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Urchfont Manor, Wiltshire: From local council facility to 'inspired contemporary creation'The restoration of Urchfont Manor and its gardens has resulted in an exceptional creation that unites the formal with the informal in a modern garden that nods to the past. Even better, it's now joined the National Garden Scheme; George Plumptre, chief executive of the NGS, takes a closer look, with photographs by Claire Takacs.
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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.
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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.
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A month-by-month guide to the most beautiful gardens to visit in BritainSome gardens are even better in winter. Read our list of the best gardens to visit all year round.
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The Dower House Garden at Morville: Where meticulous historical research meets painstaking gardeningThe 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.
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Drummond Castle Gardens in winter: The winter beauty of the gardens made famous by OutlanderIn 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.
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Winkworth Arboretum, the 'Museum of Trees' that celebrates the art of planting for autumn colourWhen Dr Wilfrid Fox began his arboretum in 1938, he envisaged not simply a collection of tree species, but planting on such a scale as to create its own landscape. Under its new manager, this extraordinary place is, at last, being given the attention it deserves, reveals Charles Quest-Ritson.
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10 of the best secret gardens in Britain — and how you can visit themThe 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.
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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.
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Painswick Rococo Garden: Hidden pavilions and romantic copses, watched over by the god of woodland revelsTiffany 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.
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Bere Mill: The riverside gardens in Hampshire created in as natural and as sensitive a way as possibleInformed 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.
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The Gardens of Monteviot, a garden where magic lingers for future generationsJames Truscott is entranced by a series of new gardens at Monteviot, near Jedburgh. that that successfully captures the magic of growing up in a place rich in history and legend. Photographs by Andrea Jones.
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Parceval Hall: Tucked away in a corner of the Yorkshire Dales, a great garden that's perfectly restoredSteven Desmond visits the early-20th-century garden created at Parcevall Hall in Skyreholme, North Yorkshire, by Sir William Milner and now triumphantly restored. Photographs by Richard Bloom.
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The national collection of rambling roses at Moor Wood, 'one of midsummer’s most beautiful and romantic gardens in England'Charles Quest-Ritson visits the National Collection of rambling roses, which shows these most romantic of plants at their very finest. Photographs by Britt Willoughby-Dyer for the Country Life Picture Library.
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Country Life 13 May 2020Country Life 13 May 2020 looks at summer gardens, visits Petworth and gets celebrates the beautiful Chilterns.
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The gardens at the Old Rectory in Litton Cheney, where formal and informal come together in harmonyThe Old Rectory in Litton Cheney, Dorset has four acres of gardens with many and varying elements, all drawn beautifully together with the help of Arne Maynard. Christopher Stocks paid a visit; photographs by Britt Willoughby Dyer for Country Life.
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How to enjoy bluebells from home — and how to plant them to enjoy your own in future yearsBluebells are among our most welcome annual visitors, writes Toby Keel in celebrating these joyous spring flowers.
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Arundel Castle Gardens: 'Sometimes, a garden catches you unawares... the thought keeps recurring: I’ve never seen anything like this before.'Tiffany Daneff visits Arundel Castle Gardens, sitting in the shadow of the castle and the cathedral at this beautiful West Sussex town, where head gardener Martin Duncan and his team have worked wonders with their bold and innovative plantings.
