Best in show
Bridgemere Show Gardens has packed a lot into its six acres and four-decade history. It boasts 15 different gardens, from a Victorian topiary garden to a quintessential English cottage garden. Its 'Tatton Garden' is so named for winning Best in Show in the RHS show's inaugural year. In 2021 the Down Memory Lane Garden a collaborative project aiming to give solace to dementia sufferers and their carers - won silver at the RHS Hampton Court Flower Show.
ENTRY OFFER Garden: 2 for 1 £4. Under-18s free. Open all year. bridgemereshowgardens.co.uk Offer not valid on charity or event days.
An Englishman's home
In 1911, self-made millionaire Julius Drewe commissioned architect Edwin Lutyens to build him a castle. Lutyens hated 'squalid houses and mean gardens'. This explains Castle Drogo, an unabashed display of architectural and gardening grandeur overlooking Dartmoor's spectacular Teign Gorge.
Drogo's formal terraces and manicured lawns have an elegant 1920s formality. This gives way to meandering paths of rhododendron woods, where dappled shade allows visitors to immerse themselves in nature. The trail down to the gorge leads through enchanting ancient woodland, over fairytale stone bridges and along the fast-flowing upper reaches of the Teign.
ENTRY OFFER Castle & garden: 2 for 1 £14. Open all year. nationaltrust.org.uk/ castle-drogo Offer not valid on bank hols
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A new plot for tasty crops
Taking on a new allotment needn't be hard work. By simply following a few easy tips you can have bumper crops in no time, just like Alessandro Vitale
We love July
July is an island floating between the joy of June and the slightly fatigued month of August. It's a grown-up month: the year has shrugged off its adolescent exuberances, the weather is (hopefully) warm enough for ice cream to be one of your five a day, the sea should be swimmable without (too much) danger of hypothermia and thoughts will be of holiday shenanigans and family barbecues. School's out this month, the next tranche of glorious summer colour is washing across our borders and it's my birthday. Lots of reasons to give three rousing cheers for July!
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