Hotel Endsleigh

Endsleigh is a rare chance to walk through a Picturesque landscape that was designed as a whole, house and grounds together. The cottage orné house, built for the Duke and Duchess of Bedford, sits on the east bank of the River Tamar above superb views to the south and west, and Humphry Repton planned the grounds to make the most of the steep wooded slope down to the water.

Rather than one big formal garden, the grounds are a series of features you come across as you walk. Look for the Shell House and its grotto, the rockery, the Dairy Dell with its octagonal dairy surrounded by a loggia, Pond Cottages by a pool, and the Holy Well, part of which is an ancient structure brought from elsewhere. The Swiss Cottage, restored by the Landmark Trust with a thatched roof, stands above the valley. Several of these buildings, along with the stables, salmon larder and ice house, are Grade I listed.

For gardeners, the lesson here is about using views: how paths, buildings and openings in the trees frame the river and the countryside beyond. The hotel keeps 108 acres of the original grounds, and the gardens are Grade I on the national register. Because this is a working hotel rather than a public attraction, plan ahead: contact the hotel about garden visits, or consider a meal or a stay as the simplest way in.