Top 10 Gardens in England
England's garden tradition is arguably the most influential in the world. From the eighteenth-century landscape park to Gertrude Jekyll's herbaceous borders and the experimental plantings at Great Dixter, English gardens have set the international benchmark. These ten represent the tradition at its very best.
1. Sissinghurst Castle Garden, Kent
Vita Sackville-West and Harold Nicolson created Sissinghurst from 1930 as a series of garden rooms enclosed by Elizabethan castle ruins. The White Garden, planted only in silver foliage and white flowers, is the most copied garden composition of the twentieth century. The Cottage Garden, the Rose Garden and the Lime Walk each have their own seasonal peak. National Trust since 1967.
2. Stourhead, Wiltshire
Begun in 1741 by banker Henry Hoare II, Stourhead is the supreme English Arcadian landscape: a circular walk around a lake, with a Pantheon, a Temple of Apollo and a grotto positioned as set-pieces. Each viewpoint deliberately recalls a Claude Lorrain painting. Autumn colours are outstanding.
3. Great Dixter, East Sussex
Christopher Lloyd's home, now run by Fergus Garrett, is the most experimental high-profile garden in England. The Long Border and the Exotic Garden (which replaced Lutyens's original rose garden with cannas, dahlias and bananas) demonstrate succession planting at the highest level.
4. Hidcote Manor Garden, Gloucestershire
Lawrence Johnston shaped Hidcote between 1907 and 1948 as formal garden rooms divided by hedges. The Red Borders, the Theatre Lawn and the Stilt Garden have influenced almost every formal garden of the twentieth century.
5. Kew Gardens, Richmond
The world's most scientifically important botanic garden, founded 1759, with 50,000 living plants, the Palm House (1848) and the Temperate House (1863, the largest surviving Victorian glasshouse). UNESCO World Heritage Site.
6. RHS Wisley, Surrey
The Royal Horticultural Society's flagship garden, 97 hectares of trial grounds, ornamental displays and glasshouses. For the serious gardener, the most useful single visit in Britain.
7. Chatsworth, Derbyshire
Four hundred years of garden layered on one estate: Grillet's 1696 Cascade, the Emperor Fountain (the world's tallest gravity fountain), Capability Brown's park, and recent plantings by Tom Stuart-Smith.
8. Levens Hall, Cumbria
The oldest topiary garden in the world, laid out in 1694 by Guillaume Beaumont and preserved in its original form. The hundred or so topiary specimens are recut twice a year.
9. RHS Bridgewater, Greater Manchester
Opened in 2021 on the historic Worsley estate: a restored eleven-acre walled kitchen garden, the Paradise Garden by Tom Stuart-Smith, the Welcome Garden by Charlotte Harris and Hugo Bugg.
10. Bodnant Garden, North Wales
Above the Conwy Valley, Bodnant is famous for its 50-metre Laburnum Arch (late May) and for its terraced Italian gardens descending toward the Dell. National Trust property; spring is the peak season.
Plan your next trip
All of the gardens mentioned in this article are pinned on the interactive map. Use it to plan a route, group nearby sites into a single trip, or compare gardens by style and season.