The UK’s best gardens for 2025

Looking for somewhere green to while away a summer’s day? Visit one of Great Britain’s most beautiful gardens. Here’s where to start

What are the best gardens in the UK in 2025? Whether you’re keen to escape into nature or just spend a sunny day out with friends and family, a visit to one of the UK’s best gardens – as rated by Which? readers – should be on this year’s to-do list.

But which garden in England, Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland came top of the table?

Across the nation you can find vibrant and exotic havens as well as sprawling, manicured landscapes – the competition is tough. And for another year running, perhaps surprisingly, it wasn’t the most well-known, such as the Royal Botanic Gardens of Kew, that ranked the highest.

Beautiful UK gardens to visit this summer

Read on to find out more on the top-rated gardens in England, Scotland, Wales in our table. 

Unfortunately, we were unable to rate any gardens in Northern Ireland, as we can only include the ones with a minimum of 30 responses. If you’d like to join the Which? Connect panel, and share your experiences as a consumer and traveller, head to the sign-up page.

For more unbiased news and advice, sign up to Which? Travel

Gardens to visit in the UK

Best garden in England: Coleton Fishacre House and Garden, Kingsware, Devon

Score 92%

It isn’t the first time this garden has been championed as England’s top-rated in our survey. Once again Which? members gave it full marks in a staggering number of categories, including attractiveness, value for money, lack of crowds or queues and living up to its description – the latter of which is not an easy task, considering its immaculate reputation.

The ‘pleasure grounds’ at this National Trust property once saw the fashionable rich of the Jazz Age sauntering along its weaving paths, admiring the tropical planting and views of the sea. Now the 24-acre garden that runs down a valley to the coast is a firm favourite with members.

Although it was created a little over 100 years ago by designer Oswald Milne with owner and plant enthusiast Lady Dorothy D’Oyly Carte, it looks and feels as though it’s a natural feature that has always been there. 

Exotic plants, nurtured by the proximity of the Gulf Stream, and established trees sit comfortably among stone terraces, viewing platforms and ponds. It all provides plenty of sauntering opportunities for the modern visitor. 

Best garden in Scotland: Branklyn Garden, Perth

Score 89%

It’s all about the plants at this two-acre garden owned by National Trust for Scotland. Its original creators, John and Dorothy Renton, hunted for specimens all over the world in the 1920s, returning with seeds and plants that remain rare and unusual today. 

This top-rated Scottish garden may be relatively small, but Branklyn Garden is big on species: there are around 3,500 in total. Readers appreciated the richness and variety of the planting, especially the National Collections of alpines, cassiope, Himalayan blue poppies (meconopsis) and rhododendrons. 

It scored full marks for lack of crowds. Visitors are free to wander through the hillside garden along winding paths and dip in and out of the densely planted borders, before tucking into the rightly famous strawberry sponge or scones in the tea room. 

Planning to escape into nature? Find the best AONBs, also known as National Landscapes and Scenic Areas, for your next day out.

Best garden in Wales: Bodnant Garden, Tal-y-Cafn, Colwyn Bay

Score 86%

This top-rated garden in Wales scored full marks in six of 10 categories, including value for money, helpfulness of staff and its description matching reality.

Five stars for crowds, value for money, description matching reality, helpfulness of staff, quality of info given and the garden’s ‘wow’ factor.

It also got five stars for its ‘wow’ factor – and the photogenic star of this National Trust garden is the Laburnum Arch, a 55-metre-long pergola festooned with clusters of dangling yellow blooms in late May and early June. Spectacular though this is, the garden has much to offer year-round, bumping it up to the top of the ratings for Welsh gardens. 

Created by four generations of the same family since 1875, it has a winning combination of Italianate terraces with classical statues, wide borders brimming with rare plants, and woodland, water gardens and wildflower meadows. 

Wales is also home to some of Which? members’ favourite seaside destinations – read more about the UK’s best seaside towns.

Best garden in Northern Ireland: Mount Stewart, County Down (previous winner)

Score 84%

This 19th-century mansion’s charm lies in its surprising details. It offers 70 acres of land to be explored – a highlight being the Italian garden, which is an explosion of colourful plants. Pillars run along its south side, each topped with a cement monkey. Cement animals are also found on the Dodo Terrace as well as hedges that resemble demons. 

It’s not all quirky elements in this National Trust garden, however. There are lakeside walks, opportunities to spot red squirrels, ornamental trees and pretty pergolas to enjoy – and the bounty of perennial flowers means it blooms year-round. Finish up with refreshments at the tea room, which serves up local produce.

Planning a National Trust visit? Read our guide to getting a free National Trust pass in 2025.