Mario Bautista
Gardens of Cornwall, Devon and the Isles of Scilly
Spend a week touring private and world-famous gardens: Glendurgan, the Lost Gardens of Heligan and Hestercombe, and make a trip to the Isles of Scilly to visit Tresco Abbey Garden (01423 396506).
Price: £5,200
Great Dixter and Prospect Cottage, East Sussex and Kent
Great Dixter is a historic house, a garden, a centre of education, and a place of pilgrimage for horticulturists from across the world. Once the home of the gardening writer Christopher Lloyd, it’s now under the stewardship of Fergus Garrett. Not far away is the famous garden created by the English film director Derek Jarman, when he was dying, on the shingle shore near Dungeness nuclear power station.
Stay: The Queen’s Inn has doubles from £130, (01580 754233).
Sezincote, and Batsford Arboretum, Gloucestershire
At the heart of a traditional, family-run estate covering 3,500 acres of rolling Cotswold countryside stands a 200-year-old Mogul Indian palace, set in a romantic landscape of temples, grottos, waterfalls and canals reminiscent of the Taj Mahal. Batsford Arboretum is home to a collection of some of the world’s most beautiful and rare trees, shrubs and bamboos spread across 60 acres.
Stay: Dormy House Hotel and Spa has doubles from £309 (01386 852711).
East Lambrook, Somerset
The English Heritage Grade I listed garden was created by the celebrated 20th-century plantswoman and gardening writer Margery Fish. It was here that she developed her own style of gardening, combining old-fashioned and contemporary plants in a relaxed and informal manner. The premier example of the English cottage garden style, East Lambrook has noted collections of snowdrops, hellebores and hardy geraniums.
Stay: Holm has doubles from £199 (01460 712470).
Wollerton Old Hall, Shropshire
The half-timbered Tudor manor features several different gardens within a framework of hedges, walls and topiarised trees. Each one of the spaces has its own distinctive style and ethos. The Well Garden, with tall yew pyramids, was recently redesigned.
Stay: Hawkstone Hall Hotel & Spa has doubles from £295 (01630 685242).
Deene Park, Northamptonshire
The formal gardens on the south side of this beautiful historic house give way to a vista of parkland and lakes linked by a canal. There’s a rose garden, and whimsical topiary includes large teapots. The most striking feature is the box hedge parterre designed by David Hicks and planted out in the early 1990s. The planting consists of clipped lavender, perennials such as geraniums, salvias, iris, nepeta, and spring bulbs including hyacinths and tulips.
Stay: The Jockey Club Rooms, Newmarket, has doubles from £129 (01638 663 101).
Stone House Cottage Garden & Nursery, Worcestershire
Created in 1975 in an acre of old walled kitchen garden, this spot is divided into different compartments to create diverse habitats. The vast selection of rare and unusual plants that thrive here make the garden seem much larger.
Stay: Brockencote Hall has doubles from £138 (01562 777876).
Wyndcliffe Court, Monmouthshire
Italianate Arts and Crafts garden on a steeply sloping site, with lily pond, dolphin fountain, a summerhouse, rose garden, ancient sculpted topiary, a sunken garden and woodland.
Stay: Thornbury Castle has doubles from £269 (01454 281182).
