Gravetye Manor East Sussex

In the late 1800s, amid the mixed borders of Gravetye’s formal gardens, knelt William Robinson, trowel undoubtedly in soil- streaked hand. Before him, beyond the vibrant blooms of hollyhocks and stocks lay the manor’s 400 hectares of manicured lawns, one of the greatest gardeners of all time: the concepts of wild gardens, modern mixed borders – even the popularity of hoses and secateurs – can be laid at his feet. So too can the wonders of Gravetye Manor, his beloved Sussex home where he dug, honed and designed his pioneering English garden.

Today, the handsome grey stone manor, built in 1598, is home to a hotel and Michelin-starred restaurant – and a tour of the gardens, available to lunching and overnight guests, is an essential part of any visit. Wending your way around the Peach House and polytunnels to duck-spotted lakes and through orchards of swollen fruits, you’ll take in the chromatic flower gardens, the wildflower meadows, glasshouses and vast kitchen garden. This walled garden, ripe with fruits and herbs, was recently restored to its rightful glory. Cared for and curated by head gardener Tom Coward and executive chef George Blogg (pictured, opposite), the kitchen garden supplies and inspires the menu. George’s food is superb; there’s talent and taste served alongside a drinks menu that includes myriad local English wines and fresh orchard juices. The restaurant is designed around the garden too. Over dinner in the new conservatory, diners can experience is one reason why Gravetye Manor is a Food and Travel Reader Award winner.

Middleton Lodge North Yorkshire

Some 80 hectares of Yorkshire landscape slope away from the sandstone facade of Middleton Lodge. The privately owned Grade II listed estate, built in the late 1770s, has been carefully renovated and brought back to life by its current owners – including the ongoing revival of its grand, landscaped park of meadows, orchards and woodlands, where broad belts of centuries-old trees frame the distant close to the house, where they surround saturated lawns and stunning ornamental English gardens. Limes, oaks, conifers and birches loom gently above the elegant house and spa buildings, their deep green shadowy against butter-coloured stonework and bright, blossoming beds. Unusually, Middleton’s walled garden was designed to be seen from the main drive, glimpsed by visitors as they orchard produce showed above it, the hefty apples, pears and plums hanging pendulously over its brick. The walled garden has been brought back to fruition, redesigned by Tom Stuart-Smith to include a prarie garden, sping and summer gardens and a kitchen garden.

The results are revealed across seasonal plates at two awarded a Michelin Green Star) uses an estate-to-plate, low food miles approach in tasting menus that might feature potato and ewe’s curd with barbecued kale, raw and toasted yeast cream all enjoyed under the dark wooden eaves.

PENMAENUCHAF GWYNEDD

The windows of Penmaenuchaf are more like natural picture frames. From every angle, their glassy arches and rectangles form portraits of emerald, lime and parakeet green, of bee-lined borders to bushy, buffeted treetops. Beyond its chimneys and gables, the colours spill into golden gravel paths and lavender borders, with pastel roses and deep poppies, rhododendrons and azaleas in blush and magenta.

The 16th-century Penmaenuchaf estate is set in 8.5 hectares, caught between the rugged heights of Cadair Idris and the broad Mawddach estuary far below. The gardens are registered in Cadw, the Welsh government’s historic environment service, for their garden; the wild sprawling woodlands with natural streams and cultivated waterfalls; and the serene, untamed water gardens. In spring, daffodils explode across the lawn, with bluebells hot on their heels. Summer hydrangeas then steal the show, before autumn paints the vista in shades of bronze and copper.

Herbs and produce from the nascent kitchen garden’s tilled below), who works with farmers and growers to ensure ingredients are as high quality and local as possible. The Welsh storecupboard Cured mackerel meets turnip, fennel and buttermilk, veal sweetbreads rest atop pumpkin risotto, and Coed y Brenin deer is paired with beetroot, artichoke and blackberry. Honey comes from their own hives, while Tom’s team forage for mushrooms and wild garlic. From the cosy restaurant, diners look out beyond ponds and trees to the stark beauty of Snowdonia, each mouthful accompanied by long vistas, where nature comes both cultivated and cragged.

The Newt Somerset

With the rustle of ancient oaks and giant hornbeams, it's difficult to keep your footfalls soft in the sprawling woodland at The Newt. But the effort may be rewarded with the flick and glance of a native deer, munching its way through the bark and leaves. There's every chance you’ll spot birds among the hazel too, or a foraging staff member picking berries, leaves or logs for the restaurants.

The grounds at The Newt in Somerset – formerly the 1687 Hadspen House – have been the work of dedicated gardeners for over two centuries, with Hadspen known for its extraordinary gardens. And the renown is still well earned. Influenced by the idea Victorian plant hunters, the glass Winter Garden is a hothouse proliferating with exotic species - tropical fruits, unfurling ferns, orchids and cacti. The newly redesigned Parabola, with its weathered stone walls, is a working garden created by Patrice Taravella, its slopes filled with fruits and even its walls home to trailing blackcurrants. But the Produce Garden is where the kitchen shines: 350 fruits and vegetable varieties swell and surge, ready for the farm shop or restaurant. The gardens also give The Newt its standout cider - or, as they have it here, cyder. Some 3,500 apple trees and legacy orchards are pollinated by native bees, and their fruit is made into 100 per cent apple juice cyder using slow cold fermentation. As well as garden tours, visitors can take a cellar tasting tour and, after rambling the glorious grounds, food awaits at the fire-fuelled Farmyard Kitchen or elegant The Botanical Rooms, both of which prioritise Newt-grown ingredients picked mere hours before.

Wynard Hall County Durham

Admiring Wynyard Hall’s kitchen gardens is like looking at a living menu. In the corner you'll find corrugated sticks of celery for the bar's bloody Mary; ahead, bubbled spikes of Brussels sprouts to crisp up alongside cod at The Glass House restaurant. Along roughened walls, fat-bottomed pears await poaching and daubing with chocolate. The 48ha landscape at the working estate dates back to 1623 and has since been restored and rejuvenated many times. The Victorian glasshouse, a warm space of wood, wicker and sunlit windows, began cultivating produce in the 1800s. Today it houses a plot-to-plate dining room where guests can watch their colourful ingredients being picked in the kitchen garden outside - a riot of rainbow chard, purple sprouting broccoli and folicate herbs. Estate-grown produce is supplemented by the finest ingredients from local suppliers. After stocking up at the farm shop, visitors can wander the Rose Garden, where 3,000 varieties scent the breeze. The neat hedges of the Marquee Garden are brightened by spring blossom and perennial borders, while the Wild Gardens will be awash with winter-flowering plants. But it's the arboretum that shows Wynyard at its most august: 18 tree species tower over the monuments, graves and gentle deer hidden beneath.

Cliveden House Berkshire

Viewed from the terrace of Cliveden's palatial house, backed by its grand arcades and graceful pediments, the sculpted, clipped and coiffed Parterre garden disappears into the horizon, where tree-lined Berkshire countryside falls away to the Thames. The Parterre, designed in 1855 by John Fleming, is nothing short of regal - a place that should be filled with parasols and picnicking duchesses, where no hedge dare to bud a leaf out of place. Built in the 1670s by the Duke of Buckingham - alledgedly for his maried lover - earls and princes have since made Cliveden house; the Earl of Orkney added woodland walks and the amphitheatre overlooking the Thames, where Rule Britannia! rang out for the first time. Rebuilt in 1852, the Grade I listed house is embedded deep in 152 hectares of forest, like the button in a Chesterfield sofa. As well as woodland trails, guests at the Relais & Chateaux hotel can take in the Long Garden's statuary and topiary, the calming Japanese Garden, the Pagoda and Cliveden Maze. The finest flowers are found in the Rose Garden, where 900 blooms explode into tones of butter, crimson and coral. Dining here is just as grand, with award-winning restaurants under the innovative eye of chef Chris Hannon. The dining room offers modern British dishes with excellent vegetarian and vegan offerings, while the Astor Grill serves up a characterful American-British mix.

The Tawny Staffordshire

It's not often you think of rolling parkland and floral garden and think ‘mechanical engineer’. Yet when William Podmore inherited the former Consall Hall in the Fifties, the engineer put his know-how to work on its 28 rather uninspiring hectares. He dedicated a lifetime to creating a botanical oasis in the midst of a Staffordshire valley that had been mined to the bone. In its scars, he crafted lakes via dams to hide the old mines, sculpted undulating lawns and planted gardens. He gathered up ruins left from estate demolition and used them as features, recycling a fountain here, making a folly there, raising a bridge from the wreck of houses past. With old age, however, William’s work became its own ruin. By the time he died and the land was resold, the gardens needed a lot of care and Consall Hall was pulled down.

In its place came The Tawny, a modern cabin-inspired building of glass and metal that frames the reborn gardens beyond via a mammoth picture window: five lakes, forested boundaries and countless follies. On the Folly Trail, guests can don wellies and find the whimsical structures hidden around, designed purely to give a are perfect for losing oneself, emerging from the quiet protectionof trees where owls roost to find lake shores and boathouses.

The hotel is ‘deconstructed’ – its rooms, cabins and treehouses pushed into the landscape to create a real sense of isolation among nature. The main building, The Plumicorn, is instead a hub where plant life has crept in among the velvet and glass to sprawl up the walls. This is where The Tawny’s team of chefs serve up a menu of seasonal, local ingredients under the great garden windows: tuck into squash with goat’s curd, fennel and miso, or beef fillet from nearby farms with beef vinegar and fall-apart ox cheek.

Thyme Gloucestershire

Taking in a deep, dewy breath of morning air at Thyme brings with it the scent of herbs, earth and a hint of sweet apples. It’s easy to see why this manor and farm, set in the picturesque Cotswolds and an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, calls itself a ‘botanical breather’. Here, working farmland slinks and sinews about the estate’s gardens and park, a combined 60ha idyll that offers up the sounds of the countryside and the taste of it too.

A hamlet within Southrop Manor Estate, Thyme’s rustic buildings boutique hotel. The school and its accolades remain, so it’s clear Thyme know a thing or two about excellent food and locally reared and grown produce. At the brilliant cooking classes as well as the Ox Barn restaurant, the majority of ingredients are sourced on-site. Vast kitchen gardens feature orchards, herb and vegetable beds, hens and polytunnels, while Southrop’s farm is known for rare-breed Black Welsh Mountain sheep. Chef Charlie Hibbert (pictured, above) works alongside the gardeners to curate a highly seasonal menu, with dishes like calçot, romesco and almonds, potato pavé with ricotta, pumpkin, tardivo and hazelnut, or roast Ryeland lamb with courgette, onion and mint.

Village pub The Swan is only a short stroll away too – and it’s one that champions local produce to the extent of noting ingredients’ ancestry on the ever-changing menu. Both restaurants make a great reward after prolonged exploration of grounds, designed with the help of six-time Chelsea Flower Show gold medallist Bunny Guinness. What’s more, Thyme put sustainability at the heart of the renovation, earning them the highest rating from The Sustainable Restaurant Association.

Glenapp Castle Ayrshire

There's a buzz at Glenapp Castle; a bombilating, busy swam that dashes in and out of white box hives to create golden Glenapp honey. Beekeeping is just a small slice of the on-site production at this 44ha estate - part of Pride of Britain Hotels. Foraging too brings visitors and staff out of the comfort of the castle, looking for herbs estate – the more tropical varieties are grown in the stunning Victorian Glasshouse - foraged ingredients are daily taken in hand by the team at Glenapp's fine dining, 3 AA Rosette restaurant.

The imposing turretted house overlooks the Firth of Clyde, its gaze reaching from its own walled gardens to Ailsa Craig. Tours with the head gardener visit the Italian garden, created by pre-eminent 20th-century garden designer Gertrude Jekyll, or take in the scents and solitude of the atmospheric pinetum. Victorian aristocrats and industrialists brought home specimens from their travels to create a magnificent hodgepodge of native and exotic plants in the arboretums and beds, including remarkable rhododendrons, a giants sequoia and Britain's tallest firs. And present-day guests can dine deep in the foliage at new private-dining Azalea restaurant, among the vines and fruits of the Glasshouse that gleams with the glitter of candle and lights. Alternatively, chef Peter Howarth offers dailing-changing tasting menus in the hospitable wood-lined castle. Seafood, featured in dishes like pan-fried Orkney Bay scallop, is line-caught or hand-dived off Scotland's west coast, while meat and game, like the roasted salt-ages duck breast and soft Scotch beef, come from nearby estates.