Finest gardens in Britain

Where to see snowdrops: The best places in Britain

The sight of these tiny white flowers peeping through in January or February never fails to cheer us up – here's our pick of where to see snowdrops.

How Morton Hall's owner has reinvented the art of clematis training

Tiffany Daneff visits Morton Hall in Worcestershire to discover the secret of its owner’s new clematis-training technique. Photographs by Clive Nichols.

Floral fireworks: The treasures you’ll find at the National Dahlia Collection

The National Dahlia Collection in Cornwallwas scheduled to be grubbed up in 2020, but was saved in the nick of time. Kirsty Fergusson visits the 1,700 dahlias now happily settled in their new home and finds out the best to order now for late-summer colour. Photos by Mimi Connolly.

Long Barn Gardens, Kent: The place where Vita Sackville-West and Harold Nicolson learned how to make a garden great

The garden at Long Barn, near Sevenoaks — the home of Lars and Rebecca Lemonius — shares many of the elements that make Sissinghurst Castle famous, says Christopher Stocks. Photographs by Clive Nichols.

The gardens at Rockcliffe: Cold comforts that even Britain's worst winters can't spoil

At 600ft above sea level, the garden at Rockcliffe in Gloucestershire —the home of Simon and Emma Keswick — suffers in harsh winters. But as Tiffany Daneff writes, even the worst weather cannot subdue its many charms. Photographs by Clive Nichols.

George Harrison's Garden: How the Beatle and his wife turned a 'tangled jungle' into a magnificent garden

When George Harrison first saw the famous Topiary Garden at Friar Park in Oxfordshire, it was a tangled jungle of overgrown yews. The work he began has been continued by his wife, Olivia, and, now, the display is back to its full glory, finds Charles Quest-Ritson.

24 hours in Oxford, from the Botanic Garden to the Bodleian Library

Oxford’s unique mix of history, art, nature and architecture make it the ideal place for a short break. Our gardens editor Tiffany Daneff paid a visit to the famous Botanic Garden — and found she still had time to fit in several more of the city’s great treasures.

The Newt, Somerset: An 18th-century walled garden with the finest display of trained apples

Nowhere else in the country has a finer display of trained apples than the 18th-century walled garden at The Newt in Somerset, writes Charles Quest-Ritson. Photographs by Clive Nichols.

The Garden at Standen Barn, Kent: A garden that ties together house and landscape

Formal elements have provided firm foundations in the garden at Standen Barn, near Biddenden, Kent — the home of Prof Roland Rosner and Prof Denise Lievesley. But it is also a garden that is planted for wildlife and surrounded by newly established woodland, reports Tiffany Daneff. Photographs by Jason Ingram.

Leonardslee: The gardens that light up West Sussex

Changes are afoot at the famous rhododendron gardens of Leonardslee, which are now being planted for year-round interest. Charles Quest-Ritson reports.

Larch Cottage, Cumbria: An immersive journey amid a wealth of architecture, ornaments and plants to find magic and tranquillity

Charles Quest-Ritson joins the legion of garden enthusiasts who make the pilgrimage to the dramatic plant nurseries at Larch Cottage in Cumbria. Photographs by Val Corbett for Country Life.

The gardens at Great Dixter: How Christopher Lloyd's labour of love lives on

The swashbuckling dahlias still thrill in the late, great Christopher Lloyd's at Great Dixter — in Northiam, East Sussex — but Mary Keen, a lifelong friend of this incomparable spot, is equally impressed with how the garden has evolved in the care of Fergus Garrett.

The Cotswolds farmhouse gardens transformed from dilapidation to beauty

This former working farm in the Cotswolds with its scattering of ancient buildings has been transformed into a series of beautiful gardens surrounding the main house, writes Tiffany Daneff. Photographs by Jason Ingram.

West Lavington Manor: The gardens four centuries in the making

Originally laid out in the 1630s, the garden at West Lavington Manor in Wiltshire is today
the home of Mr and Mrs Andrew Doman. And in its latest iteration, says Charles Quest-Ritson, has found a perfect balance between planting and design. Photographs by Jason Ingram.

In the swim: Britain's best private swimming pools

As Britain goes through a blazing hot tail-end of summer, Christopher Woodward dives into the history of the swimming pool and relishes some lengths in the best private pools in the country. Photographs by Simon Buck and Millie Pilkington.

The gardens of Melbourne Hall: A spectacular outdoor space 500 years in the making

The gardens at Melbourne Hall in Derbyshire have been in the same family for 500 years. Non Morris meets Lord and Lady Ralph Kerr to find out about this rare example of an 18th-century Anglo-French Baroque garden, which has not only been sensitively restored but added to with wonderful new plantings in its wilder parts. Photography by Andrea Jones.

The kitchen so spectacular that an entire new garden was planted to make the most of the view

A modern kitchen extension was the catalyst for a bold new flower garden at Park House, Cambridgeshire, explains Tiffany Daneff.

Sarah Price, one of Britain's great garden designers, takes Country Life round her own garden

Close artistic observation combined with a deep horticultural intelligence has made Sarah Price one of the finest garden designers today. Tilly Ware visits her at home in Monmouthshire, where she is experimenting to magical effect to create 'a level of harmony that pins you to the spot'. Photographs by Sarah Price.

The gardens of Mounton House: A masterpiece restored, and a dream fulfilled

The gardens of Mounton House near Chepstow in Monmouthshire are the masterwork of Henry Avray Tipping, into which he poured his vast inheritance. Yet they would have gone the way of so many Edwardian gardens had it not been for its new owners, who had the brilliant idea of asking the designer Arne Maynard to bring it back to life. Helena Gerrish tells the story; photographs by John Campbell.

Kate Stuart-Smith and the creation of her effortlessly romantic English country garden

Stopping spraying and allowing plants to self-seed was the first step in the gradual and brilliant reinvention of the walled garden at Serge Hill, Hertfordshire
, the home of Kate Stuart-Smith. Non Morris paid a visit; photographs by Jason Ingram.