Finest gardens to visit
The finest gardens in Britain, Ireland and beyond.
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Chettle House Gardens: A special place, a fascinating history, and gardens that become softer and more romantic with every passing year
Hidden 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.
By Country Life Published
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Hopetoun House: Wall-to-wall brilliance in an extraordinary 12-acre former kitchen garden, and an inspiration to keen amateurs everywhere
Inside 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.
By Noel Kingsbury Published
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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 effort
Tilly 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.
By Country Life Published
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Colebrook House: The serene English country garden with a touch of Tuscany
From 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.
By Tiffany Daneff Published
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The Gardens of Brodsworth Hall: Intensely personal, endlessly original, deeply quirky — and enormous fun
In 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.
By Tiffany Daneff Published
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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 plants
Applying 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.
By Tiffany Daneff Published
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New tickets available for opening of Queen's private gardens at Buckingham Palace
Large 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.
By Toby Keel Published
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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.
By Tiffany Daneff Published
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The best new gardens opening to the public in 2021 under the National Garden Scheme
The 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.
By Annunciata Elwes Published
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The gardens of Armadale Castle: Clan Donald's crumbling, magnificent retreat tucked into a corner of the Isle of Skye
Caroline 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.
By Caroline Donald Published
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Pettifers: The breathtaking Oxfordshire garden born from the impeccable instincts of Gina Price
An 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.
By Tiffany Daneff Published
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Weirs Barn: A Hampshire garden where Robert Weir Schultz's Arts-and-Crafts vision came back to life
In 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.
By Tiffany Daneff Published
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Nevill Holt, Leicestershire: 'After 700 years of ups and downs, finally entering its prime'
The reimagined gardens at Nevill Holt, Leicestershire, have stepped into the limelight to offer a powerful overture to the summer opera festival, explains Kendra Wilson. Photographs by Clive Nichols.
By Country Life Published
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A month-by-month guide to the most beautiful gardens to visit in Britain
Some gardens are even better in winter. Read our list of the best gardens to visit all year round.
By Kathryn Bradley-Hole Published
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The Dower House Garden at Morville: Where meticulous historical research meets painstaking gardening
The historic Dower House Garden at Morville, Shropshire, has been sensitively re-created by its owner, finds Non Morris. Photographs by Val Corbett for Country Life.
By Non Morris Published
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Kylemore Abbey Gardens: An Irish garden that 'is one of earth's wonders'
Thanks to the determination of the resident community of Benedictine nuns, the eight-acre garden at Kylemore Abbey Gardens in Connemara, Ireland, has been restored. Once lockdown lifts, visitors can once again enjoy a Victorian survival in an extraordinary setting. Mary Hackett paid a visit; photographs by Zara Napier.
By Country Life Published
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Drummond Castle Gardens in winter: The winter beauty of the gardens made famous by Outlander
In the depths of winter at Drummond Castle, near Crieff, Perthshire, the crisp outlines of the 11 miles of box hedging and the perfect trim on the countless topiaried yews still take the breath away in a garden made famous by the Outlander TV series. Caroline Donald tells its story, with photographs by Clive Nichols.
By Country Life Published
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10 of the best secret gardens in Britain — and how you can visit them
The lure of a secret garden is as strong now as it was when Frances Hodgson Burnett first published The Secret Garden over a century ago. With a recent film adaptation — the fifth — having hit screens, Juliet Roberts selects a few of her favourite secret gardens.
By Country Life Published
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Iford Manor: How Harold Peto created a Wiltshire masterpiece that 'that turns the ordinary into the extraordinary'
Troy Scott-Smith, head gardener at Iford Manor, tells the tale of how the great Harold Peto found Iford and used it to his gardening and architectural dreams come to life.
By Troy Scott-Smith Published
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Painswick Rococo Garden: Hidden pavilions and romantic copses, watched over by the god of woodland revels
Tiffany Daneff visits Painswick Rococo Garden, near Stroud, Gloucestershire, one of the best examples of a Rococo garden in this country — a place of hidden pavilions and romantic copses watched over by the god of woodland revels. Photographs by Britt Willoughby Dyer.
By Tiffany Daneff Published
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Bere Mill: The riverside gardens in Hampshire created in as natural and as sensitive a way as possible
Informed by the Japanese ‘landscape in the garden’ tradition, the naturalistic riverside gardens of Bere Mill, Hampshire, flow with ease into their languid surroundings says Tiffany Daneff. Pictures by Andrea Jones.
By Tiffany Daneff Published


