Where are the best garden arboretums in the UK?

Question:

I have gardening friends coming to stay and have little knowledge of places to take them. Any ideas?

Answer:

At this glorious time of year you would be wise to wow them by a visit to an arboretum. Look online to find your nearest but ones that I would recommend include Batsford in Gloucestershire, Thorp Perrow in North Yorkshire, Winkworth in Surrey and Westonbirt in Gloucesterhsire.

In the November issue of The English Garden magazine we have a great feature on the leading arboretums in the country.

These wonderful collections of trees offer a day out to remember for all the family. Some welcome dogs and all are the perfect place for children to stretch their legs.

For garden and plant lovers the range of trees and shrubs on show is outstanding and if you hurry you’ll be in time to enjoy the autumn colour. Most offer guide books or have the trees marked so that you can look for tree varieties for your own garden.

Take your camera and a note book so that you can record the trees that you might be keen to grow in your own garden. The well established arboretums have huge specimens of trees but in most you will find smaller specimens suitable for the domestic garden.

If you don’t have an arboretum in your area then another way to find great gardens is to look in the National Garden Schemes Yellow Book.

This holds details of hundreds of private gardens that open to the public for charity. Most are open in summer but you’re bound to find a few that want to show off their autumn colour.

Tamsin Westhorpe - Editor, The English Garden magazine