Finest gardens in Britain

Brodsworth Hall's 150-year-old follies — restored, reopened and remarkable

Brodsworth Hall's gardens and unusual follies have been restored during lockdown. Annunciata Elwes takes a look.

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.

The gardens of Armadale Castle: Clan Donald's crumbling, magnificent retreat tucked into a corner of the Isle of Skye

Goldingtons, Hertfordshire: 'The brief was for the garden to flow more easily and to bring together its disparate parts'

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

The best garden designers and landscapers in Britain

A beautiful country house is as much about its surroundings as its bricks and mortar, something that the best garden designers in Britain all understand. We've completely revised and updated our list of the finest of them all.

The Garden of Cosmic Speculation: The surreal space where Lewis Carroll and Willy Wonka meet Capability Brown

Surrealism, philosophy, nature and gardening come together at the Garden of Cosmic Speculation, as Annunciata Elwes explains.

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.

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.

Country Life's top 10 gardens articles of 2020, from Petworth's private wisteria display to Prince Charles' Aberdeenshire home

Every week, Country Life looks at the country's most beautiful gardens and asks questions about why we dedicate so much time to the pursuit of this natural beauty. These are the most viewed of those articles from 2020.

Winkworth Arboretum, the 'Museum of Trees' that celebrates the art of planting for autumn colour

When 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

The Gardens of Monteviot, a garden where magic lingers for future generations

James 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.