On Earth Day 2026, we're leaving the four walls of the office behind to explore some of the UK's most glorious garden escapes, and reconnect with the natural beauty of Mother Earth. As in the words of Shakespeare: "This our life, exempt from public haunt, finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, sermons in stones, and good in everything."
For a rural riverside retreat:
Morwell, Cornwall
- Garden features: A natural swimming pool (May-September)
- What we love: Total seclusion in a valley with a mile-and-a-half of riverfront
Deep in a wooded valley, Cornish farmhouse Morwell is enveloped by 50 acres of natural beauty, including meadows, woodlands, a private stretch of the River Tamar, and walled gardens bursting with fruit, vegetables and flowers.
For a stay in a historic kitchen garden:
The Walled Garden, Cotswolds
- Garden features: Fire pit, tennis court, natural outdoor pool (between 8am and midday)
- What we love: A stone's throw from a Baroque National Trust house
At former potato house The Walled Garden, the enchanting grounds are its crowning glory. Set within the original kitchen garden of Dyrham House in the Cotswolds, they include a Victorian swimming pool with a waterfall, a tree swing, and a walled gardens.
For a spa-like country house escape:
Rhapsody, Surrey
- Garden features: Outdoor heated swimming pool with a jet stream (late April-September), hot tub, glass reading room, sauna, plunge pool and yoga studio
- What we love: Amenities to rival those of a luxury hotel
Within Rhapsody’s 20 acres, amidst sculptures and verdant trees, a pool, reading room overhanging a pond, and outdoor wellness space provides a restorative retreat. Every corner of the Surrey estate is designed to inspire stillness and rejuvenation.
For an artistically landscaped estate:
The Sculptor's Gardens, Herefordshire
- Garden features: William Holland spa baths, outdoor kitchen, tree house
- What we love: A modern-day wonderland with eccentricity around every corner
The former home of the Twinings Tea family, The Sculptor's Gardens is a Herefordshire hideaway with a true country estate feel. Soaring topiary pyramids, surreal sculptures and secret gardens blooming with wildflowers await discovery.
For a design-led countryside retreat:
Aria, Somerset
- Garden features: Wood-fired hot tub
- What we love: Surrounded by Somerset's Quantock Hills
Aria is a design home nestled within 50 acres of untouched Somerset countryside, complete with its own cottage garden. Here, evenings might be spent with rosé and spaghetti alle vongole, before watching otters bathe in the nearby river.
For a woodland cottage escape:
Wildwood Holt, Cornwall
- Garden features: Rustic pergola wrapped in ivy
- What we love: A slice of Eden near Cornwall's illustrious Helford River
Sat in the heart of a Cornish valley, where nothing can be heard but rustling trees and birdsong, Wildwood Holt is a paradise found. Its gardens unfold as you approach the storybook cottage, filled with sweet-scented roses, magnolia and a burbling brook.
For a castle stay in a tropical oasis:
Castle Trematonia, Cornwall
- Garden features: Outdoor natural pool (available year-round), pool house, sauna, fire pit, football goals and trampoline
- What we love: Gardens described by The Times as "the most beautiful in Cornwall"
Once home to famed gardening duo Isabel and Julian Bannerman, Castle Trematonia’s nine-acre Cornish gardens feature wildflower meadows, herbaceous borders, a herb garden, and an orchard. At its centre lies a natural pool lined with tropical palms.
For a Constable-worthy retreat:
Elberta Barn, Essex
- Garden features: A pond that mirrors the East Anglian sky, perennial meadow and fruit trees
- What we love: Immersed in a landscape that inspired celebrated English landscape painters – from Thomas Gainsborough to John Constable
At Elberta Barn on the Essex-Suffolk border, owned by a landscape designer, the gardens unfold as a rural idyll, from a perennial meadow that complements the cereal crops in the flanking fields to a courtyard garden with wall-trained apple, apricot, and greengage trees.
Feeling inspired? Explore our collection of secret garden escapes, or peruse the full portfolio to book your next escape.
