Country Gardens and gardening tips
Retaining the Arts-and-Crafts elements of a 1920s garden, the owners have added a sympathetic new terrace, as well as returning the surrounding fields to meadow, finds George Plumptre. Photos by Mimi Connolly.
George Plumptre examines how Country Life championed the marriage of formal design with natural planting, changing the garden forever.
This year, luxury British greenhouse manufacturer Alitex will mark two major milestones in its long history with an edible oasis that will include a Botanical cocktail bar.
Flamingos may draw the crowds, but it is the brilliant flower borders that keep people coming back to Coton Manor Garden, the wonderful space at the home of Ian and Susie Pasley-Tyler, says Tiffany Daneff. Photos by Clive Nichols.
In its centenary year, Ramster’s reputation continues to grow, together with its magnificent woodland garden, says Charles Quest-Ritson.
When Frances Druce took over Copyhold Hollow — in the High Weald, West Sussex — this 16th-century house with its ancient box hedge had no garden to speak of. Undeterred, she built one herself, reveals Annie Gatti. Photographs by Mimi Connolly.
So fine is the topiary at Cressy Hall in Gosberton — the home of Michael and Janey Hill — that you might think it dates back to the 18th century. Yet it hasall been created over the past 20 years by a former antique dealer with little interest in gardening, as Todd Longstaffe-Gowan explains. Photography by Andrew Sydenham for the Country Life Picture Library.
A beautiful country house is as much about its surroundings as its bricks and mortar, something that the best garden designers in Britain all understand. We've completely revised and updated our list of the finest of them all.
The sight of these tiny white flowers peeping through in January or February never fails to cheer us up – here's our pick of where to see snowdrops.
It has taken three years and more than a quarter of a million plants to bring brilliant new life to the great wooded bank at Chatsworth in Derbyshire, finds Steven Desmond. Photographs by Clive Nichols.
Nowhere else can gardeners see rare named snowdrops growing in such measureless drifts as in the Rothschilds’ private garden at Eythrope in Buckinghamshire, finds Mary Keen. Photographs by Clive Nichols.
Timothy Mowl celebrates what may be the most atmospheric, the most beautiful and the most intellectual garden in the country, Rousham in Oxfordshire.
From Alan Titchmarsh's beautiful prose to expert advice on growing an orchard.
All looks peaceful at Morton Hall, Worcestershire, but key tasks will be tackled in winter to ensure that, come spring, the garden is ready to burst into life, says Tiffany Daneff. Photographs by Clive Nichols.
We know December is nearly upon us, as the season’s light festivals begin up and down the country — here's our pick of some of the best.
Every area of this lush and exuberant garden of East Ruston Old Vicarage, near Norwich in Norfolk, is planted to give three seasons from each plot and, says Tilly Ware, a day’s visit will only scratch the surface. Photographs by Richard Bloom.
'No garden had greater influence in the second half of the 20th century' according to John Sales, the National Trust's former head gardener. Jack Watkins tells the tale of Vita Sackville-West's momumental achievements in creating the gardens at Sissinghurst.
Evolution, not revolution was the goal at Harold Peto’s Italianate garden at Iford Manor, says Troy Scott Smith, who feels both a sense of loss and joy as he moves to Sissinghurst.
