owners, who had the brilliant idea of asking the designer Arne Maynard to bring it back to life. Helena Gerrish tells the story; photographs by John Campbell.
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Kate Stuart-Smith and the creation of her effortlessly romantic English country gardenStopping spraying and allowing plants to self-seed was the first step in the gradual and brilliant reinvention of the walled garden at Serge Hill, Hertfordshire , the home of Kate Stuart-Smith. Non Morris paid a visit; photographs by Jason Ingram.
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Harriet Anstruther's 'magical' garden in West Sussex is 'a seductive, deeply comfortable haven'Non Morris visits the the West Sussex home of Harriet Anstruther and Henry Bourne, and discovers a garden that has been brilliantly designed to make you want to stop and simply enjoy its loveliness. Photographs by Éva Németh.
