Thousands of you voted for your favourite gardens that open for the National Garden Scheme. Now we can reveal the winners of 2023’s Nation’s Favourite Gardens competition, supported by Sisley Garden Tours. There are six regional winners, one overall champion and a winning garden that usually opens to the public but donates takings from a particular day (or days) to the Scheme.
Turn over to discover these seven superb gardens, and learn about the gardeners who created them.
Rockcliffe, Gloucestershire
Overall Winner & Regional Winner: South West
Fronted by a flight of yew topiary birds, the dovecote at Rockcliffe is the garden’s most recognisable feature. This area was crying out for a beautiful focal point and, after much research, owners Emma and Simon Keswick settled on a dovecote, taking inspiration from the dovecote at Rousham, weathervanes at Eton College Chapel, the windows of the Gothic Cottage at Stourhead and stonework from the Old Toll House in Stow-on-the-Wold. In summer, the dovecote appears to float on a cloud of ox-eye daisies, while the doves eye up brassicas in the
