When someone starts to get serious about gardening, pretty soon they will visit one – if not all – of the ‘big three’ gardens: Great Dixter, Sissinghurst and Hidcote Manor. The latter two of these iconic places are cared for by the National Trust, and 2023 is a special year for Hidcote since it marks its 75th anniversary with the Trust. Until it began looking after Hidcote, the Trust’s portfolio comprised mainly stately homes and castles, nature reserves and tracts of countryside. But then an immaculately designed Arts & Crafts-inspired garden surrounding a Gloucestershire manor house joined that list – the first property taken on for the importance of its garden alone.
It’s a garden that so many of us are familiar with, whether we’ve visited in person
