Trebah Garden Trust, Mawnan Smith, Near Falmouth, Cornwall, TR11 5JZ; trebahgarden.co.uk
Bodnant Gardens, Conwy, Wales
Prisma by Dukas/Getty Images
Home to botanical collections from around the world, Bodnant is the work of four generations of one family. Henry Pochin bought the estate above the River Conwy in 1874 and commissioned the designer Edwin Milner to lay out the garden, while successive generations have made their own additions. The Upper Terrace is influenced by the Arts & Crafts movement, with sweeping lawns, herbaceous borders and the famous laburnum tunnel, while the Dell is an informal woodland garden with paths winding down to the river. Boasting National Collections of Magnolia, Embothrium, Eucryphia and Rhododendron, plant lovers will be enthralled by this garden, which is particularly fine in spring and autumn.
Bodnant Rd, Tal-y-cafn, Colwyn Bay LL28 5RE. nationaltrust.org.uk
Chatsworth, Derbyshire
Victoria Hely-Hutchinson
To experience a cornucopia of historic garden styles, Chatsworth is a must-see. With remnants of the original Baroque landscape laid out by the famous 17th-century landscapers Loudon and Wise, the 105-acre garden also boasts spectacular Capability Brown parkland and an arboretum and rockery created by Joseph Paxton. This rockery has recently been restored and replanted by Tom Stuart-Smith, and other areas of the garden have been redesigned by Dan Pearson, adding contemporary layers to this richly historic and important landscape.
Chatsworth House, Bakewell, Derbyshire DE45 1PP. chatsworth.org
Great Dixter, Rye, East Sussex
Andrew Montgomery
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