Country Life's top 10 garden stories of 2025, from Alan Titchmarsh's hardy annuals to David Beckham's Cotswolds paradise
We look back at the most-read architecture stories on the Country Life website in 2025.
Alan Titchmarsh: My garden is as pretty as I've ever known it, thanks to an idea I've rediscovered after 50 years
'Give them a good start in life and they will seldom disappoint,' wrote Alan of hardy annuals.
Alan Titchmarsh spent years not planting annuals, but he hasn't looked back since he started planting them once more.
By Alan Titchmarsh — read the full story.
'I bought it without telling Victoria. She didn’t want another project... I sat her down, gave her a vodka and tonic and told her what I’d done'
David Beckham in his garden at his home in the Cotswolds. 'He's a hands-on owner, and he planted half the Euonymus japonicus hedge himself,' Alan explained in October.
In October, Sir David Beckham guest edited Country Life — and as part of it, he invited Alan Titchmarsh to come and see his Cotswolds home and garden.
By Alan Titchmarsh — read the full story.
'A stately pile in my part of Hampshire has been on the market for years — but one buyer didn't even make it to the door before getting back in his helicopter'
If it's too noisy for the robins, what hope will the average gardener have?
As the old year went out and the new year came in, Alan Titchmarsh focused on the one thing that enhances a garden but can't be planted: peace and quiet.
By Alan Titchmarsh — read the full story.
How Harper Beckham created the perfect gardener's birthday present for her father's 50th — with a little help from David Austin Roses
David Austin Roses headquarters, where Sir David Beckham has a new variety named after him.
Sir David Beckham's daughter commissioned a new rose for her father to mark his 50th birthday this year — a process which is enormously involved, as Charles Quest-Ritson explained.
By Charles Quest Ritson — read the full story.
'The whole house shook. Everything was white. For four months, it felt as if we were on Mars'
Back in June, Non Morris visited the gorgeous house and gardens at The Holt in Hampshire, and told its fascinating — and unsual — story.
By Non Morris — read the full story.
I've tried every slug control known to man, and these are the only things that have ever worked for me
Ick.
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..
By Alan Titchmarsh — read the full story.
One of the truly great gardens of the world is at risk of having its vistas and tranquility blighted forever
Julie Harding reported on the threat to Rousham, the birthplace of the English landscape-garden movement.
By Julie Harding — read the full story.
'I blitzed it. Nothing survived. If you have one bit of surviving bindweed, you will have it forever’: A peek in to the ruthless world of the gravel garden
Tropaeolum polyphyllum, a hardy nasturtium from Chile, which can be tricky to get hold of, although Derry Watkins does sometimes have seeds available.
Sometimes you have to start from scratch to get what you're after, as Non Morris discovered when she spoke to some of Britain's most successful gravel gardeners.
By Non Morris — read the full story.
How Beth Tarling put together her dream terracotta pot collection
A tiny part of Beth Tarling's pot collection.
'I followed a lorry for miles just so I could ask the driver if I could buy his pot,' Beth Tarling told our Gardens Editor Tiffany Daneff back in February.
By Tiffany Daneff — read the full story.
The garden created by a forgotten genius of the 1920s, rescued from 'a sorry state of neglect to a level of quality it has not known for over 50 years'
'Garden restorations often reveal unexpected stories and surprises,' wrote George Plumptre in this piece from July. It was certainly the case at Knowle House, but this East Sussex garden has emerged in fine style.
By George Plumptre — read the full story.
