Wrest Park

Bedfordshire

Wrest Park’s 90-acre gardens reflect England’s love affair with landscape. Visitors can trace the evolution of the English garden as they stroll through three centuries of landscape design and spot unusual garden features like the Chinese bridge, the rustic bath house and the pet cemetery deep in the woods.

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Walmer Castle and Gardens

Kent

Walmer Castle has delightful and immensely varied gardens with much for visitors to see: There’s the formal Broadwalk, flanked by vividly planted herbaceous borders and the famous Cloud Hedges; the tranquil Queen Mother’s Garden, created to honour her 95th birthday; and the fully working Kitchen Garden.

For more information and to plan a visit to Walmer Castle and Gardens click here.

Osborne

Isle of Wight

Queen Victoria’s palatial holiday home includes its own beach, acres of grounds and gardens, and the lavishly restored lower terrace. The Walled Garden, once used by Prince Albert as a plant nursery, is brimming with rich, colourful plantings and beguiling scents. The ornate garden terraces complement the Italianate style of the house and feature striking flowering displays throughout the year.

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Brodsworth Hall and Gardens

South Yorkshire

This grand yet gently time-worn mansion boasts truly delightful Victorian garden features. Brodsworth’s extensive gardens have been restored to their original splendour as ‘a collection of grand gardens in miniature’. Romantic views from the restored summer house take in both the formal gardens and the pleasure gardens. Visitors can stroll through the statue walks, the fern dell grotto and the beautiful wild rose dell.

For more information and to plan a visit to Brodsworth Hall and Gardens click here.

Stokesay Castle

Shropshire

Stokesay is the finest and best-preserved fortified medieval manor house in England. Its courtyard garden was replanted in the Edwardian cottage garden style in 1908 and features a mix of herbaceous perennial plants and shrubs as well as lavenders and old variety roses.

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Kenilworth Castle and Elizabethan Garden

Warwickshire

Kenilworth Castle was transformed from a medieval fortress into a spectacular Elizabethan palace by Robert Dudley in an effort to impress Queen Elizabeth I. Lost to the world for almost 400 years, this beautifully recreated Elizabethan Garden is a haven of peace and tranquillity, full of colour and fragrant walkways. Today, visitors can enjoy planted beds full of scent, colour and fruit, a renaissance aviary, and an imposing fountain carved from Carrara marble.

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St Mawes Castle

Cornwall

St Mawes Castle is one of the best-preserved of Henry VIII's coastal artillery fortresses. Visitors can wander around its charming clover-leaf shape and the remains of its octagonal defences. Enjoy wonderful views of the sea and passing ships from the landscaped gardens and find the outdoor display of late 18th and 19th century guns.

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Boscobel House and The Royal Oak

Shropshire

Boscobel House is a picturesque hunting lodge which played a starring role in English history, as this is where the young Charles II hid from his Cromwellian pursuers. Following a contemporary illustration, the gardens have been strikingly revived to show how they would have appeared in 1651, complete with box hedging and plants such as peonies and artemisias, commonly found in parterre gardens at the time.

For more information and to plan a visit to Boscobel House and The Royal Oak click here.

Audley End House and Gardens

Essex

Remodelled by Capability Brown, Audley End’s award-winning gardens offer many delights. Visitors can admire the Elysian Garden and Tea House Bridge; walk up to the Temple of Concord; visit the memorial to Second World War Polish resistance soldiers and enjoy the 19th century formal garden. For gardeners, the organic Walled Kitchen Garden is a must-see.

For more information and to plan a visit to Audley End House and Gardens click here.

Carisbrooke Castle

Isle of Wight

Sitting high and proud at the heart of the Isle of Wight, Carisbrooke Castle has been an artillery fortress, King's prison and a royal summer residence. It is home to the award-winning Edwardian-style Princess Beatrice garden, designed by Chris Beardshaw, and based on the original garden retreat of Queen Victoria's daughter. The plants were chosen to echo Princess Beatrice's blue, red and gold heraldic crest.

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Marble Hill

London

Marble Hill is a beautiful Palladian mansion set in riverside parkland, intended as an Arcadian retreat from crowded 18 century London. Visitors can enjoy a stroll through 66 acres of idyllic parklands, or take the time to unwind with beautiful spots to relax with a picnic or a good book. The recent revival project means that more areas of the park have been opened up to create new habitats and improve biodiversity.

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The Home of Charles Darwin, Down House

Kent

The extensive gardens at Down House were used by Charles Darwin as an ‘outdoor laboratory’ and aided many of his discoveries. Today visitors can find some of Darwin’s most fascinating experiments in the hothouse, discover the working observation beehive in the laboratory and take a stroll down the Sandwalk, the 'thinking path' where Darwin paced for 5 laps a day while working out his theories.

For more information and to plan a visit to Down House click here.

Mount Grace Priory, House and Gardens

North Yorkshire

Set amid woodland in North Yorkshire, this unusual monastery is the best-preserved Carthusian Priory in Britain. Today, visitors can wander the terraces with their richly-planted herbaceous borders, cross a newly-built bridge to the Moat Island and walk through a wildflower meadow to the Monk’s Pond.

For more information and to plan a visit to Mount Grace Priory, House and Gardens click here.

Eltham Palace and Gardens

London

Once a favoured medieval palace and then a Tudor Royal residence, in the 1930s Eltham Palace was transformed by eccentric millionaires Stephen and Virginia Courtauld. The palace has 19 acres of beautiful historic gardens, including the fragrant sunken Rose Garden and the Rock Garden with its cascade.

For more information and to plan a visit to Eltham Palace and Gardens click here.

Witley Court and Gardens

Worcestershire

Wiltey Court’s dramatic Italiante ruins are surrounded by vast and beautiful grounds which contain intricately-designed parterres, vibrant flower beds, ornate terraces and pavilions. The elegant South Parterre focuses on the astonishing Perseus and Andromeda fountain, depicting the legendary hero of Ancient Greece rescuing the beautiful maiden from a sea monster (with dramatic jets which reach a height of up to 30 meters.)

For more information and to plan a visit to Witley Court and Gardens click here.

Belsay Hall, Castle and Gardens

Northumberland

Belsay’s vast Grade 1 Listed gardens provide a magnificent backdrop for the Castle and Hall and are among the best preserved examples of the ‘picturesque’ style of gardens in Britain. Of particular interest is the romantic Quarry Garden where stone was cut for the Hall, with ravines and sheer rock faces. The Quarry Garden has its own microclimate which means many exotic plant species can grow here.

For more information and to plan a visit to Belsay Hall, Castle and Gardens click here.

Kirby Hall

Northamptonshire

Described in the late 17th century as ‘ye finest garden in England’, Kirby Hall’s garden has been recreated as it may have appeared in the 1690s. Visitors can stroll through the parterres with their elaborate period style ‘cutwork,’ statues, urns, seating and topiary.

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Richmond Castle

North Yorkshire

Richmond Castle was originally built to subdue the unruly North of England and is among the oldest Norman stone fortresses in England. In 2000 the landscape architect Neil Swanson was commissioned to design a contemporary heritage garden. This garden, known as the 'cockpit', sits outside the castle walls and provides herbaceous borders, plenty of topiary and breath-taking views of the Yorkshire Dales.

For more information and to plan a visit to Richmond Castle click here.

Wenlock Priory

Shropshire

The tranquil ruins of Wenlock Priory stand in a picturesque setting on the fringe of beautiful Much Wenlock. There remains a peaceful and atmospheric topiary-filled cloister garden, which is set against the backdrop of the complete infirmary wing, which was converted into a mansion after the Priory's dissolution and is still a private residence today.

For more information and to plan a visit to Wenlock Priory click here.

Old Wardour Castle

Wiltshire

Beautifully sited beside a lake, the Castle was built by John, Lord Lovel in the late 14 Century as a lightly-fortified but luxurious residence. It survived two sieges in the 1640s before suffering abandonment when New Wardour Castle was built nearby. The grounds were transformed into a pleasure garden and romantic ruin and are now set in a Registered Landscape.

For more information and to plan a visit to Old Wardour Castle click here.