9 gardens to visit for dazzling autumn colours

Hannah Stephenson cherry-picks some of the best gardens around the UK to inspire green-fingered enthusiasts this autumn.

Exbury Gardens in autumn (Marie-Louise Agius/PA)

If you want to blow away the cobwebs with some glorious autumn walks and take in the rich reds, oranges and yellows of trees changing colour, there are plenty of stunning gardens to visit.

Whether you’re keen for a family day out or some garden inspiration from trees, shrubs and other flora and fauna that catch your eye, there’s a huge choice of gardens to explore in the UK.

Here are just a few to visit this autumn…

1. Exbury Gardens, New Forest

Exbury Gardens in autumn (Marie-Louise Agius/PA)

The sizzling reds and burnt oranges of more than 450 cultivars of acer should provide inspiration for any budding gardener hoping to add a colourful tree to their plot. Exbury Gardens feature rich-hued national collections of Nyssa and Oxydendrum trees, and head to the Sundial Garden for late displays of dahlias and salvias, and the Herbaceous and Centenary Gardens for gorgeous grasses, plants, shrubs and trees. Visit exbury.co.uk. Open daily until 14 November.

2. Felbrigg Hall, Gardens and Estate, Norfolk

Striking autumnal colours in the Great Wood, part of the old deer park at Felbrigg Hall (Justin Minns/National Trust Images/PA)

As well as taking a stroll through the rolling landscape and woodlands – a feast of autumnal splendour – there’s a plentiful autumn harvest in the impressive walled garden of the historic Felbrigg Hall estate. Come Halloween you’ll see many varieties of pumpkins, gourds and squashes, while in the woods there’s an impressive display of fungi at this time of year. Look out for the Hall decorated for harvest, or if you visit later, there might even be produce left over to take home with you. Visit here for more information. Gardens open daily.

3. Hollytree Lodge, Muckhart, Scotland

Hollytree Lodge (Camelia Hudema/PA)

For a more intimate setting with tons of character, visitors to Scotland can explore this petite but pretty garden, cleverly divided by internal hedges into a series of rooms. Don’t miss the Japanese garden, a mini orchard and mixed herbaceous borders, along with a wide range of unusual trees and shrubs, including Persian ironwood and acers – many of which produce spectacular autumn colours. Visit by appointment up to around November 12. Find out more here.

4. Berrington Hall, Herefordshire

The path to Berrington Hall (John Millar/National Trust Images/PA)

Capability Brown’s final landscape surrounds this Georgian mansion and the impressive borders offer a rich mix of reds, oranges and chestnut browns; a vista continued in its parkland, woodland and orchard. Fallen leaves, a plethora of conkers and an “autumn bingo” challenge inviting children to take part in a mixture of general knowledge and entertaining observation tasks, should keep them amused. Make sure to see the vintage apple trees laden with fruit in the autumnal orchard too. Visit National Trust for more information. Gardens open daily.

5. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew

The Gruffalo’s Child at Kew Gardens (Ines Stuart-Davidson/RBG Kew/PA)

Whether you’re after majestic trees in all their autumn glory or just want the kids to have some fun over half term with the Gruffalo’s Child trail, running until 31 October, Kew Gardens offers a huge variety of autumnal interest. The Gruffalo is joined by Fox, Owl and the Big Bad Mouse (the trail is also happening at Kew’s wild botanic garden in Wakehust, Sussex), while gardening parents can be inspired by the long borders, glasshouses and impressive landscape. Kew, which is home to 14,000 trees, also offers visitors a chance to find out more about seasonal produce in its kitchen garden and its harvest of beetroots, carrots and giant pumpkins. It’ll take you at least a day to explore properly, so give yourself plenty of time. Visit here to find out more. Open daily, but gardens closed Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

6. Ardress House, County Armagh

Orchard apples at Ardress House (Colin Beacom/National Trust Images/PA)

If you want to step back in time to see a bit of traditional rural life, there’s still one last chance to visit 17th-century Ardress House, where you can explore the smithy, byre and threshing barn and a traditional farmyard. Fruit growers can admire the abundance of apples in the impressive orchards, while the lawns are covered in delicate-looking lilac crocuses. The house and farm closes for winter on 17 October, but you can continue to follow the Lady’s Mile Walk through a peaceful trail of woodland surrounding the house, taking in the views of the farmhouse and orchard. Visit here for more information. Lady’s Mile Walk open dawn until dusk.

7. RHS Garden Bridgewater, Salford Greater Manchester

The newest RHS Garden in Salford, Greater Manchester, Bridgewater is entering its first autumn in a blaze of glory. With more than 70 acres of mature woodland to explore, stars of the seasonal show are ornamental grasses and structural beech ‘beehives’ and columns in the Worsley Welcome Garden and Paradise Garden, both designed by Tom Stuart-Smith. Pleached Persian ironwood (Parrotia persica) trees in the Paradise Garden provide some of the earliest signs of the changing season as their leaves turn blazing red, while elsewhere in the garden, there’s a collection of striking maples in the Chinese Water Garden adjacent to Ellesmere Lake. Also look out for the impressive collection of Nerine bowdenii providing an exotic splash of colour in the Weston Walled Garden. Visit RHS Gardens to find out more. Open daily, booking required.

8. Beningbrough Hall, Gallery and Gardens, North Yorkshire

View of the Parterre in the west Formal Garden at Beningbrough Hall. The garden was redesigned in the style of a 16th century knot garden with low-growing plants between dwarf box hedges (Ian Shaw/National Trust Images/PA)

Award-winning designer Andy Sturgeon has made his mark on the renaissance of these gardens, featuring more than eight acres of formal gardens, with new planting schemes and garden rooms. Wildlife areas abound and the brilliant walled kitchen garden has more than 90 varieties of fruit trees and shrubs. If you’re lucky, there will still be dahlias, pumpkins and apples to enjoy, plus a wilderness play area where the kids can let off steam. Visit National Trust for more information. Open Wednesday-Sunday.

9. Calke Abbey, Derbyshire

Cycling at Calke Abbey, Derbyshire (Chris Lacey/National Trust Images/PA)

There are so many autumn delights at Calke Abbey, it is difficult to know which to choose from: the fruitful kitchen garden bursting with seasonal produce; a vibrant display of homegrown pumpkins and ornamental gourds in the Flower Garden (which you can buy for a donation at the end of October); the riot of colour from more than 50 varieties of dahlia in the Central Yard; an orchard with local and historic apples. And that’s before you explore the faded glasshouses dating back to the 18th century. Visit National Trust to find out more information. Open daily.