The gardeners' gardens: Alan Titchmarsh, Mary Keen, Clive Nichols and more on the places they have on their 2026 hitlists
Which gardens are Country Life contributors most looking forward to visiting this year? We asked them for the where and why.
This feature appears in the January 21, 2026 issue of Country Life, our winter gardens special. Click here for more information on how to order a copy, or subscribe to the magazine.
Kendra Wilson: Benton End, Suffolk
Benton irises, bred by the artist Sir Cedric Morris in the mid 20th century, have been the height of chic for the past decade and, from this summer, they will be given context with the restoration of Morris’s garden at Benton End in Suffolk. When the 16th-century house was being run as an art school, the informal garden was filled with the many plants (as well as irises) that Morris collected from his travels, and bred with an artist’s eye.
Miraculously, in 2021, the Garden Museum was given Benton End as a donation. Morris’s floral paintings have offered the most clues about what grew there and this is what I’m excited about — seeing a contemporary invocation of a place that was ahead of its time. Plus, the appointment of artist-gardener Sarah Price as designer and Great Dixter-trained James Horner as plant detective indicates that the taste levels will be through the roof.
Clive Nichols: Cambo Gardens, Fife
The garden I would love to visit is Cambo in Scotland. In January and March, I want to explore the 70 acres of woodland, which should be carpeted in snowdrops — the garden is home to the Plant Heritage National Collection of snowdrops, comprising more than 200 varieties, begun in the 1930s by Lady Magdalen Erskine and expanded by Catherine, Lady Erskine from the late 1980s.
I would also like to visit the 2½-acre walled garden, probably around July, as it has a Piet Oudolf-type prairie garden (unique, apparently, in Scotland) that should be looking at its best around that time.
Cambo Gardens, Fife — 01333 451040
Alan Titchmarsh: Exbury Gardens, Hampshire
After 50 years, I have moved from the chalky Hampshire Downs to a garden on acid sand, which means I can now grow rhododendrons, azaleas and camellias. A visit to Exbury Gardens, therefore, is a must. With notebook in hand, I shall tour the landscape beside the Beaulieu river and jot down everything that takes my eye. I suspect it will be a long list.
Exbury Gardens in the New Forest is utterly spectacular in spring.
I have an acre of woodland with some ancient rhododendrons already established, but I want to add to them and rejuvenate the collection — everything from the large-leafed species, such as Rhododendron sinogrande, to the lower-growing evergreen azaleas. Exbury has a great reputation for spring spectacle and this year, for me, it will be more meaningful than ever.
Exbury Gardens, Hampshire — 023–8089 1203
Charles Quest-Ritson: Bodnant Gardens, Conwy
I like returning to gardens that have improved since my last visit. I have been to Bodnant only once — in 1971. So few were my fellow visitors that I walked down the famous laburnum avenue all alone. Then I returned to the carpark to find that someone had pranged my Mini Cooper and I couldn’t open the driver’s door. This time, I shall plunge deeply into the woods and wallow in vast embothriums and ancient rhododendrons, before visiting Crûg Farm nursery for a little retail therapy. I only hope that parking skills have improved over the past 55 years.
Bodnant, Conwy, is run by the National Trust website
Mary Keen: Yews Farm, Somerset
I loved Yews Farm on a hasty visit three summers ago. Bowled over by the sense of being in a magical place, I felt as if I was stepping into the pages of Tom’s Midnight Garden or The Children of Green Knowe.
Louise Dowding has created a bewitching scene in a quarter of an acre, by shaping topiary into mounds and swirls and allowing easy perennials to flourish between bushes of box and yew. I hardly looked at the plants then, so I want to return in spring to see leaves at their greenest and flowers at their frothiest.
Tilly Ware: Columbine Hall, Suffolk
It was the historic iris grower Lucy Skellorn who first told me about the Plant Heritage collection of Revd Engleheart daffodils at Columbine Hall in west Suffolk and I’ve wanted to see them ever since. Visiting in late April, I’d like to pick the brains of head gardener Kate Elliott about her colour-themed kitchen garden and see what seedlings are sprouting in her greenhouse. The fact that this was the home of Leslie Geddes Brown, a much-admired writer and Country Life contributor on plants, cooking, books, design and all matters of taste, is another pull. And, finally, I cannot resist a moat.
Columbine Hall, Suffolk — 01449 612219
Mark Diacono: Gravetye Manor, West Sussex
There is a special magic about a walled garden and, from all accounts, the kitchen garden at Gravetye is a fine example. I heard about this south-facing 1½ acres, formed in a perfect ellipse and enclosed by a 12ft sandstone wall, a dozen or more years ago.
For walled-garden inspiration, Gravetye Manor in West Sussex is worth a trip.
Numerous friends told me of the glorious produce serving the apparently excellent restaurant and of the further 35 acres of Gravetye gardens to visit. Why haven’t I been yet? I can only put it down to the curious self-denial that occasionally seems to visit the male of the species. In 2026, I shall do better.
Steven Desmond: Newby Hall, North Yorkshire
I have known the garden at Newby Hall, near Ripon, for half a century. It was always lovely, but is now exceptionally so. The heroic double herbaceous borders, which extend from the house to the river, the woodland garden that positively glitters with choice blooms in spring, the marvellous collection of mature specimen trees and shrubs, the sunken garden, always ingeniously planted, floral delights around every corner, good bones, an orchard with seats, a visitable house full of special things, sheep safely grazing in a boundless rural setting of quiet beauty… who could ask for anything more?
Newby Hall, North Yorkshire — 01423 322583
Isabel Bannerman: Myddleton House, Greater London
In 2026, I mean to get at last to Myddleton House — the creation of legendary botanist, botanic artist and early president of the RHS Augustus Bowles — at tulip time. I long to see the superb collection of tulips, bearded irises and Wisteria floribunda ‘Macrobotrys’ he planted and which flower still. Each May, he would hold a Tulip Tea Party to celebrate his birthday.
Myddelton House is free to visit — aim to coincide your visit with the emergence of the tulips.
Bowles was known as the Crocus King and his alpine meadow is still swamped with rare bulbs, but in summer it becomes a blue haze of wild geranium. Being partially blind, he relished the scent of jasmine drifting into the drawing room from the filigree iron conservatory. This, together with the garden, has been restored to glory with National Lottery funds. Entry to these eight Elysian acres is entirely free of charge.
Myddleton House, Greater London — 0300 003 0610
James Alexander-Sinclair: Tremenheere Sculpture Gardens, Cornwall
For years, I have spent time in Cornwall and, inevitably, the lure of clotted cream and beaches will stale and alternative entertainment is required. We usually seek out Tre-menheere Sculpture garden just outside Pen-zance with a wonderful view of St Michael’s Mount to see what is new. It is a hillside that has been developed over the past 30 years by local GP Neil Armstrong. Almost single-handedly, he has planted an astonishing range of plants gathered from all over the world and which thrive in the soft climate of the South-West.
'Nothing better to take your mind off bodyboarding bruises': Tremenheere Sculpture Gardens in Cornwall, with St Michael's Mount in the distance.
Among these are scattered a collection of internationally important sculptures, including a James Turrell Sky-space — a very calm building designed for watching the clouds — and work by Richard Long, David Nash and Kishio Suga. Art and gardens: nothing better to take your mind off bodyboarding bruises.
Tremenheere, Cornwall — 01736 448089
Marianne Majerus: Beth Chatto Gardens, Essex
I always look forward to visiting Beth Chatto Gardens in Elmstead Market. The gravel, woodland and bog gardens are interesting in every season, but I particularly like them in spring.
The groundbreaking genius of Beth Chatto still floods her eponymous gardens in Essex, with its woodland and bog gardens.
Beth Chatto created the garden over several decades and her ecological approach to gardening — thinking carefully about habitat and putting the right plant in the right place — was groundbreaking and inspired many of today’s best designers and plantspeople. No visit is complete without indulging oneself in the superb nursery and taking a little bit of the garden home.
Beth Chatto Gardens, Essex — 01206 822007
John Hoyland: The Old Rectory, Cottered, Hertfordshire
Of all the gardens we visit, some stay with us more than others. About 18 years ago, I was enchanted by the garden created by plantswoman and artist Debbie Taussig. It remains fresh in my memory and I am keen to see how it has developed and matured. Over five acres, the garden encompasses several ponds, including a vernal pool ringed with spring flowers, enclosed herbaceous borders, perennial meadows, formal hornbeams and a grove of Yoshino cherries.
The various elements of the space meld and flow into each, creating an informal and relaxed atmosphere. The garden is Mr and Mrs Taussig’s private haven, but they were persuaded last year to open it for the National Gardens Scheme. I couldn’t go, but will ensure that this year, when the garden opens in April, I will be there to enjoy it.
The Old Rectory, Cottered, Hertfordshire, is open on April 19, 2026 via the NGS
