Finest gardens in Britain

Country Life's top 10 gardens articles of 2024

From the gardens of A-listers and crazed plant hunters to tips on compost, we covered it all in 2024.

The special magic of a frozen garden in winter

Waking up to discover the garden transformed by a short, sharp hoar frost is a magical experience. Tiffany Daneff looks at how to make the most of it, and shares five of the best to visit over the holiday period.

Rip it up and start again: RHS Wisley's daring reinvention of one of its most famous plantings

Piet Oudolf, father of the New Perennial Movement, has dug up his famous double borders at the Royal Horticultural Society’s garden at Wisley in Surrey and transformed them. John Hoyland takes a look, with photographs by Clive Nichols.

Growing together: Why the community garden is more than just plants and green space

The NGS has begun investing in community garden schemes. The results are more than anyone could have expected and showcase the best of Britain.

Alan Titchmarsh's garden: No insecticides, no herbicides, just beautiful flowers, lawns, a statue of Repton and a swing seat that's impossible to resist

It’s always fascinating to see what a high-profile gardening personality does with their own home. Tiffany Daneff visits Alan Titchmarsh’s Hampshire garden, to find a place of endless delights and charm. Photographs by Jonathan Buckley.

'Prepare to be amazed' by a cathedral of autumn in the heart of Herefordshire

The garden at Hergest Croft, Herefordshire — home of Edward Banks — is an extraordinary collection of trees and shrubs, many of which are presents from distinguished friends, garnered over two centuries. Be prepared to be amazed, says Charles Quest-Ritson.

A English country garden that brings the four corners of the world to one corner of Wiltshire

England, Africa, Italy or China — it’s possible to travel the world without leaving this imaginatively designed garden, which divides into four distinct geographical sections, each with a resonance for the owners. Caroline Donald reports from the garden at Seend Manor in Wiltshire, home of Amanda and Stephen Clark.

The Cotswolds garden that's cleverly designed to defy the worst of the elements

Coates Barn in Warwickshire — home of the Sonneborn family — presented a challenge: how to lay out this exposed north-Cotswold site so as to protect new planting from the elements, and simultaneously provide a garden that three generations of residents could enjoy. Tiffany Daneff explains how they did it; photographs by Britt Willoughby Dyer.

‘My God! What’s he done?… look at it!’: How George Harrison left The Beatles, turned his hand to gardening, and created a masterpiece

The garden at Friar Park in Henley-on-Thames — the Oxfordshire home of the late Beatle George Harrison and his wife Olivia — is breathtaking. The ‘Gardening Beatle’ did a spectacular job of reviving an historic alpine garden in the shadow of the ‘Henley Matterhorn’, and Olivia has enhanced what was Britain’s largest rock garden with her exceptional and imaginative planting schemes. Charles Quest-Ritson reports.

Elegy to a country churchyard: The gardens at Stockcross House

A garden with a church as its focal point is both movingly effective and mellow, with nods to a horticultural hero and a ruby wedding anniversary.

Wet wet wet: How water has been irrigating the imagination of our gardens for centuries

From stew ponds and medieval moats to a miniature Mount Parnassus, water has flowed through the history of British gardens, often in ruinously expensive fashion.

Honouring the past, protecting the future: the gardens at Badminton House

Kathryn Bradley-Hole traces the story of the gardens in the past 40 years with its ingenious designs by Russell Page and François Goffinet.

At a home designed by the architect of the Royal Botanical Society, a new garden takes shape

Almost two centuries separate this Decimus Burton villa from its new contemporary garden and yet they suit each other perfectly.

The garden at the Old Rectory, Preston Capes: Happily ever after

Reinstating the view was central to the remaking of the garden at the Old Rectory at Preston Capes, Northamptonshire. Tiffany Daneff reports from an unusual site that surrounds the local church.

'An inspirational renaissance': The house and gardens of Sandridge Park

A historic house has been saved from ruin by sympathetic owners, who have mixed modern planting with tradition to create a garden of note in the West Country.

The Hampshire house and garden where D-Day was planned is now a haven with sun-drenched views across calm azure sea to the Isle of Wight

Once the haunt of smugglers and sailors, the Hampshire seashore now shelters a garden where pre- and interwar plantings sit happily with impressive new areas. George Plumptre visits the garden of Lepe House.

The former smugglers' inn that became one of the finest gardens on the south coast

Once the haunt of smugglers and sailors, Lepe House now shelters a garden where pre- and interwar plantings sit happily with impressive new areas.

Inside the garden of Eton: A rare glimpse into the grounds of the world's most famous school

The gardens of Eton College in Windsor, Berkshire, date back to a request from its founder, King Henry VI. Over 550 years later, a recent re-design by a former pupil has brought new life to these historic gardens, as George Plumptre explains.

From Derbyshire to Dunrobin to the Dordogne, Andrea Jones's spectacular winning photographs in the RHS Botanical Photography Awards 2024

Garden photographer Andrea Jones is among the winners at the RHS Botanical Photography Awards, on show at the Saatchi Gallery.

The garden at Emmetts Mill, Chobham: Bourne to run

A flat waterside site has been transformed into a garden full of drama with plenty of delightful places to stop and enjoy the view, writes Kathryn Bradley-Hole. Photographs by Eva Nemeth.