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.

Birkhall: The home of The Prince of Wales on the Balmoral estate
Credit: Clive Nichols/Country Life Picture Library
As HRH The Prince of Wales was locked down at his Scottish home, Birkhall, this piece from our archives about the beautiful Aberdeenshire gardens proved hugely popular.
Arthur Parkinson: The ‘intensely creative’ gardener with ‘spectacular flamboyance’ rising to the top of the gardening world
Credit: Daniel Gould / Country Life
Arthur Parkinson is the fresh-faced social media sensation hailed as the rising star of the gardening world. Caroline Donald went to meet him.
Alan Titchmarsh: ‘I suppose I should be going stir-crazy in self-isolation. The reality has been rather different'
Credit: Val Corbett/Country Life
Exquisite houses, the beauty of Nature, and how to get the most from your life, straight to your inbox.
Not going to the Chelsea Flower Show for the first time in half a century set Alan Titchmarsh musing about lockdown — and how it reminded him why he took to a career in gardening in the first place.
Reddish House: The ‘dream house’ and gardens of Cecil Beaton
Credit: Val Corbett/Country Life
Reddish House came on to the market in the summer, prompting a surge of interest in this fascinating 2019 look at the great Cecil Beaton's former home.
The secrets of the wisteria pergolas in the Private Gardens at Petworth House
Credit: Val Corbett/Country Life
Non Morris paid a visit to the parts of Petworth normally hidden from the visitor's gaze.
Monty Don: 'The point of gardening? It’s to find solace, to be happy, to make beauty, have fun and muck about. How you do it doesn’t matter'
Credit: Derry Moore
Monty Don, gardening writer and broadcaster, spoke to Country Life’s Tiffany Daneff about dogs with film presence and the lockdown recording process.
How to master the fine art of pottering
Credit: Alamy
The joys of doing things slowly are something Alan Titchmarsh discovered in the spring.
10 of the best secret gardens in Britain — and how you can visit them
Credit: Wyndcliffe Court
Inspired by a recent adaptation of the Frances Hodgson Burnett classic, Juliet Roberts selected a few of her favourite secret gardens.
Moor Wood, ‘one of midsummer’s most beautiful and romantic gardens in England’
Credit: Britt Willoughby Dyer for the Country Life Picture Library
Charles Quest-Ritson visited the National Collection of rambling roses, which showed these most romantic of plants at their very finest.
The centuries-old Italian gardens that evoke the romance of Romeo and Juliet
Credit: Alex Ramsay
Jenny Condie took a look at Giardino Giusti in Verona and Villa Fracanzan Piovene near Vicenza.
Charles Quest-Ritson: What English country gardeners can learn from their German counterparts
Charles Quest-Ritson has spent years making trips to Germany to gather ideas and new plants — but is puzzled that nobody
Credit: Getty Images
Charles Quest-Ritson: Why every gardener in Britain should be growing philadelphus
Charles Quest-Ritson's list of flowers that every garden should own includes the usual names — rose, daffodil, clematis. But he'd also
The best honeysuckle to grow in your garden – especially if they’re gifts from now-departed friends
Charles Quest-Ritson extols the virtues of delightful honeysuckle.
Rage against the buttercups: How to wage war on the weeds in your garden
Charles Quest-Ritson loves plants — but in his garden, he only wants the ones he chooses.
Toby Keel is Country Life's Digital Director, and has been running the website and social media channels since 2016. A former sports journalist, he writes about property, cars, lifestyle, travel, nature.
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Rogue sellers and puppy farmers are exploiting Government licensing loopholes at the expense of responsible dog breeders, says The Kennel Club
The Kennel Club launched a report in the House of Commons last week calling for an urgent review of current licensing regulations.
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The real Bear Grylls: Country Life Quiz of the Day, July 2, 2025
Britain's longest pier is among the highlights of Wednesday's Quiz of the Day.
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The 'Rose Labyrinth' of Coughton Court, where 200 varieties come together in this world-renowned garden in Warwickshire
Val Bourne finds the award winning-roses flourishing at Coughton Court in Warwickshire, where the historic garden is now in the hands of the latest in many generations of the same family. Photography by Clive Nichols.
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'None of this would be here had the tithe barn not burned down that night’: How the terrifying destruction of a medieval landmark sparked the creation of the magnificent gardens of Bledlow Manor
After inheriting the Bledlow Manor in 2018, Lord Carrington has been devoted to the thoughtful renewal and replanting of this historic Buckinghamshire garden. Tiffany Daneff reports, with photography by Clive Nichols.
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'The whole house shook. Everything was white. For four months, it felt as if we were on Mars': The story behind one of Hampshire's most breathtaking gardens
When Kim Wilkie sculpted a tiered grass amphitheatre behind this 17th-century house, the garden finally settled into place, as Non Morris discovers.
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Myddleton House: The place that 'will help you learn what true gardening is' is open to everyone, and just 30 minutes from central London
E. A. Bowles created a horticultural playground in the gardens of Myddleton House that was years ahead of its time, and continues to influence even today. Isabel Bannerman takes a look.
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Wakehurst: 500 years of history, 2.4 billion seeds, 500 acres of planting, and scientists who might just save us all
Charles Quest-Ritson takes a look at the amazing work that's been done to update Wakehurst, Kew's trailblazing outpost in Sussex.
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A dozen slices of al fresco inspiration from the best designers in Britain
Amelia Thorpe shares her pick of the most beautiful outdoor furniture and accessories to help you make the most of summer.
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'Victorian magnificence skilfully simplified and distilled': A peek at the restoration of Somerleyton Hall gardens
Recent works have retained the former theatrical splendours of these gardens near Lowestoft, Suffolk, finds Tilly Ware.
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Alan Titchmarsh: I've tried every slug control known to man, and these are the only things that have ever worked for me
Alan Titchmarsh is as charming, warming and friendly a man as anyone you'll ever meet. Unless, of course, you're a slug... in which case you'll awaken his ruthless side.