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The gardens at Ready Token, Gloucestershire: The new, gentler blueprint for rewilding that's yielding spectacular resultsRetaining the Arts-and-Crafts elements of a 1920s garden, the owners have added a sympathetic new terrace, as well as returning the surrounding fields to meadow, finds George Plumptre. Photos by Mimi Connolly.
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How Country Life helped change the face of modern gardeningGeorge Plumptre examines how Country Life championed the marriage of formal design with natural planting, changing the garden forever.
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Coton Manor Garden: The symphony of colour where flamingos mix with flowers, voted Britain's best gardenFlamingos may draw the crowds, but it is the brilliant flower borders that keep people coming back to Coton Manor Garden, the wonderful space at the home of Ian and Susie Pasley-Tyler, says Tiffany Daneff. Photos by Clive Nichols.
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Copyhold Hollow: The 16th century house with a 1,000-year-old hedge — and a 21st century gardenWhen Frances Druce took over Copyhold Hollow — in the High Weald, West Sussex — this 16th-century house with its ancient box hedge had no garden to speak of. Undeterred, she built one herself, reveals Annie Gatti. Photographs by Mimi Connolly.
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The Cressy Hall topiary: 'A miraculously well-kept secret'So fine is the topiary at Cressy Hall in Gosberton — the home of Michael and Janey Hill — that you might think it dates back to the 18th century. Yet it hasall been created over the past 20 years by a former antique dealer with little interest in gardening, as Todd Longstaffe-Gowan explains. Photography by Andrew Sydenham for the Country Life Picture Library.
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Eythrope's extraordinary snowdrops, and more winter treasures galoreNowhere else can gardeners see rare named snowdrops growing in such measureless drifts as in the Rothschilds’ private garden at Eythrope in Buckinghamshire, finds Mary Keen. Photographs by Clive Nichols.
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Morton Hall: The magnificent garden that gives an illusion of effortlessness amid the silent winter airAll looks peaceful at Morton Hall, Worcestershire, but key tasks will be tackled in winter to ensure that, come spring, the garden is ready to burst into life, says Tiffany Daneff. Photographs by Clive Nichols.
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Gordon Castle named Historic Houses Garden of the Year 2021Gordon Castle has become the first Scottish garden ever to win Historic Houses' prestigious Garden of the Year award.
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In Focus: How an amateur gardener created Sissinghurst, one of the most influential gardens ever made'No garden had greater influence in the second half of the 20th century' according to John Sales, the National Trust's former head gardener. Jack Watkins tells the tale of Vita Sackville-West's momumental achievements in creating the gardens at Sissinghurst.
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Chettle House Gardens: A special place, a fascinating history, and gardens that become softer and more romantic with every passing yearHidden by gentle neglect and revealed by research, the remarkably intact 18th-century garden of Chettle House, Dorset, has been brilliantly reinterpreted by landscape designer Pip Morrison. Christopher Stocks paid a visit; photographs by Clive Nichols.
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Hopetoun House: Wall-to-wall brilliance in an extraordinary 12-acre former kitchen garden, and an inspiration to keen amateurs everywhereInside the early-18th-century walls of Hopetoun House, West Lothian, bold planting schemes and original designs are providing an exciting new use for this 12-acre former kitchen garden, discovers Noel Kingsbury.
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The gardens at Elton Hall: A 40-year transformation, an 'absolute hell of weeding and mulching ', and more than worth the effortTilly Ware visits the historic gardens of Elton Hall, Huntingdonshire, where much of the distant past remains a mystery, but which, after four decades of care and attention, have been brilliantly transformed. Photographs by Richard Bloom.
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Colebrook House: The serene English country garden with a touch of TuscanyFrom the new Italianate walled garden, paths and bridges lead on through the endlessly exciting garden of Colebrook House, Blockley, Gloucestershire. Tiffany Daneff paid a visit; photographs by Jason Ingram.
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The Gardens of Brodsworth Hall: Intensely personal, endlessly original, deeply quirky — and enormous funIn the hands of English Heritage, the care and restoration of the striking mid-19th-century garden of Brodsworth Hall, South Yorkshire, is producing truly impressive results, writes Tiffany Daneff. Photographs by Clive Nichols.
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The gardens at The Old Rectory, East Woodhay: The creation of an owner with a designer's eye and a true feeling for plantsApplying many of the same parameters she uses as an interior designer helped Victoria Wormsley in the renovation of the striking walled garden of The Old Rectory, East Woodhay, Hampshire, finds Tiffany Daneff. Photographs by Mark Bolton.
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New tickets available for opening of Queen's private gardens at Buckingham PalaceLarge areas of the gardens at Buckingham Palace are to be opened freely to visitors for the first time this summer, and due to 'exceptional demand' extra dates have been put on between now and September.
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The gardens at Holcombe Court, where the team was told to 'plant whatever you like, as long as it's not pink'Restoration of the historic gardens at Holcombe Court, Devon, has been a slow and thoughtful process that harnessed the individual qualities of the entire garden team to great effect. Tiffany Daneff paid a visit; photographs by Paul Highnam for Country Life.
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The best new gardens opening to the public in 2021 under the National Garden SchemeThe NGS was hit by Covid-19 last summer, but the signs suggest that the 2021 National Garden Scheme openings should go ahead as usual. Annunciata Elwes takes a look at some of the highlights.
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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.
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Pettifers: The breathtaking Oxfordshire garden born from the impeccable instincts of Gina PriceAn Oxfordshire garden famous for its high summer and autumn borders sparkles with just as much interest and invention earlier in the year. Tiffany Daneff visits Pettifers. Photographs by Clive Nichols.
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Weirs Barn: A Hampshire garden where Robert Weir Schultz's Arts-and-Crafts vision came back to lifeIn the spirit of its founding fathers, the Arts-and-Crafts design of Weirs Barn, Hartley Wintney, Hampshire, has been brilliantly brought back to life as a family garden. Photographs by Mimi Connolly.
