19 inspirational, touching and funny Chelsea Flower Show pictures
Last week's Chelsea Flower Show produced all sorts of weird and wonderful display – we sent photographer Charlie Hopkinson along to record his favourite sights.


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Country Life is unlike any other magazine: the only glossy weekly on the newsstand and the only magazine that has been guest-edited by His Majesty The King not once, but twice. It is a celebration of modern rural life and all its diverse joys and pleasures — that was first published in Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee year. Our eclectic mixture of witty and informative content — from the most up-to-date property news and commentary and a coveted glimpse inside some of the UK's best houses and gardens, to gardening, the arts and interior design, written by experts in their field — still cannot be found in print or online, anywhere else.
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The Glovebox: Phantom in a pool, Porsches in the snow and a new world record for Polestar
Rolls Royce celebrates one of Rock and Roll's greatest myths, and Polestar drives for almost 23 hours on a single charge.
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This blissful converted mill has sweeping views, a breathtaking library and gardens by a Chelsea gold medallist
Penny Churchill takes a look at Stanbridge Mill, one of the finest properties for sale today in the west country.
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Blurring the lines between ornament and recreation: Nine of Britain’s best Arts-and-Crafts swimming ponds
Before the vogue for bright blue, chlorine-treated swimming pools, members of Victorian and Edwardian society built naturalistic bathing ponds inspired by the Arts & Crafts movement.
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Ballynure House: The magical estate that transformed its bramble-covered historic garden into a pollinator paradise
Where brambles once engulfed the historic gardens at Ballynure House in Co Wicklow, Ireland — home of Clare Reid Scott — colourful flower borders now hum with pollinators. Photographs by Jonathan Hession.
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Defanging the Gardens Trust will hurt our most precious landscapes
The Government has proposed to remove the Garden Trust's position as a statutory consultee in planning permissions for up to 1,700 historic landscapes and gardens in order to speed up building.
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‘I was rather excited, not remotely daunted... With hindsight, I should have been': The 25-year creation of the gardens of Glenarm Castle
Pay a visit to the gardens at Glenarm Castle in Co Antrim — home of Randal and Aurora McDonnell — is hard to credit that nearly all of the present garden was made this century, marvels Kathryn Bradley-Hole. Photographs by Clive Nichols.
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The pinnacle of the English style of gardening, as fine today as it was a century ago
Charles Quest-Ritson has just returned to Great Dixter for the first time in years — and it's 'the high point of all my garden visiting for a long time. I cannot recommend it too highly'.
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The curious incident of the vanishing glasshouses: Country Life's photographs are all that remains of these awe-inspiring structures
The ‘winter garden’ and the ‘terraced grounds of exquisite beauty’ were two of Cherkley Court’s featured attractions. They were advertised for sale in Country Life in 1910 — and then they vanished.
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Eat up your daylilies: The underappreciated east Asian flower that's a marvel in the kitchen
Mark Diacono was at first suspicious of cutting the stem of a gorgeous red daylily, until he realised how delicious they are.
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'Knoll offers a masterclass in the adaptability of grass': The Dorset garden that went from tourist attraction to specialist nursery
Tilly Ware visits Knoll Gardens in Dorset, which offers a masterclass in grasses and how to make your garden stay beautiful for longer.