As seen on countrylife.co.uk

For many of us, the perfect break will involve a glorious garden visit, a good meal and a beautifully comfortable place to spend the night. With a little more time, you can also use your hotel as a base to discover more of Britain’s great gardens – the ideal plan for a horticulturally-themed long weekend or mini-break.

First on any keen gardener’s list should be Gravetye Manor in West Sussex, a beautiful Elizabethan house that provides the rare opportunity to stay at one of Britain’s most important historic gardens. It was once the home of gardener, journalist and author William Robinson, best known for his influential books The Wild Garden (1870) and The English Flower Garden (1883). Gravetye was where he could put his ideas into practice, in ways still evident today. The meadows that roll down to the lake are coloured by a beautiful seasonal kaleidoscope of flowers running through snowdrops, scillas, daffodils, wild tulips, bluebells, fritillarias, camassias and native wildflowers including orchids, knapweed and devil’s bit scabious, before the autumn crocuses appear in October.

But this is just the tip of the iceberg. A formal lawn leads to a pergola, swathed in May in the white, highly fragrant Wisteria ‘Shiro-noda’, and fringed with beautiful borders where hardy and half-hardy plants mix with shrubs, annuals and self-seeders in a masterful display. The woodland gardens offer impressive clumps of rhododendrons underplanted with Leucojum aestivum ‘Gravetye Giant’ and Anemone nemorosa ‘Robinsoniana’ – and be sure to leave time for the stunning elliptical kitchen garden, the secret to the delicious food served in the hotel’s glass-walled Michelin-starred restaurant. ‘To be true to our heritage, we need to be constantly pushing ourselves,’ says Head Gardener Tom Coward, and so it is here, and in the glasshouses where delicacies include yuzu lemons, plump peaches and the toffee-sweet fig ‘Rouge de Bordeaux’.

It’s worth staying for a few days since Gravetye is so well-placed for other garden visits, not least the National Trust’s Standen House; Borde Hill, with its wonderful rose and Italian gardens; and Kew’s wild botanic garden at Wakehurst.

The Cotswolds is another area bursting with inspirational gardens and a stay at Whatley Manor near Malmesbury gives you easy access to some of the best including Westonbirt Arboretum; the Royal Gardens at Highgrove, the private home of King Charles and Queen Camilla; and Arts and Crafts gem Rodmarton Manor.

Whatley’s own garden is also in the Arts and Crafts style and its multitude of yew-hedged garden rooms offer surprises at every turn – from burgeoning herbaceous borders (particularly magical in June when the foxtail lilies begin to unfurl), to a fiery-hued ‘hot garden’ and a fine knot garden with neatly clipped box hedges.

The hotel boasts an award-winning spa and the tranquil, meditative atmosphere spills out to the gardens where water features abound and where there are a host of places to steal away and relax. The stone summerhouses in the beautiful rose garden are just the ticket for a light lunch or glass of something sparkly, while the swing chairs in the loggia garden – with its expansive views over the Wiltshire countryside – are an atmospheric spot for a nightcap.

The surprises continue beyond the hedges too. The garden is bounded by the River Avon – wander through the woodland to spot the kingfishers which hunt from its banks – and the flood plain meadows below the lawns are studded with drifts of fritillaries and twayblade orchids in spring.

Our third pick is Hambleton Hall, standing proud above the shores of Rutland Water which many of the rooms overlook. The house was built as a hunting box in 1881 for one Walter Marshall, a director of a brewing company who enjoyed the finer things in life, including wine, food and the exotic trees which were then being introduced in Britain. Manna ash, red oak, various cedars, a stone pine and a liquidambar all grace the grounds, but the two splendid cloud-pruned cork oaks on the terrace are the doing of incumbent owner, Tim Hart, who evidently shares Marshall’s passion. ‘I love their form, their bark, and they cast such wonderful dappled shade,’ he says.

In high summer this can be much needed – the gardens face due south and are a real sun-trap enabling a host of Mediterranean plants including lavenders, rosemary, myrtle and rock roses to thrive. Wisteria flourish here, too, forming a sensational entrance to the tennis court, and engulfing the wall to the rear of the outdoor pool. A dip here in May or June, with the scent of the flowers drifting over the water, is a truly unforgettable experience, and a wonderful end to a break exploring the area’s other floral highlights such as Coton Manor Gardens or Easton Walled Gardens, renowned for its extraordinary range of sweetpeas.

So whether you’re looking for planting inspiration, ideas on new, unusual vegetables to grow, or just the R&R that a beautiful garden provides, this break is the perfect start to your journey of horticultural discovery.