Nationwide· 1 min read
Best Gardens to Visit in the UK — 15 Glorious Days Out for Green-Fingered Souls
Grand landscape gardens, walled kitchen gardens and subtropical valleys — the UK's most beautiful gardens to visit, season by season.
Britain is a nation of gardeners, and its great gardens are a genuinely lovely, unhurried day out — colour, scent, and somewhere to slow right down. Here are 15 of the best, from world-famous to quietly special.
The botanical giants
- RHS Garden Wisley (Surrey) — the Royal Horticultural Society's flagship; something in bloom every month.
- Kew Gardens (London) — a UNESCO World Heritage site with Victorian glasshouses and the treetop walkway.
Great English & Welsh gardens
- Sissinghurst (Kent) — Vita Sackville-West's romantic garden 'rooms', including the famous White Garden.
- Bodnant Garden (North Wales) — a laburnum arch and terraces above the Conwy valley.
South West wonders
- The Lost Gardens of Heligan (Cornwall) — a restored Victorian estate with a jungle valley.
- Stourhead (Wiltshire) — a landscape garden designed like a painting, best in spring and autumn.
Practical notes
Gardens change completely with the seasons — spring bulbs (March–May) and autumn colour (October) are the showpieces, but the great ones hold interest all year. Most are largely step-free and buggy/wheelchair-friendly on the main paths; check each garden's access map. An RHS or National Trust membership quickly pays off if gardens are your thing.
Enjoyed this guide?
Get one email a week with our best day-out ideas and a discount code.
Related guides
Nationwide2 min read
Wheelchair-Accessible Days Out in the UK — 16 Genuinely Inclusive Places
Step-free, level and genuinely accessible — 16 of the best wheelchair-friendly days out across the UK, with real detail on access, parking and Changing Places toilets.
Nationwide1 min read
Best Autumn Days Out in the UK — 15 Places for Colour, Crunch and Crisp Air
Where to catch Britain at its most beautiful in autumn — flaming arboretums, the deer rut, misty forests and the best places for that golden-leaf walk.
Nationwide1 min read
Best Beaches in the UK — 16 Stretches of Sand Worth the Journey
From Cornish coves to Northumberland's castle beaches and the Hebrides' white sand — the UK's most beautiful beaches, with notes on dogs, tides and parking.