Gardens To Visit In Spring And Summer – Sir Harold Hillier Gardens

Situated within three miles of Romsey in Hampshire, these gardens were named in memory of their founder, the late Sir Harold Hillier (1905-1985), who was a member of the plant-nursery family. The Gardens hold the greatest collection of hardy trees and shrubs in the world. Started by their namesake in 1953 and given in trust to Hampshire County Council in 1977, the Gardens now extend to 180 acres. Within this unique collection of more than 42,000 plants (which adds up to more than 12,500 different types), visitors will find much of interest throughout the year.

In June 1953 the Hillier family took up residence in Jermyn's House and Sir Harold set about transforming the land into a garden suitable for all seasons. Spring is a really lovely time of year here, because the design is particularly focused on the structural beauty of plants – ranging from the chilly days of February and March with their snowdrop and crocus displays through to the flamboyant blooms of the spring flowering camellias, magnolias, rhododendrons and azaleas.

In 1997 the Gardens were included by English Heritage on the Register of Parks and Gardens of special historic interest in England for the value of the plant collections. These collections continue to be enhanced and developed, and now boast the largest Winter Garden of its kind in Europe and the Gurkha Memorial Garden with its extensive and rare collection of Nepalese plants. The most recent addition was unveiled by Sir David Attenborough last year – an eight feet tall and seven feet wide stainless steel sculpture of the life cycle of a dragonfly, made by sculptor Steve Blaylock to mark the opening of a new Children's Education Gardens.

Hillier photograph by Foggy Bummer, used under a creative commons attribution license.