The buds turn into flowers, the bulbs bloom and the birds sing in the hedges.
It’s not just gardeners who want to get out in the garden in the coming weeks. We could all benefit from a nice, green refuge after our stormy, wet winter.
Here are some of the best places to stay in the UK…
WONDERFUL FLOWER
Enjoy private access to the Easton Estate and Walled Gardens by staying at its Gatehouse Lodge
The gate of the lodge, located in Lincolnshire, opens onto 12 acres of spring bulbs and flowers
Enjoy private access to the Easton Estate and Walled Gardens, near Grantham in Lincolnshire, by staying at its Gatehouse Lodge. Its gate opens onto 12 acres of spring bulbs, flower gardens and historic terraces leading to the River Witham.
Details: From £500 for two nights, for two people (eastonholidaycottages.co.uk).
BEAUTIFUL LAKES
At Burn How Garden House Hotel in Bowness, Lake District, the reception is in a period house, but rooms are separated among the trees and flowers of the garden. The award-winning lakeside grounds were designed by renowned Victorian landscaper Thomas Mawson.
Details: Doubles from £157 B&B (burnhow.co.uk).
GREAT SCOTS
Explore the home of the head gardener at Floors Castle in Kelso, located in the Scottish Borders.
Here you can stay in a 200-year-old two-bed stone house in a Victorian walled garden.
Travel to the Scottish Borders to stay at the Head Gardener’s House at Floors Castle in Kelso. Stay in a 200-year-old two-bed stone cottage in the Victorian walled garden and enjoy exclusive out-of-hours access to its four acres, with its fine herbaceous borders.
Details: Three nights from £825, sleeping four (crabtreeandcrabtree.com).
GLORY GLORY
At Three Chois Vineyard in Gloucestershire, guests can stay in glass-walled, oak-framed lodges dotted among the vines, which burst with color from March onwards. Hawks, foxes and woodpeckers can be seen – and Dymock’s famous Golden Daffodil Triangle is 3km away.
Details: From £205 per night, for two people (trois-choeurs-vignobles.co.uk).
DEVON’S DREAM
Stroll along the private paths between the flower beds of the South Devon Walled Garden
The Dart Valley Walled Garden in South Devon is a lovely four-bed holiday cottage with its own walled garden, recently featured on BBC Gardeners’ World.
Stroll along the private paths between flower beds to the dragonfly pond or get advice from the RHS-trained owners pruning in the orchard.
Details: From £195 for a one night stay (coolstays.com).
Chic primroses
Spring Cottage in Cliveden, Berkshire, is set among carpets of primroses and daffodils in a National Trust woodland
The lavishly transformed summer house is where Queen Victoria had afternoon tea
The exclusive three-bedroom cottage is available from £2,250 per night and can sleep six people.
Spring Cottage in Cliveden, Berkshire, is an exclusive and expensive three-bed cottage among carpets of primroses and daffodils in a National Trust woodland on the banks of the River Thames. This is a lavishly converted summer house where Queen Victoria took afternoon tea and where Kenneth Graham wrote Wind In The Willows, all within the grounds of the Cliveden Hotel.
Details: From £2,250 per night, sleeping six (clivedenhouse.co.uk).
KENT CASTLE
Within the grounds of Walmer Castle, Kent, is the two-bedroom Garden Cottage, which offers the opportunity to stroll through the cherry and apple blossom orchards from your doorstep, or explore acres of daffodils, hyacinths and fritillaries.
Details: From £540 for three nights (english-heritage.org.uk).
WONDERFUL MAGNOLIAS
The Garden Cottage at Wootton Hall, Derbyshire, sits next to a 12-acre ericaceous garden of rhododendrons and magnolias. It is owned by the neighboring gastro pub, the Duncombe Arms.
Details: Three nights from £750, sleeping six (duncombearms.co.uk).
WELSH WONDERS
Staying at Y Bwthyn Bach Cottage in Pembrokeshire puts you in the stunning Dyffryn Fernant RHS Gardens, open to the public to view from Easter onwards, but you can stay overnight all year round. This humble one-bed whitewashed stone outbuilding is almost hidden by plants and is devoid of TV or mobile signal, but the compensation is the famous tulip and flower display on your doorstep.
Details: From £498 per week, for three people (dyffrynfernant.co.uk).
NORFOLK TREATMENT
This three-bed holiday home in Wolterton Hall offers private access to one of the country’s largest walled vegetable gardens and avenues of spring flowers.
Plant lovers love the Garden House, an 18th-century cottage draped in wisteria, located at Wolterton Hall, within the Walpole family’s 500-acre landscaped estate. This three-bed, dog-friendly holiday home offers direct private access to one of the largest walled vegetable gardens in the country, as well as avenues of spring fruit flowers and carpets of spring bulbs.
Details: Seven nights from £512, sleeping six (cottagesdevacances.fr).
BALMORAL BEAUTY
Tigh Na Garaidh (“Gardener’s Cottage”) is a pretty Victorian cottage located on the Balmoral Estate. You’ll wake up next to Charles’ thriving greenhouses, surrounded by a huge, productive garden, but only when the royal family is not in residence. Beyond the vegetable plots, expect expanses of spring daffodils.
Details: From £720 per week, for four people (balmoralcastle.com).