Celebrate spring: exclusive hotels with gardens to enjoy
Craving fresh air and vibrant booms? We've handpicked five hotels with some of the most captivating gardens in the UK.
Warmer days, lighter evenings and extended hours of sunshine. The arrival of spring brings renewed vigour to the natural world and the welcome opportunity to throw open the doors and embrace the great outdoors. Flowers bloom, trees grow and seasonal fruits bring sweetness as gardens shrug off their winter coats with gloriously fresh colours.
What better time for a short break in a hotel with outstanding gardens, an al fresco drink on the terrace and dinner served straight from the kitchen garden. Here are five supreme options that allow you to get a fabulous floral fix this spring.
The Goring: a central London garden fit for royalty
When the Princess of Wales chose to spend her final night as Kate Middleton at The Goring Hotel, she began her wedding day at the largest hotel garden in central London before crossing the road into its largest private garden, Buckingham Palace. The Goring is delightfully independent, impeccably mannered and packed with wonderful historical charm and The Goring Garden is a significant part of its appeal.
Densely planted shrubs and lightly scented flowers, many planted in homage to the King on his accession to the throne, edge a large lawn where guests can perfect their croquet skills. After a complete redesign in 2019 that included the addition of over 100 herbs, The Goring Garden is not only a place of spring-filled beauty but also the perfect larder for the cocktails and food the hotel serves. It's certainly fit for royalty, as traditionally British as tea and cucumber sandwiches. thegoring.com
Cliveden House: botanical beauty in Berkshire
A series of wealthy, often aristocratic owners and the work of visionary landscape designers and plantsmen over several centuries have made the gardens at Cliveden House a wonderland of splendid woods, rose beds and grand avenues. Now under the care of the National Trust and open to the public, the 376 acres of Grade 1-listed parkland running down to The Thames are a fabulously scenic foil to the 17th Century Italianate main house.
The parterre laid out in 1855 and now filled with some 30,000 plants, is perhaps the most instantly eye-catching detail but explore further and you’ll find a maze, oriental-themed water garden, walled garden and extensive works of art including the amphitheatre where Rule Britannia was first performed and a Pavilion built to commemorate the Battle of Blenheim. clivedenhouse.co.uk
The Pig Brockenhurst: inspirational kitchen gardens
Describing themselves as informal restaurants with rooms rather than hotels, The Pig adopted a farm-to-fork philosophy from the outset, a policy built on sustainability and locality where food is produced as close as possible to where it will be eaten, cutting down on ‘food miles’. It started in 2011 with a walled garden at The Pig, Brockenhurst in the New Forest, where award-winning hotelier Robin Hutson says he had a “lightbulb moment, knowing from the start that we wanted the Kitchen Garden to be at the heart and soul of the place and to play a big part in influencing the menu.”
Today, Hutson and his wife Judy remain in charge, now with a total of eight Pigs across southern England, all with their own gardens at the epicentre of operations and a commitment to growing fresh food and championing local producers. At The Pig, Brockenhurst, guests are encouraged to tour the kitchen gardens, talk to the gardening team and see how the daily menu, served in a handsome Victorian greenhouse, is based on what is ready to eat. A wander through the kitchen garden is the ideal encouragement to return home and put The Pig’s inspirational approach into practise in your own garden. thepighotel.com/brockenhurst
Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons, Oxfordshire: 40 years of excellence
As its name implies, Le Manoir might be a place for all seasons, but there’s no doubt its gardens are especially magnificent in spring. The hotel, another pioneer of farm-to-table produce, has 11 gardens and guests enthusiastically explore them all, including the two-acre kitchen garden that supplies over 90 types of vegetables and herbs, superb home-grown organic produce.
Le Manoir is now celebrating its 40th anniversary since opening and also the 40th anniversary of continuously holding two Michelin stars in the restaurant overseen by Chef Patron Raymond Blanc. Although Le Manoir is now part of the elite Belmond Group, there’s no doubt who remains the star attraction with courses available at the Raymond Blanc Cookery School and the Raymond Blanc Gardening School. Le Manoir is a place of ravishing beauty topped off with a world-class dining experience and a fervent commitment to sustainability that has seen it awarded a Green Michelin Star for ethical practices. belmond.com/hotels
Lucknam Park, Wiltshire: a classical Cotswold country house
Turn into Lucknam Park, a Palladian mansion nine miles from Bath, and the mile long avenue lined with 400 beech and lime trees planted almost 200 years ago gives a pleasingly bucolic taste of what lies ahead. This 500-acre estate takes in manicured lawns, a traditional walled garden, the oldest part of the grounds, and much more recently planted Rose Garden that will already have hit its stride for spring.
There’s a five-acre formal garden, an Arboretum of 200 trees, many of them rare, and an historic greenhouse, The Old Vinery, growing produce for the Michelin-stared chef Hywel Jones to plunder. Keen to learn more about the gardens? Join the gardening team for one of their regular guided tour, culminating in afternoon tea. lucknampark.co.uk
