English Gardens

Mark how the yellow iris wearilyLeans back its throat, as though it would be kissedBy its false chamberer, the dragon-fly,Who, like a blue vein on a girl’s white wrist,Sleeps on that snowy primrose of the night,Which ‘gins to flush with crimson shame, and die beneath...

What’s in a name? That which we call a rose By any other word would smell as sweet. William Shakespeare (1564-1616) Anne Hathaway's Cottage, the thatched family farm home of William Shakespeare’s wife. A delightfully abundant and picturesque typical English cottage...

Fresh spring the herald of love's mighty king, In whose coat armour richly are display'd All sorts of flowers the which on earth do spring In goodly colours gloriously array'd. Edmund Spenser (1552-1599) Asthall Manor, overlooking the Windrush Valley, dates from the...

From the greengrocer tree you get grapes and green pea,Cauliflower, pineapple and cranberries,While the pastrycook plant cherry brandy will grant,Apple puffs, and three corners, and Banburys.Sir William Schwenck Gilbert (1836-1911) During Rosemary Verey’s lifetime, a...

Kent

Essex

“A Sensitive Plant in a garden grew, And the young winds fed it with silver dew, And it opened its fan-like leaves to the light. And closed them beneath the kisses of Night.” “The Sensitive Plant”, Shelley Biddulph Grange is Britain’s best surviving Victorian garden...

Oxfordshire

“I know a bank where the wild thyme blows, Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows, Quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine, With sweet musk-roses and with eglantine: There sleeps Titania sometime of the night, Lull'd in these flowers with dances and delight.” A...

Hampshire

Devon

Yorkshire

Time passes swiftly, but is it not joyous to see how great and growing is the treasure we have gathered together.Winston Churchill Winston Churchill is regarded by many as the greatest Englishman of all time: a great, but flawed, man. He was simultaneously,...

"A garden is a Grand Teacher. It teaches patience and careful watchfulness; it teaches industry and thrift; above all it teaches entire Trust”. Gertrude Jekyll Chatsworth, home of the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire, is set in the heart of the Peak District in...

"Nature itself is the best physician.” Hippocrates. Since 1673, Chelsea Physic Garden has occupied 4 acres of land on the edge of the River Thames. First established by the Apothecaries in order to grow medicinal plants, this extraordinary garden in London has had...

Devon

The flowers that bloom in the spring, tra la, Breathe promise of merry sunshine; As we merrily dance and we sing, tra la, We welcome the hope that they bring, tra la Of a summer of roses and wine. The Mikado, Sir William Schwenck Gilbert  Coughton Court is brimming...

West Midlands

Somserset

Norfolk

"Some peoples can grow things and some peoples can't" "Old Fashioned Gardener", 'Vita' Sackville-West (1892-1962) Eastleach House is a master-class in plantsmanship and inspirational colour theming as well as design. Stephanie and her late husband, David, started with...

Cornwall

Yorkshire

I should remember DurganI was taken here as a childmany times, and the word 'Durgan' brought joy to my parents eyes;but coming here today, carryinga child in my arms, I can recognisenothing of this enchantedestuary. I can remembers onlya flash of pebbles, and being...

How slender, simple, shy, divinely chaste, She wilting stood, Her suppleness at pause, by leisure graced, In robes archaic by the chisel woo’d, That smoothly flowed around her waist And all her figure traced, And at her feet in fluid ripples broke; 'Vita'...

Kent

Kent

East Sussex

Mark how the yellow iris wearilyLeans back its throat, as though it would be kissedBy its false chamberer, the dragon-fly,Who, like a blue vein on a girl’s white wrist,Sleeps on that snowy primrose of the night,Which ‘gins to flush with crimson shame, and die beneath...

How slender, simple, shy, divinely chaste, She wilting stood, Her suppleness at pause, by leisure graced, In robes archaic by the chisel woo’d, That smoothly flowed around her waist And all her figure traced, And at her feet in fluid ripples broke; 'Vita'...

London

Surrey

“there I make a comma, and there, where a more decided turn is proper, I make a colon; at another part, where an interruption is desirable to break the view, a parenthesis; now a full stop, and then I begin another subject”  Capability Brown Harewood House was built...

Yorkshire

Somserset

Kent

Gloucestershire Cotswolds

"it is better to work with nature than against it" H.R.H. The Prince of Wales Highgrove House was built in 1796 to 1798 by John-Paul Paul, and believed to have been designed by architect Anthony Keck. The Paul family lived there until 1860.The Duchy of Cornwall...

“Peter was not very well during the evening. His mother put him to bed, and made some chamomile tea: "One table-spoonful to be taken at bedtime.” Beatrix Potter, The Tale of Peter Rabbit Beatrix Potter bought Hill Top in 1905, having fallen in love with the Lake...

The Lake District

“I know a bank where the wild thyme blows, Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows, Quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine, With sweet musk-roses and with eglantine: There sleeps Titania sometime of the night, Lull'd in these flowers with dances and delight. A...

Wiltshire

London

Gloucestershire Cotswolds

“...the loveliest castle in the world..” Lord Conway Leeds Castle has enjoyed a colourful past and an important role in British History. Listed in the Domesday Book, Leeds Castle was originally built as a Saxon Manor in 857 AD, becoming home to the Norman Crevecoeur...

Lake District

"Some peoples can grow things and some peoples can't" "Old Fashioned Gardener", Vita Sackville-West The current owners of Littlethorpe Manor, Mr and Mrs Thackray purchased Littlethorpe Manor in 1985. The Manor house itself dates from around 1700, but had several...

"My garden all is overblown with roses, My spirit all is overblown with rhyme”. Vita Sackville-West Long Barn has a fascinating history with part of the original house dating back to the 1400's. In 1913, a Mrs. Gillian Gilchrist Thompson, began restoring the house...

Cornwall

Our England is a garden, and such gardens are not made, By singing:- 'Oh, how beautiful!' and sitting in the shade, While better men than we go out and start their working lives At grubbing weeds from gravel paths with broken dinner knives. Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936)...

Hampshire

We are the sweet flowers Born of sunny showers. Think, whene’er you see us, what our beauty saith: Utterance, mute and bright, Of some unknown delight, We fill the air with pleasure by our simple breath. James Henry Leigh Hunt  A stunning contemporary garden on the...

Yorkshire

Norfolk

“I take the master to the show And tell him things he doesn't know. I talk to him as man to man And try to teach him all I can. I never hurt his feelings mind, I always walk a step behind And try to tell him things that he Is giving good advice to me.” Master of Man...

Gloucestershire Cotswolds

"A garden is a Grand Teacher. It teaches patience and careful watchfulness; it teaches industry and thrift; above all it teaches entire Trust”. Gertrude Jekyll Much of what we see today at Parcevall Hall testifies to the vision of Sir William Milner (1893-1960). He...

East Sussex

Thy gardens and thy gallant walks Continually are green; There grow such sweet and pleasant flowers As nowhere else are seen. Anon Penshurst Place is a spectacular medieval mansion at the end of sumptuous gardens and surrounded by picturesque Kent countryside. The...

Norfolk

Gloucestershire Cotswolds

Devon

Norfolk

Yorkshire

Kent

Cotswolds

Stratford-upon-Avon

Kent

Yorkshire

You sailed me across to where the quiet life floatsAll this rock that broke offAnd drifted here from the wide world’s coast.John Elliott Still home to the St Aubyn family as well as a small community of 30 islanders, this iconic rocky island is crowned by a medieval...

Wiltshire

North Yorkshire

Cotswolds

Devon

How slender, simple, shy, divinely chaste, She wilting stood, Her suppleness at pause, by leisure graced, In robes archaic by the chisel woo’d, That smoothly flowed around her waist And all her figure traced, And at her feet in fluid ripples broke; 'Vita'...

 “A garden is to be a world unto itself, it had better make room for the darker shades of feeling as well as the sunny ones.William Kent Througham Court is garden designer, Christine Facer’s own garden, hidden away in a beautiful, remote and unspoilt Cotswold Hills...

Cornwall

You sailed me across to where the quiet life floatsAll this rock that broke offAnd drifted here from the wide world’s coast.John Elliott Tresco is a small, family-owned island measuring about two and a half miles long by a mile wide at its broadest point. It’s one of...

“A Sensitive Plant in a garden grew,And the young winds fed it with silver dew,And it opened its fan-like leaves to the light.And closed them beneath the kisses of Night.”“The Sensitive Plant”, Shelley Set in a beautiful Cotswold landscape, this hidden private garden...

Buckinghamshire

Hampshire

"I said to the man who stood at the Gate of the Year, “Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown”. And he replied “Go out into the darkness, and put your hand into the Hand of God. That shall be to you better than a light, and safer than a known way.”...

Surrey

“I know a bank where the wild thyme blows, Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows, Quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine, With sweet musk-roses and with eglantine: There sleeps Titania sometime of the night, Lull'd in these flowers with dances and delight. A...

Yorkshire