T

he archetypal ‘English Garden’ has been immortalised in poetry and music for centuries, but as you travel around this green and pleasant land you’ll find some surprisingly varied examples.

Perhaps the most ‘typically English’ are Capability Brown’s creations – with their expansive lawns, isolated coppices and ubiquitous water features – and a great place to check out his handiwork is   Chatsworth House , where visitors have been strolling on the five-and-a-half-acre Salisbury Lawn for centuries (along with the odd resident deer).

“England’s Greatest Gardener” had a hand in designing the landscape of   Audley End House , too, but it’s the Organic Kitchen Garden that many visitors come here to see. You’ll find several varieties of pears, plums, peaches and nectarines grown here (albeit with some help from greenhouses),  which are guaranteed to get your mouth watering.

Meanwhile, for a garden with a more contemporary feel, head up north to  Alnwick . Even on a warm day, it’s worth taking a raincoat here; one of the main attractions is the Grand Cascade – a tumbling mass of waterfalls that shoots out jets every half hour. Children love it. As will serious horticulturalists, too, with rare musk hybrids and roses on show in the Ornamental Garden. Above all, however, this is a garden designed for fun, and that’s why we love it.