My 10 coolest winter gardens
There’s nowhere better to walk off the excesses of the festive season
THIS is the time to blow off those festive cobwebs by wrapping up warm, pulling on some boots and taking an invigorating walk around a great garden. Here’s my guide to ten of the best winter warmers.
Arlington Court, Devon
Set within the picturesque Yeo Valley on the edge of Exmoor, this is the perfect place to stretch your legs. A sober 19th Century country house sits within a 2,400-acre estate with woodland, riverside walks, parkland, steep hills and a deer park. Pick up a leaflet and select your route from a list of options. Open daily, dawn to dusk (nationaltrust.org.uk/arlington-courtand-the-national-trust-carriage-museum)
Mottisfont, Hampshire
Most people associate this 25-acre garden with its fine display of summer roses, but it’s well worth visiting at other times of the year. There’s a 1,600-acre estate to explore with woodland, farmland and a section of the River Test, famed around the world for its excellent fly-fishing. Mottisfont boasts a magnificent winter garden crammed with trees, shrubs, grasses and perennials. Open daily, 10am-4pm (nationaltrust.org.uk/mottisfont)
Bedgebury National Pinetum and Forest, Kent
More than 2,000 different conifers brighten up the bleakest day at this 320-acre sylvan landscape near Tunbridge Wells. Originally land belonging to nearby Bedgebury Manor, the pinetum came into being when the Forestry Commission acquired part of the estate in 1924. Paths, boardwalks, bridges and grassy trails criss-cross the vast site. Open daily, 8am-4pm (bedgeburypinetum.org.uk)
RHS Garden, Wisley, Surrey
A manor house built in 1916 as offices for Royal Horticultural Society staff sits at the entrance to this sprawling garden. Within its 240 acres are rock gardens, an arboretum, pinetum, heather garden, conifer lawn and a 45-minute winter walk, showcasing grasses, early-flowering perennials and attractive trees. As a bonus, the glasshouse will be illuminated after dark for a ‘Christmas Glow’ event which ends on January 3, and which also features a trail with 100 giant, flower-shaped lights. Open daily, 10am-8pm Monday-Friday, 9am-8pm Saturday and Sunday (rhs.org.uk/gardens/wisley)
Anglesey Abbey, Cambridgeshire
There are 114 acres to explore in this Fenland gem set around a Jacobean-style house that was greatly remodelled by the first Lord Fairhaven in the early 20th Century. The undoubted highlight is the two-and-a-half-acre winter garden, where a 492-yard path snakes its way through beds filled with trees and shrubs chosen for their bark, berries and scented flowers. Famed as the childhood home of Lord Byron, the partly ruined remains of the 12th Century priory and adjoining country house lie within 320 acres of grounds that include parkland, woodland, ornamental garden and lots of water features. Don’t miss the memorial built by Byron for his beloved dog Boatswain, which is inscribed with his poem Epitaph To A Dog. Open daily, 10am-4pm (newsteadabbey.org.uk)
Newstead Abbey, Nottinghamshire Hackfall Woods, North Yorkshire
Follow in the footsteps of J M W Turner, William Wordsworth and other luminaries who admired this 120-acre woodland garden set within a ravine running to the River Ure. Created by William Aislabie in the 18th Century, the site is littered with garden buildings, such as a temple, grotto and a mock ruined castle. The landscape has been undergoing restoration after a long period of decline in the early 20th Century. Open daily (hackfall.org.uk)
Portmeirion, Gwynedd
Perched above a tidal estuary in North Wales, the Italianate village of Portmeirion is famed as the setting of the cult TV show The Prisoner, filmed in the 1960s. The unique village of pastel-coloured buildings is within a 70-acre estate and there are 18 miles of walks through subtropical woodland, where tree ferns, tender rhododendrons and other exotics thrive without winter protection due to a unique microclimate. Open daily, 9.30am-7.30pm (portmeirion-village.com)
Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh
A short walk uphill from the city centre, this botanic garden occupies a roughly square, 77-acre site within a residential area of Georgian townhouses. Viburnums, witch hazels, mahonias and a host of rarities provide seasonal colour, while a stroll towards the centre of the garden is rewarded with a sweeping vista of the city skyline. Warm up in the tropical palm house and glasshouses. Open daily, 10am-4pm (rbge.org.uk)
The Hermitage, Perth and Kinross
A stone’s throw from Pitlochry, this magical place was originally part of the pleasure gardens created by the 3rd Duke of Atholl to entertain visitors to his winter residence, Dunkeld House (demolished in the early 19th Century). A woodland trail follows the banks of the River Braan upstream to a rustic bridge and a circular building known as Ossian’s Hall, built in 1757. Inside, glass doors open on to a platform with views over Black Linn Falls below. Open daily, dawn to dusk (nts.org.uk/Visit/The-Hermitage)