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Re-wilding isn't new: Britain's best gardeners were inspired by wilderness 300 years ago, and here's what we can learn from them
Gardeners searching for inspiration for natural, low-maintenance havens would do well to look to the late-17th-and early-18th-century wilderness, says Tilly Ware.
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A tour of Broughton Hall, home of the Tempests for 1,000 years and the inspiration for Tottering-by-Gently
Broughton Hall is the childhood home of Country Life's cartoonist Annie Tempest, whose family have lived here for 1,000 years. Steven Desmond took a look at this palatial house and gardens; photographs by Val Corbett.
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The garden at Blackland House: A tulip-filled sanctuary that shines as bright in Autumn as it does in Spring
The garden at Blackland House, Calne, Wiltshire — the home of Mr and Mrs Ed Nicholson — is famous for its spring bulbs, but really comes into its own in autumn with its crisp underpinning of geometric forms, says Mary Keen. Photographs by Britt Willoughby Dyer.
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Thenford Arboretum: 70 acres of spectacular autumn brilliance
More than 3,000 different trees–in particular, the fine collections of oaks and maples–are put on a striking autumn show at Thenford Arboretum at Thenford House, Northamptonshire, the home of Lord and Lady Heseltine. Charles Quest-Ritson tells more, with photographs by Clive Nichols.
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The Gardens of Greywalls: A Scottish masterpiece bearing the imprint of Lutyens and Jekyll
'Within a mashie-niblick' of the 18th green at Muirfield Golf Club lies a garden of great beauty and history, as James Truscott explains.
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Birkhall: The home of The Prince of Wales on the Balmoral estate, Aberdeenshire
Alan Titchmarsh explores the garden of Birkhall, The Prince of Wales's Scottish home on the Balmoral estate.
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The gardens at Everdon Hall: How an abandoned walled garden was turned into a secluded oasis of outdoor beauty
The gardens at Everdon Hall, Northamptonshire — the home of Charles and Caroline Coaker —show off a clean, green structure balanced by romantic billowy planting. Non Morris takes a look at this beautifully judged garden; photographs by Val Corbett for Country Life.
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The exotic brilliance of Tremenheere Sculpture Gardens, a Cornwall gem with 'one of the best views in England'
Created over 25 years, Tremenheere's 20-acre hillside garden brilliantly succeeds in its makers’ aim of providing a haven far away from cares and worry, discovers James Alexander-Sinclair. Photographs by Mimi Connolly.
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Folly Farm gardens, Berkshire: A masterclass in maintaining an historic garden
After decades of thoughtful restoration, the gardens at Folly Farm in Sulhamstead, Berkshire, blend historic and contemporary planting, finds Tiffany Daneff. Pictures by Jason Ingram.
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The gardens at Ready Token, Gloucestershire: The new, gentler blueprint for rewilding that's yielding spectacular results
Retaining the Arts-and-Crafts elements of a 1920s garden, the owners have added a sympathetic new terrace, as well as returning the surrounding fields to meadow, finds George Plumptre. Photos by Mimi Connolly.
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How Country Life helped change the face of modern gardening
George Plumptre examines how Country Life championed the marriage of formal design with natural planting, changing the garden forever.
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Coton Manor Garden: The symphony of colour where flamingos mix with flowers, voted Britain's best garden
Flamingos may draw the crowds, but it is the brilliant flower borders that keep people coming back to Coton Manor Garden, the wonderful space at the home of Ian and Susie Pasley-Tyler, says Tiffany Daneff. Photos by Clive Nichols.
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Copyhold Hollow: The 16th century house with a 1,000-year-old hedge — and a 21st century garden
When Frances Druce took over Copyhold Hollow — in the High Weald, West Sussex — this 16th-century house with its ancient box hedge had no garden to speak of. Undeterred, she built one herself, reveals Annie Gatti. Photographs by Mimi Connolly.
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The Cressy Hall topiary: 'A miraculously well-kept secret'
So fine is the topiary at Cressy Hall in Gosberton — the home of Michael and Janey Hill — that you might think it dates back to the 18th century. Yet it hasall been created over the past 20 years by a former antique dealer with little interest in gardening, as Todd Longstaffe-Gowan explains. Photography by Andrew Sydenham for the Country Life Picture Library.
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Eythrope's extraordinary snowdrops, and more winter treasures galore
Nowhere else can gardeners see rare named snowdrops growing in such measureless drifts as in the Rothschilds’ private garden at Eythrope in Buckinghamshire, finds Mary Keen. Photographs by Clive Nichols.
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Morton Hall: The magnificent garden that gives an illusion of effortlessness amid the silent winter air
All looks peaceful at Morton Hall, Worcestershire, but key tasks will be tackled in winter to ensure that, come spring, the garden is ready to burst into life, says Tiffany Daneff. Photographs by Clive Nichols.
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Gordon Castle named Historic Houses Garden of the Year 2021
Gordon Castle has become the first Scottish garden ever to win Historic Houses' prestigious Garden of the Year award.
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In Focus: How an amateur gardener created Sissinghurst, one of the most influential gardens ever made
'No garden had greater influence in the second half of the 20th century' according to John Sales, the National Trust's former head gardener. Jack Watkins tells the tale of Vita Sackville-West's momumental achievements in creating the gardens at Sissinghurst.
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Chettle House Gardens: A special place, a fascinating history, and gardens that become softer and more romantic with every passing year
Hidden by gentle neglect and revealed by research, the remarkably intact 18th-century garden of Chettle House, Dorset, has been brilliantly reinterpreted by landscape designer Pip Morrison. Christopher Stocks paid a visit; photographs by Clive Nichols.
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Hopetoun House: Wall-to-wall brilliance in an extraordinary 12-acre former kitchen garden, and an inspiration to keen amateurs everywhere
Inside the early-18th-century walls of Hopetoun House, West Lothian, bold planting schemes and original designs are providing an exciting new use for this 12-acre former kitchen garden, discovers Noel Kingsbury.
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The gardens at Elton Hall: A 40-year transformation, an 'absolute hell of weeding and mulching ', and more than worth the effort
Tilly Ware visits the historic gardens of Elton Hall, Huntingdonshire, where much of the distant past remains a mystery, but which, after four decades of care and attention, have been brilliantly transformed. Photographs by Richard Bloom.
