Pick up ideas for your garden from five stunning private gardens in a picturesque English country village. I’m often asked to recommend gardens to visit, and I always start by suggesting @ngsgardens the National Garden Scheme. They have some grand gardens but there are also ‘group openings’ which open a number of smaller private gardens in one place. Here are ideas from five gorgeous English country village gardens in Stanton, Gloucestershire.
00:00 Welcome
00:15 The National Garden Scheme: https://ngs.org.uk/ For Scotland see https://scotlandsgardens.org/
01:16 Elaine and Kevin and their small beautiful garden
01:47 Colour inspiration from a smaller garden
02:05 Remove lower branches of trees to increase light and space for planting
02:14 Liz Philpott’s large garden slopes up onto countryside
03:02 Making the most of plants in a larger space
04:05 A larger garden needs several seating areas
04:43 Look at the hard landscaping for tips when visiting gardens
03:12 There are 3 kinds of geranium in this border: Cantabrigiense, Macrorrhizum and Sirak
03:32 Close up of the border with birdsong (these are the birds that were singing while I was filming the border, although I have amplified the sound a little)
05:09 Jackie Jones-Parry’s former farmhouse – the garden would have been part of the farmyard
05:36 Think about contrasting your trees
06:24 Climbers on buildings
07:00 Jenny’s garden is a mix of formal parterre and relaxed planting
07:40 Jacqui Tucker’s garden a mix of old and new, with expert planting and self-seeders
07:55 A mature tree adds character to your garden
08:30 Contrast formality with wildness
09:10 The tortoise garden
09:50 Garden trees – what you need to know before you prune! https://youtu.be/bRVoHO7jRlQ
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35 Comments
That isn't a Sycamore its a Norway Maple
How lovely, Alexandra. What beautiful gardens you have visited and filmed and edited. Thanks for such beautiful content.
Thank you.
More,more !!!
This is one of my favorite videos. The Cotswolds is such a magic place. The gardens were all different also. Very inspiring.
Thank you!
Gorgeous, thank you ! Your videos 🌿☘️
This is like a mini vacation! So beautiful and so uplifting when I'm struggling with my own space. Places I must add to my "bucket list." Blessings to all from Canada.
Thank you Alexandra, I always enjoy your videos. J
I love your show, Alexandra. Lots of great ideas.
94 Degrees (33.33c) forecast for today, and my poor roses here in Southern CA are blasted, so it was a joy to see these fabulous lush Cotswold gardens. Thank you, Alexandra! And as always, you point out such helpful things. My property also has a slope, which can be challenging. With our summers, too much concrete or similar hardscape increases the heat index, so things like bark mulch, sectioned logs, light colored sand, etc. help a lot. Trees are so important!! I was thrilled today to see the first flower on my young Palo Verde trees, given to me as foot-high twigs by a friend five years ago. I used to have a tortoise like that when I was a child; they are living the dream, lol. Lovely, lovely presentation. I'll have to watch it again. 🙂
A slice of England listening to the bird song. Beautiful!
08:38 the rose seems to be Summer Song by David Austin. I wasn't able to find Summer Day rose.
This is a lovely lovely vid! One of your best…but then again…they are all brilliant❤thank you for providing such inspiration!
Wonderful video, must check out NGS as suggested. May I ask what is the plant on the trellis / wall in the background of where you were seated? It looks pretty !
Can you recommend a good real estate company for the Cotswold area? It may be time to move. Thank you!
As somebody currently building a middle-sized garden (while actively touring the country for inspiration) – I see two very overlooked aspects:
1.) is how essential mature shrubs, trees and even brick structures are in providing a framework/ structure / background to annuals, perennials and the likes.
Quite often when you look at these smaller countryside gardens, the plant variety and the absolute number of plants is not actually that remarkable or plentiful, but it's those other structural things that make them stand out. This is a hard pill to swallow for somebody like me that can get 000s of plants via wholesale and realise it's probably <50% of the "look".
2.) the concept of vertical interest and creating visuals that work from bottom to top is critical.
Those were some truly magnificent gardens, and much along the lines of what I aspire to. A wonderful mix of formal and informal, all without seeming cluttered or compacted with too many different things going on. Much to think about, and I thank you for that!
I love the colour of the cottage front door at 57 seconds into the video; I wish I knew the name of the paint colour. For that matter the painted woodwork in the second and third gardens is beautiful too (5.02 and 5.12) A lovely video to watch in general . Thank you for creating it.
This was so lovely to view all of these stunning landscapes and private gardens. I had to stop the video frame so many times, to just take in the breathtaking scenery created in these landscapes. The lush green lawns and trees, the contasts of color in the foliage of the tree canopies, and the rich tapestry of these English gardens just captivates me! Thanks for sharing this lovely tour of Cotswold private gardens.
I need to correct the tree variety at 07:55 – bizarrely I suggested it was a sycamore (without really thinking properly). The owner has now confirmed that it is a Tulip Tree (Liriodendron tulipifera) as some of you have suggested. It's around 40 years old and it started flowering about 5 years ago. Tulip Trees only flower after about 30 years, so it is very special.
Thank you, this was beautiful and inspiring.
I love and appreciate that you include all types of gardens and variations of cottage gardens. There's always something to take away from your videos. Thank you for sharing!
how wonderful!
I m addicted to ur episodes
But this one is so enchanting that I can’t get enough of it
Simply awesome
Wish was in such a climate n weather so that cd have such a garden
Mine is so exposed to the heat wave of north India that such plants can’t survive here
Love it
I’m here for the tortoise garden! How neat.
Lovely, Alexandra. Thank you 💚
I love this!
The black cat is adorable
Lovely thank you. It was also lovely to pause and admire the cat!
Fabulous video, Alexandria! The cotswolds is my favourite!❤
We just returned home from a visit to the Filoli estate and Gardens in Woodside California today. The stately home with a massive marble fireplace, presidential size ballroom with gold leaf around the windows and a dozen massive chandeliers, and 4” thick curved top doors underneath 20 foot ceilings was completed in 1917. The gardens are even more impressive. There’s so much to see there. I intend to go back, maybe in the fall and certainly the spring. I was born in San Francisco and I’ve lived in the area my entire life of 68 years and have never visited these gardens before. I’ve made it my mission to visit as many Gardens as possible where I live. I will always remember the beauty of the gardens. I visited in England and Wales. I was overwhelmed when visiting Sissinghurst Gardens I would love to go back and visit again one day. Thoroughly enjoying your content! Thank you so much for taking us through such stunning gardens❤
Excellent 🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉
I love your channel; It’s so inspiring! I live in Atlanta and it is a similar climate to much of England with exception of sometimes having extreme heat in the summer. I asked an architect to create a plan for my lawn/garden but it feels too “perfect.” I live on a slight slope and the architect wants to level my lawn, but I like the slope because it’s natural. Are there any tips to make plantings feel more natural, but still English garden? I love bux balls also, but I’m not sure how to clump them or where to put them. Any advice there?
More..more!!!
I love this video. All the gardens are so picturesque!