Get your spring FLOWER FIX
If you’re barmy for bluebells, daft about daffs, or just enjoy a tiptoe through tulips, let us help you...
IT’S time to shake off those winter blues and visit a gorgeous garden that’s renowned for its uplifting spring colour. From bluebell havens to daffodil destinations, and from rhododendron retreats to flowering cherry collections, here are ten of the best places across the country to get a seasonal fix of flowers.
Cotehele, Cornwall
An attractive Tudor manor house built for the Edgcumbe family sits at the heart of a 1,300-acre estate that bursts into life in spring. More than 300 different daffodils grow in the meadows close to the house, while rhododendrons, azaleas and flowering cherries add pops of colour in the wooded valley that runs down to the River Tamar. Elsewhere, there are snake’s-head fritillaries, celandines and bluebells.
Open daily, 10am-4pm, nationaltrust.org.uk/cotehele
Batsford Arboretum, Gloucestershire
Started by diplomat Algernon FreemanMitford (grandfather of the famous Mitford sisters) in 1886, this 56-acre arboretum boasts one of finest ranges of flowering cherry trees outside Japan. Among those on display are 120 varieties that form the National Collection of sato-sakura group cherries, renowned for their blossom. Closer to the ground, there are daffodils, bluebells, aconites and other spring bulbs.
Open daily, 10am-5pm (Sun), 9.30am-5pm (Mon-Sat), batsarb.co.uk
Borde Hill Garden, West Sussex
Enjoying views over the High Weald, this 17-acre garden was started in the early 1900s around an Elizabethan mansion bought by the Stephenson Clarke family. Set within 200-acres of parkland, the garden boasts swathes of daffodils and sheets of bluebells, along with venerable magnolias and camellias. Its piece de resistance in May is the azalea ring, a horseshoe-shaped planting close to the entrance.
Open daily, 10am-5pm, bordehill.co.uk
Eltham Palace and Gardens, London
The remains of a moated medieval Royal palace can still be seen at Eltham Palace but the gardens date largely to the 1930s, when the property was taken on by textile millionaire Stephen Courtauld and his wife Virginia. In spring, the moat bank is dotted with primroses, oxslips and other wildflowers, while a series of garden rooms contain a host of flowering shrubs, such as daphne, exochorda and ribes.
Open Wed-Sun, 10am-4pm, english-heritage.org.uk/visit/ places/eltham-palace-and-gardens
Anglesey Abbey, Gardens & Lode Mill, Cambridgeshire
There are 114 acres to explore in this Fenland jewel set around a Jacobean mansion. Spot daffodils, camassias and chionodoxas on a self-guided spring bulb trail (download a map from its website), and in April enjoy a colourful spectacle in the formal garden when thousands of tulips bloom en masse. Its famous 2½-acre winter garden looks good until late May, thanks to fritillaries, wood anemones and trilliums.
Open daily, 9.30am-5pm, nationaltrust.org.uk/Angleseyabbey-gardens-and-lode-mill
Witley Court and Gardens, Worcestershire
Close to the ruins of a 17th Century Italianate mansion gutted by fire in 1937, Witley’s restored Victorian parterres have compartments of neatly clipped dwarf box filled with spring favourites, such as primroses, violas, tulips and wallflowers. Explore the 40-acre landscape and you’ll find displays of daffodils in the bosky wilderness garden and walks flanked with rhododendrons.
Open Wed-Sun, 10am-4pm, english-heritage.org.uk/visit/ places/witley-court-and-gardens
Dorothy Clive Garden, Staffordshire
Established in 1940 by Colonel Harry Clive for his wife, this wooded, 12-acre garden has plenty of spring zing. Bulbs, magnolias and camellias provide early colour, while azaleas and rhododendrons light up the quarry garden in mid to late spring. Don’t miss the Laburnum Arch – an 82ft-long tunnel of cascading yellow flowers that’s at its peak in May.
Open Fri-Sun, 10am-4pm, dorothyclivegarden. co.uk
Sizergh, Cumbria
Close to the market town of Kendal, Sizergh has been home to the Strickland family for more than 750 years. Their fortified mansion sits within grounds that includes an old orchard planted with flowering cherries and a huge rock garden planted with many diminutive springflowering gems. Look out for displays of Narcissus pseudonarcissus, the classic Lakeland daffodil immortalised by William Wordsworth.
Open daily, 10am-3.30pm, nationaltrust.org.uk/sizergh
Dyffryn Gardens, Vale of Glamorgan
This 55-acre garden was designed by Thomas Mawson for owner Reginald Cory back in 1906. He built a series of intimate garden ‘rooms’ which play host to magnolias, camellias and swathes of daffodils early in the season, followed by tulips, bedding and scented shrubs in late spring. In May, wisterias sweeten the air.
Open daily, 10am-5pm, nationaltrust.org.uk/ dyffryn-gardens
Kailzie Gardens, Scottish Borders
Located in the heart of the Tweed valley, this 15-acre private garden dates back to 1812. Drifts of bluebells follow hot on the heels of daffodils in the tranquil garden, and the banks of a burn are home to moistureloving perennials. Rhododendrons, azaleas, Himalayan poppies, primulas and a laburnum walk keeps the interest going until the end of the season. Open daily except Tue,
10am-4pm, kailziegardens.com