A choice of gardens at Cliveden

After a year of lockdowns, and last year's displays unseen by visitors, our gardeners have been busy a return to the Parterre's former glory. The 16 triangular beds will be adorned with delights including scarlet zinnias and white antirrhinums, while the semi-circle will boast a vivid magenta verbena. The obelisks that flank the parterre will be filled with a pink begonia and as ever, the view from the Terrace looking out over the Parterre and across the Thames Valley is not to be missed.

The Water Garden was one of the first areas the 1st Lord Astor laid out, having been inspired by the huge interest in oriental design at the turn of the 20th century. Lord Astor designed his own oriental formal garden through carefully considered Japanese planting, including blossom, bamboo and camellias, and a large lily-pond complete with Koi Carp and a flowing water feature. He positioned a six-sided Chinese pagoda, a copy of a pavilion that was erected in the garden of the château de Romainville, near Paris, in the 1780s, in the middle of the garden. Many of these aspects of Lord Astor’s fashionable garden can still be seen today.

In the Italianate Long Garden, floral borders mingle with quirky statues and topiary. The garden was mulched last year with Cliveden's own compost, preparing the ground for this spring's cool white narcissi. Summer saw the garden transformed with the purple blooms of 11000 verbena putting on a floral display. Now in winter, row upon row of polyanthus have been planted, so a visit to see their spring blooms is recommended.

Our Rose Garden includes over 900 repeat flowering roses in shades of red, orange and yellow. Reinstated in 2014 based on a 1950s design by Sir Geoffrey Jellicoe, they bloom from late May until September.

From the grand Fountain of Love on the main drive, to the ancient baboons in the Long Garden the gardens reveal a magnificent collection of sculpture.

Tucked on the northern edge of the woodlands is this unique circular fruit garden. Reclaimed by nature in the 1950s, we're now bringing it back into production.

With two metre high hedges and 500 metres of paths to explore there's an adventure to be had around every corner in our recreation of Lord Astor's historic maze.

From Spring to Autumn the Walled Garden provides produce for the estate to use, from lettuce to plums. There is a walk around the perimeter of the main car park for you to get up close to the fruit and vegetable planting.