Best UK Gardens to Visit This Autumn

A warm, sunny summer across the UK has done more than fill beer gardens and empty ice cream vans early. It has also been quietly loading British trees with sugar, and that sugar is about to turn into one of the most reliably spectacular free shows the country puts on each year. Forestry England is predicting an early, vibrant start to autumn colour this year, with the display expected to begin in September and run through to mid November. Here is where to actually see it, and what makes each of these gardens worth the drive.

Westonbirt, The National Arboretum, Gloucestershire

Westonbirt is the obvious starting point, and the reason is simple arithmetic: over fifteen thousand tree specimens gathered from across the globe since planting began in 1829, spread across seventeen miles of trails through two very different landscapes. The Old Arboretum holds the formal collection, magnolias and rhododendrons planted with real intention. Silk Wood is looser and wilder, carpeted with bluebells in spring and, this time of year, lit up in reds from the maples and gold from the oaks, chestnuts and beech. Peak colour usually falls in mid to late October, and the arboretum is popular enough that pre-booking is genuinely advisable during autumn, this year running from 25 September to 15 November. New for this season is a family trail following Birtha, the spirit of Westonbirt forest, alongside a sketchbook trail through the Old Arboretum that asks visitors to slow down and actually look rather than just photograph.