The best spots for some SPRING ZING

WEDNESDAY marks the official start of spring, so it’s time to bid winter farewell and step into a garden famed for its early displays. From plots known for their daffodils to woodland spaces crammed with azaleas, here are some of the best places around the UK to enjoy a shot of colour this season.

Cotehele, Cornwall

Yesterday was the start of a nineday daffodil festival at this historic estate on the border with Devon. A self-guided trail will lead visitors around the meadows close to a Tudor manor house, where information boards will highlight rare and unique daffs among the garden’s 300 varieties. Plenty of other spring flowers get in on the act, with snake’s head fritillaries, primroses and celandines all making an appearance. Later in the season, rhododendrons, azaleas and flowering cherries provide pops of colour in the wooded valley garden below the house. (nationaltrust.org.uk)

Seaton Delaval Hall, Northumberland

A substantial country house designed by Sir John Vanbrugh in 1758 looms over a sprawling estate with plenty of seasonal zing. Patches of yellow pepper the grounds in early to mid spring when double flowered ‘Van Sion’ daffodils appear, followed by carpets of bluebells in woodland. There are rhododendrons and azaleas, along with other early flowering shrubs, and a laburnum arch that drips with trailing racemes of yellow flowers, from mid-May to early June. Close to the house, compartments of box parterre – installed by garden designer James Russell in the 1950s – are planted with tulips. (nationaltrust.org.uk)

Exbury Gardens, Hampshire

More than 13,000 rhododendrons can be found in this woodland garden on the banks of the River Beaulieu in the New Forest. Established by banker Lionel de Rothschild in 1919, the 200-acre sylvan landscape boasts venerable specimens discovered in south-east Asia and the Himalayas by plant hunters in the early 20th Century. There are 20 miles of pathway to traverse but make sure to steer a course to the Azalea Bowl, where a pond is surrounded by evergreen azaleas in shades of pink, red, purple and white. (exbury.co.uk)

Isabella Plantation, London

Nestled within Richmond Park is a 40-acre woodland garden dating back to the 1830s. Established by Henry Addington, deputy park ranger and a former prime minister, this ‘secret’ space comes to life in mid spring when the sides of its paths, streams and ponds turn shades of pink, red and white thanks to countless evergreen and deciduous azaleas – the garden holds a national collection of varieties discovered in Japan by plant hunter Ernest Wilson in the 1920s. Magnolias, camellias and other spring flowering shrubs lift the spirits, while daffodils and bluebells provide colour at ground level. (royalparks.org.uk)

Hever Castle, Kent

A 13th Century moated stronghold (childhood home of Anne Boleyn) overlooks a 125-acre garden that was transformed in the early 20th Century. The grounds come to life in spring when crocuses, grape hyacinths and a host of other bulbs strut their stuff – between March 18-24, visitors can book their place on a special tour of the garden’s impressive daffodil collection. Elsewhere, there’s a water maze, yew maze and a five-acre

Italian sculpture garden overlooking a lake. (hevercastle.co.uk)

Wimpole Estate, Cambridgeshire

An imposing 17th Century mansion sits at the heart of a 3,000acre estate west of Cambridge. There are swathes of daffodils and aconites in early spring, followed by fritillaries and tulips. Its 4.5acre walled garden and historic parkland, designed by Capability Brown in the 1760s, are great to explore but the star turn has to be its orchard of more than 300 fruit trees – including apple, pear, plum, greengage and many others which blossom from March until May. (nationaltrust.org.uk)

Holehird Gardens, Cumbria

A stone’s throw from Windermere and home to the Lakeland Horticultural Society since 1969, this 12-acre hillside garden started life back in the late 19th Century. Native wild daffodils and cultivated varieties are naturalised in grass, while in mid to late spring tulips inject colour into the beds. There’s also a rock garden full of diminutive seasonal alpines, loads of spring-flowering shrubs and a national collection of Himalayan blue poppies. (holehirdgardens.org.uk)

Dyffryn Fernant Garden, Pembrokeshire

Originating from an overgrown patch transformed since 1996, this six-acre plot surrounds an old farmhouse set in the Preseli Hills within the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park.

In spring, the grass is heavy with daffodils and towards the end of the season, the azalea bank is a blaze of colour. There’s plenty more to delight visitors including displays of tulips, camellias and lots of early flowers, such as wood anemones and lily of the valley. The garden doesn’t open until April, but it’s worth the wait. (dyffrynfernant.co.uk)

Branklyn Garden, Perthshire

Started in 1922 by John and Dorothy Renton to complement their arts and crafts-style house, this two-acre plot boasts fine views over Perth. More than 5,000 species thrive in its acidic soil. A national collection of rhododendrons draws attention in late spring, while Himalayan blue poppies add interest at ground level. Opens on March 29. (nts.org.uk)