Country Gardens and gardening tips
Formal 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.
Changes are afoot at the famous rhododendron gardens of Leonardslee, which are now being planted for year-round interest. Charles Quest-Ritson reports.
Charles 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.
The 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.
This 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.
Originally 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.
As Britain goes through a blazing hot tail-end of summer, Christopher Woodward dives into the history of the swimming pool and relishes some lengths in the best private pools in the country. Photographs by Simon Buck and Millie Pilkington.
The gardens at Melbourne Hall in Derbyshire have been in the same family for 500 years. Non Morris meets Lord and Lady Ralph Kerr to find out about this rare example of an 18th-century Anglo-French Baroque garden, which has not only been sensitively restored but added to with wonderful new plantings in its wilder parts. Photography by Andrea Jones.
A modern kitchen extension was the catalyst for a bold new flower garden at Park House, Cambridgeshire, explains Tiffany Daneff.
Close artistic observation combined with a deep horticultural intelligence has made Sarah Price one of the finest garden designers today. Tilly Ware visits her at home in Monmouthshire, where she is experimenting to magical effect to create 'a level of harmony that pins you to the spot'. Photographs by Sarah Price.
The 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.
Stopping 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.
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.
From a real-life flower fairy to a giant stone sculpture, here are some of the wonders on display at the 2023 Chelsea Flower Show.
See all the gold medal winners from the 2023 Chelsea Flower Show, and find out who else won awards at the world's most prestigious garden showcase.
Country Life's former gardens editor Kathryn Bradley-Hole writes her 2023 Chelsea Flower Show preview — and she anticipates a confident return to form at Chelsea, with mouth-watering designs for productive gardens, aromatic Mediterranean planting and even a reinterpretation of the rock garden.
Alan Titchmarsh considers the new monarch’s extraordinary contribution to British gardening, which is always underpinned by organic methods and a strong belief in husbandry and stewardship.
The more you look at Knoyle Place — the Wiltshire home of the Comtesse de La Morinière — the more there is to admire. Charles Quest-Ritson takes a look at this magnificent garden, which has been subtly and beautifully enhanced in recent decades. Photographs by Mimi Connolly.
Six beautiful gardens from around the country are battling it out to be crowned the Historic Houses (HH) Garden of the Year 2023.
As the fifth generation takes on the care of the historic Borde Hill Garden in West Sussex, Charles Quest-Ritson rejoices in the unique legacy of its horticulturally astute owners.
