Gardens to visit
Visiting a beautiful garden can be a wholly enriching experience. The benefits of visiting a garden – from mental health right through to exercise – are huge, and garden days out are perfect ways to have fun on your own, or as an entire family.
Regardless of how, and whoever you visit with, we have a host of suggestions of which gardens to visit, from gardens for the season, through to the gardens that are in full bloom and at their best each month. We have collated lists of the best gardens to visit with the help of our experts and many years of visiting gardens all around the UK, and beyond. We have gardens organised by theme, days out and local area, so you should find something for wherever you are and whatever garden experience you are looking for.
Enjoy our comprehensive guide to the best gardens to visit in the UK.
Gardens to visit in August: the green spaces that will look perfect at this exact time of year
Want to see August flowers in full bloom? Head to these gardens and nurseries
Beautiful Blenheim Palace depicted in winning shots of latest IGPOTY competition
The International Garden Photographer of the Year Blenheim Palace special award has been announced
The best campsites with beautiful gardens
From Victorian walled gardens to shaded clearings among wildflowers, we recommend the best campsites in the UK with beautiful gardens to get lost in
Hampton Court Flower Show 2024: full list of gardens
Discover the full list of the gardens at RHS Hampton Court Flower Show this year
The best gardens to visit in July
Nurseryman Keith Wiley recommends the best gardens to visit in July to see their plants in full bloom
25 English gardens to visit for classic style and beautiful plants
In this feature designer and garden historian Penelope Hobhouse shares 25 of the best English gardens to visit
Expert tips for designing a meadow
Garden designer James Alexander-Sinclair gives his advice and tips on how to include a meadow in your garden
The best places to pick your own flowers
Now is the season for filling your vases with freshly cut flowers to brighten the home. We recommend the best flower farms and gardens in the UK that invite you to pick your own blooms.
Wondering what jobs to get done this summer? Let Sissinghurst's expert head gardener guide you
Sissinghurst’s head gardener Troy Scott Smith guides us through the jobs that he and his team do in summer. Images by John Campbell
Roses, roses everywhere: how the gardeners at Sissinghurst keep the famous garden on point all summer long
Ensuring Sissinghurst’s famous roses look fabulous throughout the season is one of the many tasks keeping head gardener Troy Scott Smith and his team busy right now. Photographs John Campbell
Peonies that can last for 100 years: the remarkable plants that can come with a high price tag
At Primrose Hall Nursery Alec White specialises in breeding rare and desirable intersectional peonies – plants that can last for 100 years. Words Alys Fowler, photographs Richard Bloom
Discover some of the most remarkable French gardens
If you're planning a visit to France, be sure to visit some of the country's most beautiful gardens. Words Claire Masset
Going to Paris for the Olympic Games? Make sure you visit these lovely gardens and green spaces in the city
Find the best gardens and green spaces in Paris to visit this summer, from gems in the centre tot the city's 'lungs'.
Beautiful gardens to visit that will look their best in June
Gardener Tom Brown recommends the best gardens to visit in June to see their plants in full flower
My orchid obsession: how I created a dreamy native wildflower meadow carpeted with amazing blooms
Peter Clay, co-director of Crocus.co.uk, explains his yearning for a magnificent landscape carpeted with orchids, and how he has made that dream come true. Photographs Carole Drake
Love Bridgerton? Visit these Regency gardens and filming locations to feel like you're on the set.
With season three hitting our screens, we’ve rounded up the most beautiful Regency gardens and landscapes you can visit to get the Bridgerton experience - and even spot a few filming locations.
These are the gardens that will look most beautiful in May
Plantsman Keith Wiley recommends the best gardens to visit in May to see their plants in full bloom
Forde Abbey: the tulip display that gets better each year
The tulip display at Forde Abbey in Somerset gets bigger and better every year, with later-flowering cultivars intermingling effortlessly with annuals, biennials and perennials to enrich the planting in this progressive historic garden. Words Hannah Gardner, photographs Jason Ingram
The RHS's new Urban Show takes place this week and the public park it's next to is a riot of fun slides and dazzling planting
A derelict brownfield site next to a former railway yard is now brimming with life as Manchester’s first new city park in a century
Japanese cherries blossom early in gardens across the UK
Warmer weather has meant Cherry trees have been blossoming much earlier this year
The best places to see a beautiful blue carpet of bluebells in a wood or garden near you
Wandering in a bluebell wood is a magical experience. Here are our recommendations for where to see bluebells – and other spring delights.
Gardens to visit that will look lovely in April
Plantsman Keith Wiley recommends the best gardens to visit in April to see plants at their best.
A festival for tulips? Here are the festivals around the world celebrating the arrival of the beautiful spring flower
Discover some of the best tulip festivals to visit for a colourful start to spring. From Amsterdam to London, find a festival near you.
Sissinghurst head gardener Troy Scott Smith on his vision for the garden
In 1930, the writer Vita Sackville-West and her diplomat husband Harold Nicolson bought an old farm in Kent and set about creating a garden that has become one of the best loved and most visited in the world. In the lead-up to the garden's centenary in 2030, head gardener Troy Scott Smith muses on the garden's enduring appeal - and outlines his vision for the garden. Images by John Campbell