1. Chartwell, Kent

Adult: £6.50, child: £3.20, nationaltrust.org.uk

Winston Churchill's place of inspiration and rest is now in the hands of the National Trust

The noise of cars, machines and other forms of human activity could be affecting growth of wild flowers and trees, as well as animals nearby.

The Royal Ballet’s Alice has sensational production design and an overstuffed storyline. Putting Lewis Carroll’s Alice books on stage, choreographer Christopher Wheeldon wants to include all the famous bits. He and his design team conjure dazzling illusions, from shrinking Alice to a marvellous Cheshire Cat, but the dancing can get squeezed to the sidelines.

This spring reawakens childhood dreams, with princess silhouettes, a soft palette and dainty embroidery covering the most delicate fabrics.

Panetta survives 'car bomb' on secret visit to Afghanistan

Spring is in the air, and these fabulous flowery treats will leave you feeling as fresh as a daisy and positively rosy

With moments of silence and prayers, Japan today was remembering the massive earthquake and tsunami that struck the nation one year ago, killing just over 19,000 people and unleashing the world's worst nuclear crisis in a quarter of a century.

It's all thanks to the warm sea air of the Gulf Stream, says Emma Townshend.

March is with us and a countryman's thoughts turn to his vegetable patch. There is a lovely old medieval poem which assigns a certain outdoor task to each month, and the line for March is: "Here I sette my thynge to sprynge," which means, "Now I sow my seeds." For the full jaunty early-English effect, by the way, make sure you pronounce the final "e" in "sette", "thynge" and "sprynge".

Corporation admits attendance of Security Correspondent at event was not appropriate

Goldfinches are now found in almost five times as many gardens as they were 16 years ago, latest figures from the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) show.

What to do

In 1960 a woman applied for the post of exhibitions officer at the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew. She didn't get the job, but was able to show her interviewers her portfolio of flower paintings, and was engaged instead as an artist in the herbarium. This was Mary Grierson, soon to become recognised as one of the world's most distinguished botanical artists.