Great gardens to visit

[funnyperson]

So I thought I would ask what gardens you fond most inspiring to visit?

Here are mine
Sissinghurst in June
Great Dixter in Spring
Regents Park rose garden
Hidcote- for the lavender!
Knoll gardens

found even

Kew gardens for spring bulbs and summer roses
Waterperry for water lilies
national garden of Wales in spring
Dewstow gardens for hidden grottoes

Levens Hall in Cumbria, not just for the topiary.
Jardin Plume in Normandy - for everything!

Bodnant in June - the laburnum arch is spectacular as are the roses - inspiring stuff!

Beth Chatto's place is my absolute favourite. I love her feeling for colour, form and texture.

Felley Priory is a little gem too. And Piet Oudolf at Scampston Hall is worth seeing not just for the landscaping but the very rare and unusual plants.

The most awe-inspiring gardens I've ever seen were those in Japan, though. The level of detail that those gardeners go to is like nothing I have ever seen. Also, the ability to landscape in three dimensions, controlling things like vistas on slopes, is extraordinary. I do not even know how they do it- it feels like the kind of thing that could only be accomplished with some kind of high tech CAD modelling software, and yet it's not.

The gardens I'd most like to visit in future are Trebah and Little Sparta. I think the latter looks like a truly original place.

The garden that's disappointed me most was Sissinghurst. I think my expectations were sky high after everything I'd read, and I did go in May which is perhaps that's not the best season.

I love Heligan, particularly the walled veg garden.

Another vote for Bodnant- stunning!

Kinkaju-ji, the Golden Pavilion, in Kyoto is stunning. Completely ethereal and "other". Like the other poster i found the gardens of Japan absolutely mesmerising

Scotney Castle is a favourite haunt of mine

heligan

trufflehunter - I saw the Golden Pavilion after a week or so of amazing gardens of the kind of beauty that socks you straight in the diaphragm and leaves you utterly struggling for words. And I thought it would be yet another lovely place in a whole list of them.

How wrong was I? I think it probably remains the most breathtaking place I've ever seen. It is, as you say, completely otherworldly. There is a Mishima novel, which is about a young man's obsession with the place culminating in his attack upon it. Despite its rightwing nutjobbery it's a really interesting read.

I think gardens, in general, often elude capture in photographs. There's something about the way that the space relates together that a 2D image can't quite reflect. In Japan, that's exacerbated so much by the way that gradient is used. Pictures just don't do them justice - something about the delicacy and balance just gets lost.

my favourite of all time is East Lambrook Manor in Dorset/Somerset. Small, about 2 acres, wonderfully planted by Margery Fish who died about 20 ish years ago. Densely planted and very high maintenance but just such an English garden - over flowing with wonderful plants. Is best in Spring/early Summer I think.

We visited Great Dixter in the summer for the first time last year. I loved it - it is full of over stuffed borders so it's like walking through a jungle. It also had these massive compost beds with squashes/pumpkins growing all over the top. One of these was probably bigger than my whole garden!

Sissinghurst is lovely on a late spring day when the roses are out and you can catch the scent of them against the warmth of the walls. I also love it in the spring when the apple blossom is out.

Penshurst place has lots of interconnected gardens - the planting may not be as extensive as at some gardens but its a lovely place to play hide and seek with children. And it has a fantastic peony border.

Thank you. Some really interesting suggestions!

I want to add Powis castle.

Heligan
Chatsworth

Kew - obviously
Stowe
Virginia Waters thingy garden (free! )
Wisley
Eden Project. Not as good as it thinks it is, but still pretty good.

I came on to say Chatsworth, the gardens blew me away. Wish we lived closer.....

Sheffield Park Gardens (Sussex)in the Autumn. Stunning colours.

The Abbey Gardens on the Scilly Isles are beautiful.

I love Trengwainton near Penzance - there is a stream by a long drive that in spring is planted with primulas, and it's just gorgeous. There are also hydrangeas in summer, lovely woods, a bizarre vegetable garden, of the same dimensions as the Ark (!), and possibly The Best Tearoom in Cornwall.

Anglesea Abbey near Cambridge was amazing around Christmas and at snowdrop time and looks like it might be too in the summer.

Scotney Castle when the white wistera is out by the old castle is fabulous.

Wakehurst Place in winter (for the scented plants) and generally really.

Does anyone have any/more northern garden recommendations?

(Sorry if any missed any above)

I went to Parcevall Hall last week not expecting much and it knocked my socks off. Tucked into the dales near appletreewick on a steep gradient, beautiful terraced gardens incorporating several streams and ponds. Loved it and really liked the planting (especially as, being local it should work in my garden).

Other nearby gardens worth visiting are Harlow Carr, Littlethorpe Manor (only open occasionally) near York, yorkgate in Leeds. Roundhay park in leeds has several former Chelsea show gardens as well.

Apologies for any typos, I've had two g&ts

You can visit the Duke of Westminsters gardens just outside Chester they have 3/4 Eaton Estate Open Days every year. The whole estate is amazing and really worth a visit.

Not a garden as such and not in the North but if you get the chance to visit Ball Colegrave go! amazing bedding displays,plant trials and fabulous new varieties too. I used to work in Garden Retail!

Not north but Sussex Prairie Garden and Gravetye are both absolutely stunning if you are ever in Sussex!

We were at Beth Chatto's today shovetheholly! Came out with armfuls of plants which will no doubt die a lingering death once transplanted into our North facing desert.

Reviving this to say - I have been to Little Sparta, garden of the poet Ian Hamilton Finlay! And it was life-changing. It is far and away the most interesting garden I have ever visited - there is a depth to his exploration of ideas about landscape, and a wit, and a sheer cleverness about it that make a lot of other gardens look a bit vacuous and under-conceptualised. It definitely left me feeling like my own efforts are seriously lacking and that I need to think much more deeply and carefully about how ideas and gardening might interrelate (beyond my usual, superficial 'ooooh pretty' reaction).

I would post some picture but it is strictly, strictly forbidden. I can understand why, because there is a very carefully managed interrelation between different areas and elements that would get a bit lost in photos. If you are in the area, though, it is an amazing afternoon that you won't forget in any kind of hurry.

Many of the above, plus Alnwick Castle. And our summer Sundays are much improved by touring localish NGS gardens in search of plant sales and homemade cake.

Rowallan House in Saintfield, Northern Ireland. A very well kept secret that was created by a talented and obsessive clergyman.