Welcome to the Gardens to Visit web site, our companion to the annual book ‘Gardens to Visit’.  Here you will find all the information you need to visit many of the finest gardens right across the UK and Ireland.

Our aim is simple – to show to the world just what a fantastic collection of gardens are to be found in Britain and to make it easy for you to visit them. All of the gardens featured on this web site (and in the Gardens to Visit book) are keen to welcome new visitors, be they individuals or groups.  By clicking on the ‘Gardens’ tab to the left of these words you can access the gardens region by region.

I am delighted to report an increase in the number of gardens featured this year – 200 in total – thereby offering you even more interest and diversity when choosing your garden visits for the forthcoming year.

Such is the diversity of our 2010 garden collection that you will find gardens to visit in every month of the year. So, with that in mind, let me wish you an immensely enjoyable and rewarding year of garden visiting in 2009.

As always, we have included your tried and tested favourites for you to enjoy, such as Batsford Arboretum, Portmerion, the Lost Gardens of Heligan and Savill Gardens Windsor, the RHS gardens at Rosemoor and Harlow Carr, the National Trust’s Hidcote Manor and Upton House and private garden delights like West Green House and Trewithen.

Joining them this year are a further 40 stunning and exciting gardens for you to discover and these include London’s fascinating Chelsea Physic Garden, Cambridge’s spectacular Anglesey Abbey, the uniquely beautiful ‘factory garden’ at Kilver Court in Somerset and all four of Scotland’s botanical gardens - Edinburgh, Benmore, Logan and Dawyck.

Tony Russell – BBC garden writer and broadcaster