Enjoy other people's hard work

Garden visiting is a national obsession - for inspiration, enjoyment, and afternoon teas.

There's always somewhere to visit, whatever time of year, so invest in a guidebook or two to start you off on a garden appreciation experience, and read on for longer descriptions of gardens that we've visited ourselves. Any recommendations that you have - please let us know.

In the pipeline

Soon to be included are gardens in the West Country, Herefordshire and Nottinghamshire. Then there are the gardens of Madiera, Northern Spain, and France (Normandy and around the Loire) that we've enjoyed. We Brits tend to be sniffy about other nations' gardens, but the foreign gardens we have seen are superb places. Not too busy, not too expensive, and full of plants we wish we could grow if only we had the climate. Although the way our weather is changing, perhaps we soon will be able to....

Handy lists of gardens

For an online UK guide, including accommodation, look at Great British Gardens.

For national collections in the UK, look at the National Council for the Conservation of Plants.

For the National Trust, also look at their English and Welsh parks and gardens.

And of course don't forget the 'Yellow Book' (read our review) listing many excellent private gardens open for charity in England and Wales, and the Gardens of Scotland 2009 guide.

How to get there?

Garden-related holidays, coach tours or independent travel by train, are all possibilities in addition to the car. Transport Direct is a comprehensive journey planner that takes into account all modes of transport, including walking. It can be a bit slow because it's such a huge undertaking, but once you find out the best way to use the site, it reveals some interesting routes.

For train-only enquiries, try The Trainline for times and tickets (prices and booking). Just type in your journey details below: