The Cotswolds itself is one big garden, a scenic area with stunning pasture and farmland, which is enchanting to visit all year round.
As well as our wonderful formal gardens, you also have an opportunity to experience beautiful private gardens often open to the public under the “Open Gardens” scheme www.opengardens.co.uk where money raised through entrance fees is donated to charity.
Here in the Cotswolds, we are privileged to offer some of the very best experiences in the UK when it comes to formal gardens; the finest of which are detailed below.

The Prince of Wales has spent 30 years transforming the grounds of Highgrove House into what have been acknowledged as some of the most inspired and innovative gardens in the United Kingdom. The Prince’s strict adherence to organic and sustainable methods has helped create gardens which are both magical and intriguing while being environmentally sound; encouraging both plants and wildlife to thrive.

The garden tour lasts approximately two hours and is a walk of about 2 miles. All garden tours are led by one of His Royal Highness’s garden guides. Visitors with walking difficulties should be aware that some paths are unmade. We suggest you wear stout shoes and suitable clothing as the tours continue during wet weather. Allow 4 hours for your visit to include time for refreshments in the Orchard Restaurant and visiting the Highgrove Estate shop.

Abbey House

Known as “the home of the naked gardeners” for reasons you can research yourself (!), these enchanting gardens at the gateway to the Cotswolds are the creation of Ian and Barbara Pollard.Probably the best garden visit you could ever make awaits you at Abbey House Gardens in ancient Malmesbury, itself an historic place to visit.Gardening ideas, beautiful plants from daffodils, crocus, tulips (24,000 new tulip bulbs planted this year alone) and iris in spring through the country’s largest private collection of roses, double herbaceous borders that rival Monet’s famous garden in Giverny, France, to fabulous autumn colour from specimen trees and shrubs; all to be enjoyed in a special atmosphere you have to visit to believe. Come and judge for yourself.

NOTE FROM ROB LITTLE, TOUR GUIDE: This seems to be the least well known of all the gardens here but is unanimously acclaimed to be the verybest ! DON’T MISS IT !

Celebrated 20th-century garden in the beautiful north Cotswolds. Memories don’t get any better than this. Relax and unwind in one of the country’s great gardens and experience for yourself the fulfillment of a quiet American’s English fantasy. You’ll never forget the exquisite garden rooms, each with its own unique character. Discover rare shrubs and trees, herbaceous borders and unusual plants from around the world. The garden changes in harmony with the seasons, from vibrant spring bulbs to autumn’s spectacular Red Border.

Nestled in the Cotswolds with sweeping views across the Vale of Evesham, a visit to Hidcote is inspirational at any time of year.

Don’t miss:
• A game of croquet on the Theatre Lawn
• A picnic with family or friends in the Wilderness
• Capture the spirit of Lawrence Johnston in our planthouse
• Discover great views on one of the many public footpaths
• Be inspired by breathtaking garden design and planting

A series of interconnecting gardens each with its distinct character and secrets the creation of three generations of a family of women gardeners. Started by Heather Muir in the twenties, continued by her daughter Diany Binny from 1950, and now looked after by the granddaughter of the founder, Anne Chambers and her husband with a little help from their children.The gardens are a plantsman’s delight reflecting the pleasure the family has had collecting species from all over the world. At any time of the year there is something of interest to draw you back again and again.

The upper gardens surrounding the house are planted to give harmonious colour schemes, whilst the sheltered lower gardens provide a home for plants from warmer climes and recreate the atmosphere of the Mediterranean.

A delightful English country garden, full of variety, this charming garden shows the English country style at its best. Peaceful water gardens and herbaceous borders, with organically shaped topiary, demonstrate an imaginative use of colour and planting, creating unexpected vistas. Stroll through the arboretum with its wonderful species of trees and naturally planted spring bulbs.

• Relax in the tranquil garden, with topiary and colourful borders
• See the productive small vegetable garden and orchard
• Explore the arboretum with naturalised bulbs
• See how the garden transforms with the changing seasons

A romantic, secret place in the Cotswolds; part of the home of Lady Angus and her family. Set around a Victorian walled garden, they are described by “Country Living” magazine as “what most people aspire to in their gardens – and few achieve”.Lady Angus and her daughter Barbara have developed the garden over the years with a lot of help from nature itself. Barbara had little garden experience when they first arrived but luckily Lady Angus had. When they viewed the property it was the walled garden that they first fell in love with. This was in the summer and they fell in love all over again when the following spring bulbs erupted from all corners.

 

An eighteenth century Cotswold house (not open) with a developing garden made in recent decades. Awardwinning three acre garden with extensive topiary including knot garden, parterre and topiary walk. Stunning deep herbaceous borders; water features; 18th century raised walk; unusual shade house; specimen trees in walled pasture opposite garden.

Rousham and its landscape garden should be a place of pilgrimage for students of the work of William Kent (1685-1748). Rousham represents the first phase of English landscape design and remains almost as Kent left it, one of the few gardens of this date to have escaped alteration, with many features which delighted eighteenth century visitors to Rousham still in situ, such as the ponds and cascades in Venus’s Vale, the Cold Bath, and seven arched Praeneste, Townsend’s Building, the Temple of the Mill, and, on the skyline, a sham ruin known as the ‘Eyecatcher’.

A late seventeenth century house, built of the mellow local stone, which was remodelled by Walter Samuel, 2nd Viscount Bearsted, after his purchase of the property in 1927. The son of the founder of Shell Oil, he was one of the great art collectors of the period. He left his collections, the house and the magnificent gardens to the National Trust in 1948. The house, which is open to the public, includes the National Trust Art Collection as well as internationally important art and porcelain collections.

The garden is spectacular in all seasons, taking full advantage of the surprises created by the natural lie of the land, with wide lawns near the house and terraces descending to pools in the valley. The terraces are full of colourful herbaceous borders and a highly productive kitchen garden. Late colour is provided by the National Collection of Asters (Michaelmas daisies). From a spring in the Monk’s Well, water fills the channels which flow through the Bog Garden, created in the 1930s and full of moisture loving plants, into the ornamental pools, once stocked with fish for the table, but now with various species of goldfish.

Prepared by:
Rob Little, British Tour Guide and Driver, www.letstourengland.com let us show you the Cotswolds, England and more !