Gardens and romance go hand-in-hand, and there are some absolutely beautiful options if you're looking to spend some quality time outside with a loved one. Whether its for a romantic stroll, a garden picnic or just a lovely sit on a bench with your favourite person, the list below are some of the best gardens in the world for romance, picked by garden writer Anna Pavord.
You may also like
- Best places to see snowdrops
- 10 gorgeous alternatives to roses this Valentine's Day
- Discover the true cost of roses in February
- Best gardens to propose
Most romantic gardens to visit
Gresgarth in Lancashire, UK
“I’m getting more Italian as I get older,” says designer Arabella Lennox-Boyd about her own garden at Gresgarth where a geometric arrangement of steps and terraces leads down to meet the lake on the southwest front of the house. The design may be formal but the planting is rich, lush and passionate.
Open One day per month, February-November
Tickets From £16
Location Caton, Lancashire LA2 9NB
Web Gresgarth Hall
La Foce in Siena, Italy
For more than a decade in the first half of the 20th century, the brilliant architect-designer Cecil Pinsent worked with Iris Origo on her garden at La Foce in Italy’s Val d’Orcia. Were they in love? “He was. And I was,” said Iris Origo. “But not at the same time.” Around the villa, a series of intimate gardens are enclosed by yew hedges and walls of gorgeous travertine stone. At a higher level, a pergola swathed in wisteria gives staggering views out over the vale.
Open Selected dates April-October
Tickets €10
Location Strada della Victoria 61, 53042 Chianciano Terme, Siena, Italy
Web La Foce
Endsleigh in Devon, UK
Humphry Repton, the great 18th-century landscaper, worked at Endsleigh and in the valley to the west of the house you catch the essence of his genius. Water charges under paths, tips down rock faces and meanders obediently along leats. ‘Of all picturesque subjects there is none so interesting as Water in rapid motion,’ he wrote. Endsleigh has a quality that is increasingly difficult to find in a garden: romance and a strong spirit of place.
Book a table or hotel stay to explore the gardens
Location Milton Abbot, Tavistock, Devon PL19 0PQ
Web Hotel Endsleigh
Marqueyssac in Dordogne, France
Marqueyssac overlooks the Dordogne, one of a clutch of battlemented châteaux that glare at each other from their respective peaks. The garden was created by Julien de Cervel, who adored Italy and made this place as close to his Italian dream as he could manage. The result, more than 150 years on, is spectacular: molten box topiary under tall cypresses and umbrella pines.
Open Daily
Tickets From €10.90
Location 24220 Vezac, Dordogne, France
Web Les Jardins Suspendus de Marqueyssac
Dundonnell in Wester Ross, Scotland
When you cross the stone bridge over the river to Dundonnell in Scotland, you arrive in a different world. First are the trees – huge limes, beech and sweet chestnuts, as well as sycamore and ash. Then the house, superbly strong, white-harled, standing in a meadow of long grass. Then the walled garden, three acres of inspired beauty arranged around a monumental yew, thought to be at least 2,000 years old. Thrilling. Astonishing.
Open for charity as part of Scotland's Gardens Scheme.
Open Various dates as part of Scotland's Gardens Scheme, or by appointment
Tickets £5
Location Dundonnell, Little Loch Broom, Wester Ross IV23 2QW
Web Dundonnell House
Plas Brondanw in Gwynedd, Wales
Architect Clough Williams-Ellis lived at Plas Brondanw in Wales for more than 70 years, gradually surrounding himself with architectural topiary and allées of box and yew, curling flights of steps, fountains, and the best vista in Britain, ending in the peaks of Snowdonia. For him, the place became a passion “an obsession if you like,” and romance still lingers in this wonderful place. Discover more with our feature on Plas Brondanw.
Open Daily 10am-4pm
Tickets £7.50
Location Llanfrothen, Penrhyndeudraeth, Gwynedd LL48 6SW
Web Plas Brondanw
Miserden Park in Gloucestershire, UK
When I let myself into the garden at Miserden, it was so still, so enclosed in its own bubble of tranquillity, I thought I might have tripped into a golden afternoon of the Edwardian era. Generous herbaceous borders run down either side of a central lawn: echinops, plume poppy, inula, stately spires of delphinium. A pergola of roses and a wide yew hedge shield a kitchen garden. Timeless. Gorgeous.
Open April-August
Tickets £12
Location Miserden, Stroud, Gloucestershire GL6 7JA
Web Miserden Park
Lotusland in California, USA
To British eyes, the extraordinary garden at Lotusland in Santa Barbara, California, is like a giant film set for the Disney film Fantasia with weird but wonderful cacti, superb succulents, rare cycads, flowering aloes and a forest of dragon trees. The only thing more extraordinary than the garden itself, with its Moorish rills and lotus pools, is its creator, the self-styled Madame Ganna Walska (1887–1984), who spent the fortunes of six husbands making this place. Not to be missed.
Open March-November
Tickets $70
Locations Directions to garden given when booking a visit
Web Ganna Walska Lotusland Foundation
Bolfracks in Perthshire, Scotland
Bolfracks tells you immediately that it is a much-loved garden, beautifully looked after and impervious, quite rightly, to fashion. It has a quiet peace and self confidence, the planting still singing of the 1950s: cherries, acers, berberis, good species rhododendrons. The twig house makes a romantic hideaway.
Available to rent all year round
Location Aberfeldy, Perthshire, Scotland PH15 2EX
Web Bolfracks
