Northiam, Rye, East Sussex
Created by the late Christopher Lloyd, Great Dixter is the legacy of a garden designer who forced us to re-think how we envisaged an English garden. It became less about ordered, neat prettiness and much more about excitement and colour. Today’s head gardener, Fergus Garrett, and his team continue to challenge and inspire, whether it be by championing flowers, such as dahlias and snapdragons, which we might consider relics of our grandparents’ gardens, or by demonstrating how texture and colour can change with the seasons.
Where to stay: The George, Rye, double rooms from £86, thegeorgeinrye.com
Dalemain, Penrith, Cumbria
There is something otherworldly about Dalemain. It is as if the gardeners who have tended it over the years have left their fingerprints in the soil. Dalemain has been in the same family since 1679, when it was bought by Sir Edward Hassell. You will find plants given to the family by Joseph Banks, as well as prolific, cornflower-blue poppies developed by Sylvia Hassell. It is a garden of nooks and crannies, but always with something surprising to discover: a beautiful view out over the fells or a sleeping dragon. This is a garden with heart.
Where to stay: Pooley Bridge Inn, double rooms from £145, pooleybridgeinn.co.uk
Llanfrothen, Gwynedd
This was once the home of Clough Williams-Ellis, the architect of the village of Portmeirion, and the garden is made up of a series of rooms and carefully considered vistas, often edged with exquisite eau-de-nil ironwork. The adjoining sturdy house is a relatively modest building, while the exuberant garden, which has an Italian influence and features sculptures salvaged by Williams-Ellis, borrows beautifully from the wild landscape it sits within. It is proof that well-considered contrasts can make a very beautiful whole.
Where to stay: Taldraeth Guest House, double rooms from £165, taldraeth.com
Staindrop, Darlington, County Durham
There are walled gardens and then there is the walled garden at Raby Castle. It covers five acres and today’s wonderful configuration is the culmination of a collaboration between designer Luciano Giubbilei and Lady Barnard. It is a hybrid garden of the ancient and the new. Still centre stage are the historic yew hedges and the white Ischia fig tree originally planted in 1786, but now there are new produce areas, rills, extensive mazes and – a centre stage….
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