Here are some of the lovely gardens close to our holiday cottage and lodges in Devon.
For more gardens across the country, try this 'Garden Finder'.
RHS Rosemoor is just 11 miles away near Great Torrington. It's also on the 315 bus route, so it's a good car free day out. Open Monday to Sunday 10:00 -18:00 April to September, 10:00 -17:00 October to March. Tel: 01805 624067.
If Agapanthus are your thing then you're in luck - the national Agapanthus collection is at Pine Cottage Plants, just 4 miles from us at Eggesford Fourways (postcode EX18 7QZ). Dick and Lorna Fulcher run the nursery, which is open most of the year from 10 until 17:00 Mon-Sat. It's best to ring first though as they go to a lot of shows. Telephone 01769 580 076 or mobile 07718 50 50 53.
The Dewsmoor Art and Sculpture Garden is at Barnstaple Cross, about 13 miles from the lodges (Postcode EX17 2ER, Tel: 01363 772325). The garden opens most days from 14:00 until dusk (or 18:00 in the summer). There are representational and abstract sculptures in stone, wood and metal. Touching allowed!
At Milland Farm, Okehampton, you can visit an artist's garden, set in an acre of gravel garden, wetlands, woods and more formal planting. Telephone for opening hours: 01837 810313. The postcode is EX20 3BX, about 14 miles from the lodges.
Stone Lane Gardens, at Chagford (about 15 miles from the cottage and lodges) holds the national collections of birch and alders, grown from wild-origin seed. The 5-acre garden of streams, ponds and unusual plants is open all year round, and in the summer hosts a sculpture exhibition, usually with over 100 exhibits. You can also buy birch and alder trees from the nursery. Dogs welcome on leads. Postcode: TQ13 8JU. Phone: 01647 231311
Sir Edwin Lutyens designed the 12 acre garden at Castle Drogo to reflect his architectural vision for the castle. It's the highest of the National Trust's gardens, at almost 300m, and Dartmoor almost jostles the formal planting areas. From June to September you can hire croquet equipment for the lawn. The garden itself is undergoing major replanting. Contact the National Trust for opening times and prices. Tel: 01647 433306. Postcode EX6 6PD (about 15 miles from the lodges and cottage).
Nurseryman John Veitch created the garden at the National Trust's Killerton house in the 1770s. The 20 acre hillside garden showcases rhododendrons, magnolias, herbaceous borders and rare trees. There is an ice house and early 19th-century rustic-style summer house known as The Bear's Hut. Paths through the garden, parkland, woods and meadows, are open all year round. Postcode: EX5 3LE (about 27 miles from the lodges) Phone: 01392 881345.
The garden at Bowden Hostas, Cleave House, in Sticklepath (postcode EX20 2NL, about 14 miles from Wheatland) was established 25 years ago. This nursery has an acre of garden displaying most of the National Collections of 1050 modern hybrid Hostas. The nursery is open Monday to Saturday 10 am to 4pm throughout the year, with extended hours in the summer, and sells many varieties of Hosta, including Devon and slug resistant varieties! Phone: 01837 840989.
The National Trust's Knighthayes Court EX16 7RQ, about 24 miles away from the cottage and lodges, has beautiful landscaped gardens with formal terraces, topiary, lily pond, rare shrubs and trees, summer flowering borders, and a 'garden in the woods'. The garden is open from Easter to October, and the house from April until September. Phone 01884 254665.
