UK Gardens

There are probably more than 5,500 gardens open to the public. Many in the National Garden Scheme are too small or localised to be included here. What follows is a taste of what can be found

1 Sizergh Castle

Cumbria

The paths crossing the 1,600-acre estate give superb views of Morecambe Bay and the Lakeland hills, but the real joy is the gardens. Laid out in the 18th century, there are 14 acres that include herbaceous borders, a wildflower garden, part of the national collection of ferns, lake, water garden, rose garden, pools and fruit orchards. Perhaps its most striking feature is the rock garden, the largest limestone one on a National Trust property. There are also trails through ancient woods and across meadows alive with butterflies.

2 Benvarden Garden and Grounds

Co Antrim

Within 300-year-old brick walls nearly 12ft high lie two acres of flowers, fruit, herbs, and vegetables. Through the centre is a walkway bordered by herbaceous planting and "roofed" with pergola arches over which old roses ramble. There is a beautiful box and lavender parterre, a weeping silver pear, a rose area, and, in the lower part, a superb kitchen garden. Here are vegetables all in a row, hot houses, melon house, vinery, and, throughout, fruit trees trained against the warm walls. And, outside the walls, is a wild garden and Victorian iron bridge over the river.

3 Benmore Botanic Gardens

Argyll

This is now a magnificent out-station of the glorious Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh, but it was the creation of two generations of the Younger beer family. The younger Younger gave the garden to the public in 1925. Its 120 acres contain 300 species of rhododendrons (some of which are in flower until August), an avenue of giant redwoods, late-flowering trees and shrubs, pond, a Bhutanese glade, Chilean rainforest glade, a spectacular collection of dwarf conifers, and the Victorian fernery, built by James Duncan, a Greenock sugar refiner, after he bought the house in 1870.

4 Biddulph Grange

Staffordshire


A Victorian masterpiece, 15 acres of delights created by James Bateman, a plant enthusiast, neglected, nearly destroyed, but now restored by the National Trust. Below a rather forbidding house is a range of garden "rooms" that depict places around the world: a Chinese temple garden (plus its own Great Wall of China), Italian terraces, Egyptian court, Scottish glen, and more. There is also a pinetum, Wellingtonia walk, rock gardens, fernery, topiary, the bizarre upside-down tree, and a Dahlia Walk with 500 varieties.


5 Eggleston Hall

Durham

Four and a half acres set in Teesdale, not the most friendly horticultural country. But what is achieved here is magical, and has an ethereal quality lusher climes could not produce. Its owners describe it as a "Pandora's box of surprises: winding paths, a stream, organic vegetables, walls, and fell views". There are also fruit trees, iridescent blue geraniums, a shrubbery with some late- flowering specialities, and a superb ancient contorted hazel that twists and turns in all directions. The numbered paths lead you to the old churchyard, and, beyond, along the water to a vegetable patch and the 200-year-old stone troughs.

6 Bro Meigan Gardens

Pembrokeshire

The first private garden in Wales to be accorded the accolade of "partner garden" by the Royal Horticultural Society. Overlooking the Preseli Hills are nearly seven acres offering unusual features such as a wooded dingle and natural springs. There are more formal parts, with enchanting herbaceous borders, and also a Gothic garden, Dragon's Nest, cottage garden, orchard, wildflower meadow, turf maze and bee hives. Plenty of colour whatever the season, and often described as a special delight for photographers and bird-watchers. The shy water rail, and peregrine and red kite are often seen.

7 Old Thatch

Buckinghamshire

This was the house - a long, thatched one by the Thames at Bourne End - and garden of Enid Blyton, where she wrote many of her stories and gardening books. Found in a derelict state in 1990, it has been restored and rejuvenated by Jacky Hawthorne. There's a cottage garden, rose walk, water garden, lavender terrace, and formal garden - all in about two acres. It's the kind of garden many of us would like to have - English, restrained, and seriously classy without being prissy. The use of grasses and foliage is a wonder. And there's a pub next door.

8 Upwey Wishing Well

Dorset

This is small, but it is perfect, and very well hidden. Up a Dorset lane, besides Upwey's church with its wall paintings, is the wishing well, gardens, and tea rooms. The waters here were allegedly taken by George III, when staying at Weymouth to try and recover his missing senses. They are no longer deemed safe to drink, but are surrounded by a delightful gardens built around a pond, and through which run rivulets, streams and little falls of water. It is one of the most photographable places in Dorset, the colourful plants reflecting in the waters, and, as a background, an old mill.

9 West Dean Gardens

West Sussex

Acres and acres of varying delights, everything from formal borders, woodland walks beside a stream that twists and turns and bubbles over little falls, and a view across pasture to wooded hills beyond. In places it is a painting come to life. The three stars are the walled fruit garden with its wall-trained trees and arch of pear trees; the Edwardian pergola, 100 metres long, ending in a gazebo whose floor is made of knapped flint and horses' molars; and the Victorian glasshouses and frames. In troughs in the corner of this live many newts, a wonderful surprise for any passing child - of whatever age.


10 Ventnor Botanic Gardens

Isle of Wight

Chosen not only because of what it has to offer by day, but for what it holds at night. The gardens are built on the site of an old chest hospital and are said to be the most haunted in Britain. Every Monday at 8pm there is a ghost walk, offering a chance to see - and hear - former patients, nurses, and even a ghostly tennis match. By day, the gardens glow with exotic plants which can grow in the area's sub-tropical climate. There are 22 acres of unusual species, with colour especially good in late summer. On a warm day you may also see the wall lizards basking in the sun.



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