Visit the Gardens of the Peak District, England

Today, visitors can enjoy several new garden additions including the Cascade Garden, with a beautiful waterfall and pool surrounded by moisture-loving plants. There's also a stunning knot garden planted in a naturalistic style, with Mexican feather grass and blue spires of Caradonna sage interspersed with taller grasses and perennials that dance in the breeze.

Enjoy a coffee (or an award-winning Thornbridge-brewed beer) at the Carriage House Café and pick up a special souvenir from the plant nursery. The majority of offerings are grown from seeds, cuttings, and divisions from the gardens.

Stroll through the terraced gardens, marveling at the thick stone buttresses that support the surrounding walls; the ancient, weathered stone steps; and the newly renovated Elizabethan knot garden and flowery mead, both of which were designed to re-capture elements that evoke the “faded romance” of the past. Yet you will also note some more contemporary touches, such as the clipped cubes of copper beech and topiary hornbeam.

If you’re ready for lunch, I can highly recommend the restaurant (which is also open to the general public). This is situated in the 17th-century stable block adjacent to the Hall and has wonderful views of the estate.

A ticket will grant you access to explore the 105-acre garden which can be enjoyed on foot or guided buggy tour. Where time is limited, I would suggest visiting the bountiful kitchen garden which supplies produce and flowers for the house, with the surplus being sold at the farm shop. Peek in at the vintage greenhouses while you’re there and take in the distant views across the surrounding estate.

The Ravine and Azalea Dell have been recently renovated and are especially colorful in late May; while the Emperor Fountain situated at the end of the Canal Pond, the Rockery, and the 1st Duke’s Greenhouse are always wonderful to visit.