Arley Hall & Gardens

Arley is the place to see a traditional English country-house garden that has been kept in the pre-war style rather than reinvented. The gardens cover more than 15 acres inside a 2,000-acre private estate, and most of the layout still follows the plan made by Rowland and Mary Egerton-Warburton in the 19th century. The star is the double Herbaceous Border: four pairs of beds backed by an old brick wall on one side and a yew hedge on the other, with shaped yews marking each section. It was the first border of its kind in England, and it still teaches more about height, rhythm and backing hedges than any book.

A visit starts along an avenue of pleached limes and under the Clock Tower, whose clock has only one hand. From the Flag Garden the straight Furlong Drive runs exactly a furlong to the Sundial Circle, with parkland beyond a ha-ha. Next to the border is the Ilex Avenue, seven pairs of holm oaks clipped into cylinders about 8 metres tall. Further on are the Shrub Rose Garden, the shrub-filled Rootree, the small sunken Fish Garden and the semi-wild Rough. A gate leads into the Walled Garden, where four heraldic beasts from the old roof stand round a pond, then the Kitchen Garden with vegetables, flowers, crab apples and a seat framed by an arch of Malus.

Look out for the Vinery of 1872 to 1873, still holding figs planted soon after it was built, and the small Herb and Scented Gardens. The Grove, cleared and replanted since about 1970, leads to a woodland walk. The entry ticket covers the café, toilets, play area, Grove, Woodland Walk and chapel, and the plant nursery, which grows its own pelargoniums, is free to enter.