Top 10 Royal gardens
To celebrate the coronation of King Charles III, we visit gorgeous green spaces with connections to the monarchy
Where better to celebrate the coronation than in a majestic garden? From the King’s own plant paradise to splendid Elizabethan roses, explore Britain’s top 10 royal gardens
1. Highgrove Gardens, Gloucestershire
World famous for its unique gardens, each with their own distinctive style and story, Highgrove is a glorious testament to the gardening passion of Charles III. For the past 40 years, foremost garden designers have worked alongside the-then Prince of Wales to bring his visions to life in this most personal of royal landscapes.
In spring and early summer, Highgrove greets its visitors with the spangled mauves, whites and yellows of orchid, buttercup, alliums and wild parsley in the 1.5-hectare Wild Meadow. It is a testament to the King’s organic principles and his early collaboration with the pioneering naturalist Miriam Rothschild.
The meadow is cut for hay in in autumn and then grazed by sheep, who create a moving tableau, framed by the fastigiate hornbeams that bring formality to this rural scene.
Quirky topiary frames the views of the house itself down the long Thyme Walk, with plump pudding shapes in golden yew. A snail, a spiral and – of course – a crown owe their individuality to each gardener being given a bush to shape. Drawing on traditional English gardening, the Old and New Cottage Gardens also surprise, with inspiration drawn from the colours of Tibet in a planting scheme designed by Charles III and the late Rosemary Verey, doyenne of English horticulture.
A Victorian-inspired stumpery of ferns and upturned roots by award-winning designers Julian and Isabel Bannerman provides a damp green setting for a magnificent Gunnera manicata set atop a two-metre stone tower. Emerging from the deep shade on to oak-dappled lawn, David Wynne’s sculpture ‘Goddess of the Woods’ sits contemplating temples aptly crafted from green oak.
An arboretum reflects the king’s commitment to sustainability with acer, beech and cherries underplanted with over 40,000 snowdrops, complementing sweet woodruff and dog’s mercury buried for decades in the cool earth.
Serving delicious teas and lunches, The Orchard Room is open to guests who have explored the gardens. For special occasions, you can even book a ‘Champagne Tea Tour’.
FURTHER INFORMATION
Opening times: April to October; times of tours vary.
Entry: You must book a guided garden tour in advance, from £22.
Website: highgrovegardens.com
2. Hatfield Park, Hertfordshire
Set within deer-grazed parkland and surrounded by five centuries of gardens, Hatfield House is a vision of England’s past. Here the young Elizabeth I received news of her sister’s death and here she held her first council of state, ushering in the Elizabethan age.
Robert Cecil, son of Elizabeth’s famed adviser, built the ‘new’ Hatfield House in 1607. Anxious to impress his new king, James I, Cecil employed gardener John Tradescant to find rare plants across Europe. Tradescant travelled to the Low Countries for rare bulbs and fruit trees to embellish Hatfield’s gardens with fine blossoms and exquisite scents, which still inspire the gardens of today.
Recreated in the 1980s, the knot gardens of the old palace are complemented by colourthemed Edwardian borders and the Sundial Garden, marking 400 years of the Cecil family at Hatfield. The magnificent kinetic water sculpture ‘Renaissance’ stands at the north front of the house, while Elizabeth and her courtiers still haunt the Lime Walk in a life-sized stone frieze.
FURTHER INFORMATION
Opening times: Gardens open from 1 April, house from 1 June.
Entry: £12 for gardens and park; £22 for house, gardens and park.
Website: hatfield-house.co.uk
3. Hampton Court Palace, London
Centuries of royal gardeners have transformed this riverside palace into a playground for monarchs and a delight for horticulturalists. Henry VIII led his wives through richly patterned knot gardens alive with gilded heraldic beasts, before tempting them into domed banqueting houses with views along the Thames. William III and Mary II brought designers from Holland to layout formal Privy Gardens, now recreated after meticulous archaeological excavation.
Replete with statues and clipped topiary, gilded screens from French master craftsmen allow glimpses of the world beyond. The 16th-century fishponds were located to serve the palace kitchens, but, by the late 17th century, were repurposed to shelter exotics, including oranges, myrtles, oleanders and aloes.
A vine planted by the great 18th-century designer Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown has its own vast glasshouse and, in late summer, you can feast like royalty on the sweet fruits before tackling the famous Hampton Court Maze, created more than 300 years ago and still confounding modern visitors. Brightly coloured annual bedding drew holiday crowds in the 19th century when Queen Victoria opened the gardens to the public in 1838. Long herbaceous borders attracted artists in the palace’s Edwardian heyday, when the river thronged with pleasure craft, bringing trippers to the palace gardens as it once brought Tudor courtiers, and now brings 21st-century visitors.
Inside the palace, Henry himself appears in portrait, while his wife Catherine Howard runs through the haunted gallery, pleading in vain for mercy from the man who once led her round his gardens.
FURTHER INFORMATION
Opening times: Dates and times vary; check for closures.
Entry: £26.10 for palace, maze and gardens.
Website: hrp.org.uk
4. Sandringham House, Norfolk
A glorious celebration of gardens awaits visitors to this much-loved country retreat of the British royal family. Set within 240 hectares of waymarked parkland, the House and adjoining gardens have been developed by each monarch since 1863, when Queen Victoria purchased the estate for the-then Prince of Wales (future King Edward VII) and his new wife Princess Alexandra of Denmark. A new house was constructed for the couple, surrounded by formal parterre gardens, forming a backdrop for family tea parties on the balustraded terrace.
South of the house, an immense rock garden planted with exotic trees and shrubs shelters Queen Alexandra’s Summerhouse, set beside a cascading stream feeding into the lake below. A walk continues through sweeping lawns towards the walled gardens that once supplied the royal kitchens, now a mix of flowerbeds and grass.
In 1947, Sir Geoffrey Jellicoe designed a formal garden to the north of the house for George VI, which Jellicoe described as a secret garden based on “the Chinese conception of a box within a box within a box”. In 2023, King Charles III chose designers ‘Landform’ to create a sustainable garden on the site of the old parterre gardens. Pink and yellow roses will join 5,000 yews and 4,280 herbaceous plants and bulbs to create a rich source of pollen for insects.
FURTHER INFORMATION
Opening times: April to October, times vary.
Entry: £13 gardens; £23 house and gardens.
Website: sandringhamestate.co.uk
5. Hever Castle, Kent
Rising from the still waters of its encircling moat, this fairytale castle was the childhood home of Anne Boleyn, second wife of Henry VIII. It was Henry’s passion and Anne’s insistence on marriage that altered the course of English history.
With the fall of the Boleyn family, the house and grounds slept until awakened by William Waldorf Astor, whose wealth and imagination recreated a lavish Tudor home and gardens in 1904–8. With a passion for history and antiquities, Astor commissioned a set of gardens spread over 50 hectares to house his Italian sculptures and classical antiquities. Over 1,000 men worked on the grand design, which took just four years to construct, including the 14-hectare lake.
Jets of water sparkle in the sun from the immense loggia fountain, a cascade gushes down stone steps while cool grottoes drip in the shade, and the Half Moon Pond reflects the sky in its still waters. A splashing Water Maze on Sixteen Acre Island delights children and adults alike in true Renaissance style, while the Millennium Fountain brings us up to date.
But history is never far away and the magnificent Yew Maze, topiary garden and Anne Boleyn’s Walk recall the heyday of the Boleyn family. Plantlovers will thrill to the restored 100-metre herbaceous border and the rose garden with more than 5,000 bushes. Inside the house, Viscount Astor’s vision brings to life the happy home of the girl who would be queen for 1,000 days, and the religious tensions that led to her downfall.
FURTHER INFORMATION
Opening times: Vary seasonally.
Entry: Garden £19.05; castle and gardens £23.10.
Website: hevercastle.co.uk
6. Hillsborough Castle and Gardens, Northern Ireland
With more than 40 hectares of ornamental gardens, peaceful waterways and picturesque glens, Hillsborough Castle is a year-round attraction for all the family. Owned by the Anglo-Irish Downshire family since the 1600s, the grounds have hosted magnificent entertainments from the 19th century onwards. Sold to the British Government in 1925, it became the Governor’s residence, home to visiting dignitaries and royalty. In 1953, Queen Elizabeth planted a magnolia tree here as part of her coronation celebrations; it formed the focus for floral tributes on her death in 2022. Since 2018, Historic Royal Palaces have transformed the castle and grounds. A walled garden with central pavilion provides a sensory delight with herbaceous borders, apple orchard and seasonal produce. Butterflies and bees flock to the borders of nepeta, lavender and iris, and pollinate the heritage vegetable and apple varieties used in the nearby café.
Formal gardens flank the castle on two sides, with terraces giving on to immaculately managed topiary and flower gardens, themselves leading on to the tree-planted lawns. Children will delight in the Imaginary Menagerie, an animal-inspired play trail celebrating the creatures that have made the gardens their home over the years, with kingfishers, cows and even carriage horses featured as you wind round the lake past the Shell Grotto and Plunge Pool.
FURTHER INFORMATION
Opening times: Vary seasonally.
Entry: Gardens only, £10.
Web: hrp.org.uk/hillsboroughcastle
7. Powis Castle and Garden, Powys
Perched atop arcaded garden terraces, the castle of Powis towers over the surrounding landscape, with views over the Severn Valley. A stronghold of Welsh princes, the castle combines medieval majesty with Renaissance-style gardens.
Gruffudd ap Gwenwynwyn was the 13th-century prince who first built a castle here to protect himself against the northern Welsh, but it was the courtier Sir Edward Herbert (nephew of Catherine Parr, who was the sixth wife of Henry VIII) whose family were to make it their home for almost four centuries.
The royalist William Herbert created the magnificent terraces in the 1680s, and his son added a spectacular water garden in the Dutch style on the site of the present lawn. Herbert’s finely clipped topiary survives as the famous yew ‘tumps’ lolling along the terrace arcades and towering over the statues.
When the Prince and Princess of Wales visited the castle in 1909, they saw the garden much as it is today, a glorious mix of formal gardens, cottage-style flower borders, croquet lawn and meticulously trimmed fruit trees, all the creation of Lady Violet (1865–1929), wife of the 4th Earl of Powis.
Inside the castle, the 4th Earl recreated the 17th-century décor of his ancestors, with views across the gardens to the wooded ridge known as the ‘Wilderness’ with its woodland walks alongside ancient oaks.
A plunge pool and secret lake add cool waters to this Welsh paradise. Look out for the heraldic wyverns guarding the great iron gates to the Fountain Garden. A present from Lady Violet to the 4th Earl, each holds a mysterious severed hand in its mouth.
FURTHER INFORMATION
Opening times: 10am–4pm daily, except 25 and 26 December.
Entry: Castle and gardens, £15.
Web: nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/wales/powis-castle-and-garden
8. Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh
From craggy Benmore to the exotics of Logan and Dawyck, the ‘Botanics’ comprise four extraordinary gardens across Scotland that, together, are home to one of richest plant collections on Earth.
Originating in 17th-century Edinburgh, the collection of global plants gained its Royal Charter in 1699. By 1713, the Keeper of the Garden, George Preston, was able to boast “if you have any exotic or rare seeds to send me… I am more capable to preserve them then my predecessors were.”
Moving sites often to escape pollution, the gardens settled at Inverleith in 1820, where the conical Tropical Glasshouse of 1834 was joined 20 years later by the classical Temperate Glasshouse, both of which still greet visitors today.
Plant hunters David Douglas and George Forest inspired the regional gardens, which each have unique micro-climates and styles. Himalayan blue poppies, Chinese azaleas and Australian palms thrive by native Scottish plants. A tour of all four gardens will take you around the world.
FURTHER INFORMATION
Opening times: Daily, times vary.
Entry: Free.
Web: rbge.org.uk/visit/royal-botanic-garden-edinburgh
9. Savill Garden, Surrey
Informal walks, towering trees and winding streams make this evolving garden a year-round delight. Creating a horticultural heart in Windsor Great Park, the garden was the inspiration of Eric Savill, the park’s deputy ranger. George V and Queen Mary visited often during its creation from 1932 to 1939, with the Queen remarking once: “It’s very nice, Mr Savill, but isn’t it rather small?” At 14 hectares, the Savill Garden is dwarfed by Windsor Great Park, but its range of trees and shrubs make it one of the most important 20th-century gardens.
Initially a spring and woodland garden with a magnificent range of rhododendrons, it blossomed with different collections. In 1978, an old rose garden made way for a Dry Garden with Mediterranean plants, reflecting droughts of previous years.
The Golden Jubilee Garden offers a modern cottage garden, while a striking walkway, opened by Queen Elizabeth II in 2010, gives an aerial view over the Rose Garden as scents waft up.
In April, May and June, enjoy the sweet smell of daphne, early honeysuckle and summer roses.
FURTHER INFORMATION
Opening times: Daily, 9am–6pm.
Price: £8.95.
Web: windsorgreatpark.co.uk/en/experiences/the-savill-garden
10. Moseley Old Hall, Staffordshire
As intricately patterned as an embroidered sampler, this recreated 17th-century garden commemorates the dramatic arrival of King Charles II at Moseley Old Hall in 1651.
Fleeing from the Parliamentarian Army in the wake of disastrous defeat at the Battle of Worcester, the King flung himself on the mercy of the Hall’s owners, seeking refuge and in fear for his life.
Royalist sympathisers and Catholics, the Whitgreave family rallied to his aid, concealing the king under the floorboards of a “frippery cupboard” before assisting him onwards towards France and liberty.
Whatever gardens Moseley had at the time of the King’s dramatic escape have not survived down the centuries and the present garden is based on a design for a knot garden laid out by the Reverend Walter Stonehouse between 1631 and 1640 at his rectory in Darfield, South Yorkshire.
An adjoining orchard contains more than 20 heritage varieties of apples and pears, including continental varieties such as Rambour Franc and Nonpareil, which would have been well known to Charles II even before he fled to France.
A traditional woven bee-skep takes pride of place in the old orchard wall, essential for pollinating and sweetening the fruits and honey.
In the kitchen and herb gardens, an array of plants produces everything a 17th-century household might need for food and medicines, even in the event of a fleeing monarch arriving at your door.
Inside the Hall, there are fine views of the knot garden and a chance to peek into Charles’ cramped hiding place under the linen.
FURTHER INFORMATION
Opening times: Vary.
Entry: House and gardens, £10.
Web: nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/shropshire-staffordshire/moseley-old-hall