Northiam, Rye, East Sussex
Created by the late Christopher Lloyd, Great Dixter is the legacy of a garden designer who forced us to re-think how we envisaged an English garden. It became less about ordered, neat prettiness and much more about excitement and colour. Today’s head gardener, Fergus Garrett, and his team continue to challenge and inspire, whether it be by championing flowers, such as dahlias and snapdragons, which we might consider relics of our grandparents’ gardens, or by demonstrating how texture and colour can change with the seasons.
Where to stay: The George, Rye, double rooms from £86, thegeorgeinrye.com
Dalemain, Penrith, Cumbria
There is something otherworldly about Dalemain. It is as if the gardeners who have tended it over the years have left their fingerprints in the soil. Dalemain has been in the same family since 1679, when it was bought by Sir Edward Hassell. You will find plants given to the family by Joseph Banks, as well as prolific, cornflower-blue poppies developed by Sylvia Hassell. It is a garden of nooks and crannies, but always with something surprising to discover: a beautiful view out over the fells or a sleeping dragon. This is a garden with heart.
Where to stay: Pooley Bridge Inn, double rooms from £145, pooleybridgeinn.co.uk
Llanfrothen, Gwynedd
This was once the home of Clough Williams-Ellis, the architect of the village of Portmeirion, and the garden is made up of a series of rooms and carefully considered vistas, often edged with exquisite eau-de-nil ironwork. The adjoining sturdy house is a relatively modest building, while the exuberant garden, which has an Italian influence and features sculptures salvaged by Williams-Ellis, borrows beautifully from the wild landscape it sits within. It is proof that well-considered contrasts can make a very beautiful whole.
Where to stay: Taldraeth Guest House, double rooms from £165, taldraeth.com
Staindrop, Darlington, County Durham
There are walled gardens and then there is the walled garden at Raby Castle. It covers five acres and today’s wonderful configuration is the culmination of a collaboration between designer Luciano Giubbilei and Lady Barnard. It is a hybrid garden of the ancient and the new. Still centre stage are the historic yew hedges and the white Ischia fig tree originally planted in 1786, but now there are new produce areas, rills, extensive mazes and – a centre stage. A large grass amphitheatre provides ample space for live events and many productions, with the medieval castle providing a magnificent backdrop.
Where to stay: Headlam Hall Hotel, double rooms from £165, headlamhall.co.uk
Bakewell, Derbyshire
I would gladly travel from my home in Dorset to Derbyshire just to spend a few hours in the kitchen and produce gardens at Chatsworth. They are satisfyingly orderly and full of purpose. You will find neatly planted tomatoes, cucumbers, globe artichokes, sugar snaps and fresh salad leaves, as well as herb borders of sage, rosemary, thyme, mint, chives, parsley and marjoram. And in among this plenty are the flowers: including foxgloves, aquilegias, lupins and geums. If I only visited this small portion of Chatsworth’s impressive gardens, I’d be happy – sitting on a bench by an old watering can, fancying any moment that Peter Rabbit might slip under the gate.
Where to stay: there are cottages and a swish hotel on the estate as well as delightful shepherd’s huts that start from £320 for two nights for two sharing, chatsworth.org/stay
12 High Street, Kirkcudbright, Dumfries & Galloway
An artist’s former home, and a real hidden gem, Broughton House garden looks out over the River Dee and the harbour at Kirkcudbright. It was the residence of the artist EA Hornel and his sister, Elizabeth. It was Elizabeth who was the gardener. Part of the Glasgow Boys art movement, Hornel was influenced by the blossoming of impressionism in Europe. The garden still bears testament to his art, with a studio overlooking the borders and paths – some set as stepping stones between the plants. It also references his travels, in the Japanese garden area. With a statuesque greenhouse and stone sundial, it is a garden reminiscent of a bygone Edwardian era.
Where to stay: The Garret Hotel, double rooms from £110, thegarrethotel.co.uk
Kingswear, Dartmouth, Devon
First and foremost, this is a garden that leads you by the hand to the sea. From the formal planting near the house, built by the D’Oyly Carte family in the 1920s, you meander through woodlands to lookouts with views over the estuary. The warm climate ensures that plants from the Mediterranean, South America and the Antipodes thrive. Inside and out, Coleton Fishacre encapsulates an art deco style that Hercule Poirot would certainly approve of. It is a garden made for drinking cocktails in the sunshine.
Where to stay: Bayards Cove Inn, Dartmouth, double rooms from £125, bayardscoveinn.co.uk
66 Royal Hospital Road, London
This is the closest I have come to a secret garden – set in the heart of London. |Much of what you will find in the weathered greenhouses and ordered borders harks back to the garden’s long history. Yet this is definitely a garden for today. The aim is to ensure visitors understand the power and importance of plants, whether it be for medicine, the environment or in our cultural life. So, there is always lots to learn. But there is also much to be said for sitting in the garden, sipping coffee and savouring the calm of a garden wrapped around by the ebb and flow of London life. And if you are lucky, as you look up, you will catch a flash of emerald and scarlet from the parakeets in the canopy above you.
Where to stay: Pestana Chelsea Bridge Hotel, Battersea, double rooms from £111, pestana.com
Stowmarket, Suffolk
The first thing to strike you about Helmingham is the moat that encircles the hall – the water reflecting the beautiful architecture of the house and giving a glimpse of the surrounding gardens. The property has belonged to the Tollemache family for the past 500 years. More recently it is Xa Tollemache who has transformed the gardens. Now a renowned garden designer, she came here as a bride in the 1970s and this has been a labour of love ever since. There is so much to admire: the walled garden, the apple tree walk, the knot garden, the stunning herbaceous borders and, my personal favourite, the wildflower meadows teeming with butterflies.
Where to stay: Retreat East shepherd huts and rooms, from £194 for two, retreateast.co.uk
Iford, Bradford-on-Avon, Wiltshire
Set on a hillside looking down on to the River Frome, this is a Grade I-listed garden that William and Marianne Cartwright-Hignett have spent the past six years lovingly restoring. At times you could imagine you are in Italy, with architecture, statues and a layout reminiscent of a Roman garden. At other times the planting cleverly blends with the surrounding woodland and it’s clear you are in a beautiful English country garden. My lasting memory of Iford is of the fragrance. Meandering paths bordered with rosemary, lavender, late-flowering wisteria and sage wash you in scent as you pass.
Where to stay: The George, Bradford on Avon, double rooms from £140, thegeorge bradfordonavon.co.uk.
The Secrets of Flowers by Sally Page is published by HarperCollins at £9.99. Buy it for £8.99 at guardianbookshop.com
