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Wakehurst
1 saveRecommendation by Louise Mayer
Kew in the country. Owned jointly by the National Trust and Kew gardens. Especially beautiful in Spring with daffodils and later the rhododendrons. Superb walks. Great big outdoor Christmas tree at Xmas. Millennium seedbank for the science buffs.
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Eden Project
I visited here when it first opened 15 to 20 years ago. A biodiverse garden created in an old chalk pit. Update: things have grown luxuriantly. Lovely gardens now as well as the biomes. All beautifully kept. Very good day out but expensive. We used our BBC Gardeners World voucher to get two for one, which brought entrance fee down to acceptable level.
Filoli
Detox from the hustle of Silicon Valley at Filoli, an architectural and gardening gem in Woodside. The 654-acre estate boasts a stately red-brick country house that draws inspiration from European and Asian design. Encounter opulent bed chambers, polished ballrooms, and elaborate bathrooms as you move from room to room. Outside, a well-manicured garden awaits to spoil your senses with a variety of colors and smells. A stroll along the grounds is just what you need to forget about business for a while!
Hangzhou Botanical Garden
Hangzhou Botanical Garden houses the Jade Spring, a clear, jade-hued pond that is a great spot to witness ornamental fish dancing in the waters. It’s uncertain where the spring’s water comes from, but legend has it that the pond was formed by a powerful dragon who lived by Qiantang River in Hangzhou. One day, a government barge carrying the emperor’s poor laborers passed the dragon’s river. The dragon heard the worker’s bitter cries and overturned the ship to free the people. The dragon flew to the palace to kill the emperor, but a servant hit it in the eye with a slingshot. The dragon sought healing from a powerful monk; but after the monk realized the dragon intended to kill the emperor, he devised a plan to stop him. The monk agreed to heal the dragon if it created a spring around the monastery. The dragon then dug into the ground until water emerged and filled the pond. Before the dragon could surface, the monk moved a pagoda and trapped him underneath.
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