We’ve been called “a nation of gardeners”, we Brits, and whether you’re green-fingered or just prefer to breathe in and smell the roses, there’s no question that we have some of the most spectacular gardens in the world. Across the British Isles you’ll find everything from majestic, landscaped spaces at grand stately homes — such as Capability Brown’s elegant creations at Blenheim Palace — to peaceful woodland walks at Wrest Park in Bedfordshire.
As befits our supposed British eccentricity, we also have more than our fair share of highly personal, whimsical gardens, from the writer Vita Sackville-West’s “rooms” of fiery red and tranquil white blooms at Sissinghurst in Kent to the pagodas and zen-inspired displays of the explorer Ella Christie’s Japanese garden near Edinburgh.
Alternatively, for the ultimate in photogenic vistas, look no further than the immaculately arranged neoclassical temples at Stourhead in Wiltshire, the exuberant topiary at Levens Hall in Cumbria or the contemporary sculpture park at Norfolk’s Houghton Hall.
And if the sun doesn’t shine? Take shelter amid the exotic flora of far-flung lands in the scene-stealing greenhouses at Kew Gardens, or Norman Foster’s Great Glasshouse at the National Botanic Garden in Wales, and you won’t even notice the weather. Here’s the pick of the best gardens to visit in the UK.
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1. Sissinghurst Castle Garden, Kent
Best for literary connections
Vita Sackville-West may be best known as a novelist and poet — but the spectacular garden she created in the 1930s with her husband, Harold Nicolson, at Sissinghurst Castle has become almost as great a part of her legacy. Built around a turreted, red-brick Tudor manor house, the garden features a series of outdoor “rooms”, each focusing on a different colour, with lavish displays of roses, magnolia, irises and fruit trees in flame orange, crimson and gold, as well as pinks, purples and elegant whites. Stay on site at the luxurious Sissinghurst Castle Farmhouse B&B, an original Victorian farmhouse within the estate.
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2. Trebah Garden, Cornwall
Best for a dramatic coastal backdrop and its own private beach
Trebah may be in Cornwall, but in this subtropical garden you could easily imagine you’ve arrived down under. Originally created in 1838 by the shipping scion Charles Fox, who used the family business to bring exotic plants to Cornwall, the gardens sit within a 26-acre ravine cascading down to a secluded beach on the Helford River. Wind your way past 100-year-old rhododendrons, fragrant magnolias and camellias, blue and white hydrangeas, and lush groves of Australian tree ferns and palms. Stay at the nearby Meudon Hotel, which has its own eight-acre garden, as well as a private beach and award-winning restaurant.
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3. Bodnant Garden, Conwy
Best for mountain views
The Eryri National Park (Snowdonia) ranges provide a stunning backdrop to Bodnant Gardens, but even those towering peaks can’t distract visitors from the beauty of this grade I listed estate. Spanning 80 acres of hillside in north Wales, the garden is best known for its luscious laburnum arch — believed to be the longest in the UK — which flowers in May and June. Other highlights include the wildflower meadows, water features and Italianate terraces. Stay nearby at Escape Boutique B&B, a Victorian villa mixing original stained glass and wood panelling with contemporary interiors.
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4. Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire
Best for impressive variety
Explore the parklands designed by Capability Brown at Blenheim Palace, the birthplace of Winston Churchill and a Unesco world heritage site. You could easily spend a day here wandering through the water terraces, Italian garden, secret garden and rose garden, as well as the Churchill memorial garden and award-winning formal gardens. Book a stay nearby at the Thyme boutique hotel, complete with a standout spa, 17th-century cottages and refined rooms dotted throughout Southrop Manor’s 150-acre estate.
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5. National Botanic Garden of Wales, Camarthenshire
Best for show-stopping architecture and endangered plants
If you want to see some of the most exotic and endangered plants from Australia, Chile, California and South Africa, you don’t need a round-the-world ticket — just head for Wales. Set in over 500 acres of late 18th and early 19th-century parkland with exotic flowers and foliage, waterfalls and lakes, Wales’s National Botanic Garden is the UK’s first specifically dedicated to conserving plant species. It’s also home to Norman Foster’s spectacular Great Glasshouse — the world’s largest single-span greenhouse. Stay at Mansion House, an elegant Georgian mansion with an award-winning restaurant, amid five acres of hilltop gardens in nearby Llansteffan.
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6. Houghton Hall, Norfolk
Best for art lovers
With contemporary sculptures, a Mediterranean garden and a formal rose parterre, not to mention an exceptional double-sided herbaceous border, Houghton Hall’s award-winning, five-acre Walled Garden is a feast for garden and art lovers alike. Amble your way past fountains, statues, a Mediterranean garden and avenues of cherry trees, and look out for sculptures like Richard Long’s Houghton Cross and Jeppe Hein’s Water Flame. Be sure to allow time too for Houghton Hall’s equally impressive sculpture park and deer park. Stay at Congham Hall Hotel — a converted Georgian manor house complete with spa, set in 30 acres of parkland and herb gardens.
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7. The Japanese Garden at Cowden, Clackmannanshire
Best for meditation and a taste of Japan
In 1908 the pioneering Scottish explorer and author Ella Christie decided to create a Japanese garden at Cowden, around an hour’s drive north of Edinburgh, inspired by her foreign travels. She hired a Japanese garden designer and the result was a remarkable mix of east meets west, where Japanese pagodas and zen-inspired gardens sit amid Scotland’s indigenous landscape and plants. Recently restored, the exceptional garden now welcomes 40,000 visitors per year, although visits are staggered to preserve the gardens’ tranquillity. We recommend staying at Garvock House Hotel, a beautifully restored Victorian villa set in lush gardens overlooking Dunfermline.
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8. RHS Garden Wisley, Surrey
Best for garden inspiration
The second-most visited garden in Britain was established in 1878 by the Victorian businessman George Ferguson Wisley, who had a penchant for hard-to-grow plants. This passion inspired the green-fingered entrepreneur to establish Oakwood Experimental Garden on a 60-acre site in Surrey, which has subsequently blossomed into a 240-acre oasis named in honour of Wisley. Visitors are encouraged to seek inspiration in the Model Gardens, which show what can be achieved in small spaces. Heckfield Place, an impressively renovated building that dates back to before 1790 and offers an excellent spa and restaurant, is an ideal place to stay — it’s 45 minutes away from RHS Risley by car, but worth it.
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9. Botanic Gardens, Belfast
Best for a spectacular glasshouse
The beautiful Botanic Gardens in Belfast are a popular lunchtime spot for the city’s office workers. Spread over 28 acres, its most noteworthy feature is the Palm House conservatory, which is one of the earliest examples of curvilinear cast-iron glasshouses. The Tropical Ravine and the extensive rose gardens are some of the other highlights. Opt for a night at the Harrison Chambers of Distinction, located in the Queen’s Quarter of Belfast — it’s a cool boutique hotel that’s only half a mile from the Botanic Gardens.
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10. Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh
Best for giant redwoods
As well as offering views of the city skyline, the Royal Botanic Garden in Edinburgh shares with visitors some 300 years of horticultural expertise. A particular highlight is wandering through its ten glasshouses, each of which replicates a different climate: the tropical glasshouse is particularly welcome on a wet and windy day. That said, it’s worth getting rained on to peer up at the giant redwoods in the Woodland Garden. The gorgeous Roseat Edinburgh — two huge Victorian villas that bring touches of Orkney to the Scottish capital — nearby is the place to book.
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11. Levens Hall, Cumbria
Best for impressive topiary
This Elizabethan mansion in Cumbria is the oldest and most extensive topiary garden in the world. Established by Guillaume Beaumont, King James II’s gardener, the estate contains more than 100 examples of topiary — including what look like giant chess pieces — and is said to be haunted by a black dog. Be warned: the pooch purportedly chases visitors around the mansion, which is festooned with Jacobean furniture and many fine paintings. Stay close by at Linthwaite House — it’s tucked away in manicured gardens and peers out across Windermere.
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12. Wrest Park, Bedfordshire
Best for historic gardens
Occupying 92 acres of bucolic Bedfordshire, Wrest Park takes visitors on a journey through three centuries of landscape design and chronicles the evolution of the English garden. French, Dutch and Italian styles are also showcased, but venture beyond the pretty parterres and perfumed borders to discover woodland walks, sculptures and ornate buildings such as Bowling Green House and the Archer Pavilion. Check in to Flitwick Manor, a classical Georgian house amid the tranquillity of acres of rolling gardens and parkland.
13. Kew Gardens, London
Best for botanical wonders
Tracing its roots back to 1759, Unesco-listed Kew pulls in around two million visitors annually, making it one of Britain’s most popular attractions. Spread over 330 glorious acres of southwest London, the gardens lay claim to the world’s largest botanical and mycological collections — a vast trove (more than 30,000 plant species at last count) that is closely guarded by Kew’s very own police force, one of the smallest constabularies in the world. Stay at Bingham Riverhouse, which has views over the Thames and an acclaimed restaurant.
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14. Down House, Biggin Hill, Kent
Best for scientific history
The former home of Charles Darwin, Down House was where the English naturalist worked on his theories of evolution and natural selection. Visitors can nose around the study where he penned his magnum opus, On the Origin of Species, but it’s outdoors where his work really comes to life. The garden doubled as Darwin’s laboratory and several of his experiments have been recreated in the historic landscape by English Heritage. The George & Dragon, a 16th-century former coaching inn with stylish rooms, 15 minutes’ drive away in Westerham, is a perfect place to book.
15. Stourhead, Wiltshire
Best for fascinating landscaping
“A living work of art,” cooed one commentator when Stourhead was unveiled in the 18th century. Fast forward a few hundred years and the 2,650-acre estate continues to woo visitors; they come in their droves to marvel at the magnificent neoclassical gardens, which were laid out around a vast man-made lake and contain grottoes, temples and a Palladian house. Stourhead is renowned for its rare trees and is the source of the River Stour (also known as the Dorset Stour). A night nearby at the Newt — where you can expect freestanding bathtubs, four-poster beds and a heated indoor/outdoor infinity pool — comes highly recommended.
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