10 pictures of the world’s largest yew hedge which are almost beyond belief
The world’s tallest yew hedge, on the Bathurst estate in the Cotswolds, has just received its annual trim.


Tidying the 300-year-old, 40ft-tall, 150ft-wide hedge is a two-man job that takes 12 days.
The clippings – this year amounting to nearly a ton – are used to produce a life-saving cancer drug called taxol.
You can visit and see for yourself – the public are welcome every day of the year at the estate and entry is free.
There are even holiday cottages on the property if you fancy a longer stay. And if you book a week in early September, chances are you'll see the hedge-cutting for yourself.
Why you should trim your hedge this weekend
Is now the time for a short back and sides?
Hedgelaying: getting started
We tell you how to get started in the fascinating art of hedgelaying
How to plant a hedge
Alan Titchmarsh talks about the wonders of hedges.
Sign up for the Country Life Newsletter
Exquisite houses, the beauty of Nature, and how to get the most from your life, straight to your inbox.
Top tips for topiary
Topiary lifts seasonal gloom and gives the garden a clean, solid framework.
Country Life is unlike any other magazine: the only glossy weekly on the newsstand and the only magazine that has been guest-edited by HRH 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.
-
'The watch is Head Boy of men’s accessorising': Ginnie Chadwyck-Healey and Tom Chamberlin's Summer Season style secrets
When it comes to dressing for the Season, accessories will transform an outfit. Ginnie Chadwyck-Healey and Tom Chamberlin, both stylish summer-party veterans, offer some sage advice.
-
Lewis Hamilton, Claude Monet and the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse: Country Life Quiz of the Day, April 29, 2025
Tuesday's Quiz of the Day looks back at Lewis Hamilton's first win and ponders on the meaning of greige.
-
'I'd willingly give a year of my life for a fortnight there': The green dream that is the garden of Derreen
Exotic woods, labyrinths of narrow, mossy paths and thousands of tree ferns make this an internationally important garden, writes Charles Quest-Ritson. Photographs by Jonathan Hession.
-
Six of the best Clematis montanas that every garden needs
Clematis montana is easy to grow and look after, and is considered by some to be 'the most graceful and floriferous of all'.
-
The man who trekked Bhutan, Mongolia, Japan, Tasmania and New Zealand to bring the world's greatest magnolias back to Kent
Magnolias don't get any more magnificent than the examples in the garden at White House Farm in Kent, home of Maurice Foster. Many of them were collected as seed in the wild — and they are only one aspect of his enthralling garden.
-
The 'breathtakingly magnificent' English country gardens laid out on the Amalfi Coast, and the story of how they got there
Kirsty Fergusson follows the Grand Tour to Campania in Italy, where the English combined their knowledge and love of plants with the rugged landscape to create gardens of extraordinary beauty.
-
Have your say in the Historic Houses Garden of the Year Awards 2025
-
Evenley Wood Garden: 'I didn't know a daffodil from a daisy! But being middle-aged, ignorant and obstinate, I persisted'
When Nicola Taylor took on her plantsman father’s flower-filled woodland, she knew more about horses than trees, but, as Tiffany Daneff discovers, that hasn’t stopped her from making a great success of the garden. Photographs by Clive Nichols.
-
An expert guide to growing plants from seed
All you need to grow your own plants from seed is a pot, some compost, water and a sheltered place.
-
The best rhododendron and azalea gardens in Britain
It's the time of year when rhododendrons, azaleas, magnolias and many more spring favourites are starting to light up the gardens of the nation. Here are the best places to go to enjoy them at their finest.