Het Loo Palace Gardens

This beautiful seventeenth century palace was built for William and Mary of Orange, joint monarchs of England through the turn of the eighteenth century, and it is now a state museum whose ‘lost gardens’ were restored for its tri-centennial celebration in 1984. The baroque ‘Great Garden’, directly behind the palace, is beautifully laid out with formal geometric beds, raised walks and elegant fountains according to the original symmetrical design created by Claude Desgotz.

Het Loo Palace and Gardens, Apeldoorn, Netherlands by Je at uwo

As a nephew of André Le Nôtre, the creator of the Baroque formula, Desgotz was uniquely placed to design such a garden and the result is often labeled the ‘Versailles of Holland’, although with more enthusiasm than accuracy as this garden is far more conservative than the extraordinarily elaborate design at Versailles. On the other hand, the fountains here, especially in the upper and lower gardens, originally designed to be the public gardens, are said to supercede those at that famous palace in both number and beauty. William and Mary each had their own private garden, one each side of the palace, and the overall planting is designed to be viewed as a seasonal display of the individual plant species rather than just flowers en masse.

Keukenhof Gardens

The Keukenhof Gardens, known as ‘The Garden of Europe’, are the world’s largest flower gardens; over 32 hectares of spring flowers dazzle the eye, as some seven million tulips, hyacinths and daffodils all compete to create a brightly hued carpet of flowers as far as one can see in all directions! Justly famous for their springtime displays, Keukenhof also has more than 30 different flower shows throughout the year to showcase the various floral delights available, and their seven amazing individual gardens house over 100 works of art.

Keukenhof Gardens, Lisse, Netherlands by Tiago Fioreze

Originally a section of the fifteenth century estate of Slot Teylingen, Keukenhof contained the herb gardens of the castle of Jacoba van Beieren, hence the name. On her death, the estate passed to rich merchants Baron and Baroness Van Pallandt, who asked landscape architects JD & LP Zocher to provide a garden design in the English Landscape style, and this became the basis of the present gardens. Now owned by a Foundation, the first flower show was organised in 1949 and was so popular it became an annual event, then one of several a year and Keukenhof hasn’t looked back since, quickly becoming renowned for its wonderful displays, events and activities, all centred around every gorgeous flower known to the gardeners of the world.

Discover more in Holland

The Netherlands are famous for their tulip farms, but if you take this tour you’ll discover that tulips are far from the only flowers the Dutch have on show in the spring. Admire the beautiful surroundings, relax and ‘take time to smell the flowers’ – and don’t forget your camera!

Travel 55 have years of experience working with tour operators such as Shearings Tours that over great Coach Tour Holidays visiting destinations across Europe and the UK.

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Alhambra, Spain

This “red fortress” in Granada, Spain is a breathtaking display of Islamic architecture. The Alhambra was built in the 10^th century as a home for the Muslim rulers in Spain. The palace was designed with central courtyards between each building, with gardenlife and handsome pools. The park outside the walls of this UNESCO World Heritage site are equally enjoyable to visit; here grows wildflowers, elm trees, roses, and more.

Garden in Alhambra, Spain by Sharon Mollerus

The Alnwick Garden, England, UK

The garden belonging to Alnwick Castle in Northumberland, England will be loved by the stodgiest of grandmothers and their dirt-loving grandsons. The Alnwick Garden manages this diverse appeal through its different themed gardens. A rose garden, an ornamental garden, and a cherry orchard are just a few of the more traditional and absolutely gorgeous stops. Non-traditionalists will love the enormous tree house and the poison garden, which features plants like opium poppy.

Alnwick Garden, England, UK by Graeme

Monet’s Garden, France

Lovers of art flock alongside garden adorers to see Monet’s Garden. Located in Giverny, France, the home and garden once owned by Claude Monet are now a museum open to the public. While he was no horticulturist, Monet created these gardens exactly how he wanted them to look – and they are quite beautiful. His gardens are the focus of many of his most famous paintings and the locations are still recognizable today.

Monet’s Garden, France by Amanda Slater

Drummond Garden, Scotland, UK

In a country famous for its green space, the Drummond Castle Gardens do not disappoint. The courtyard of Drummond Castle looks down upon one of the finest formal gardens in the country. The space flows into the natural countryside and has an extensive display of topiary, fountains, trees, and flowers. There is also an interesting kitchen garden and greenhouse.

Drummond Castle and Gardens, Scotland, UK by Roy Douglas

Nyphemburg Palace Park, Munich, Germany

The gardens of Nyphemburg Palace are referred to as the Park – and for good reason. This massive expanse of green space has the basic features of a Baroque garden style and, for that reason, still resembles a stereotypical castle garden from the 18^th century. The Grand Parterre is the key feature of the Park and is divided with a long, wide path through its center. Looking down this axis, visitors are surrounded by regularly positioned stone statues and perfectly cultivated grass.

Gardens of Nymphenburg Palace, Germany by Florian Adler

Terry Carter writes about gardening and landscaping for Grandview Landscaping and Masonry.

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Hyde Park

The foremost of the London parks and probably the most well-known, Hyde Park is one of the city’s Royal Parks. Covering 350 acres of land in the very centre of London, the park is popular with locals and tourists alike and gives the chance for anyone to take a break from the hustle and bustle of busy city life.

Aerial view of Hyde Park, London, UK by Ben Leto

The park has won awards for urban conservation, and choices made about planting the flower beds, borders and trees have encouraged a great number of songbirds to feed and nest here. Visitors are discouraged from feeding the pigeons and squirrels that also come to the park as the songbirds can’t compete with these sometimes aggressive feral creatures.

The Serpentine is a small lake created in the 1700s as part of the development of Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens. As well as attracting wildfowl, the Serpentine has the oldest swimming club in the UK and is famous for its Christmas Day swim. Most recently, it’s featured in the London 2012 Olympic Games as the scene of the swimming leg of the triathlon.

Green Park

Green Park is another of the Royal Parks with a history even older than that of Hyde Park. First recorded in the geography of London in 1554, Green Park has a modest area compared to Hyde Park with some 45 acres of land adjacent to Buckingham Palace.

At the Buckingham House entrance to the park you’ll find Canada Gate, installed as part of the memorial to Queen Victoria at the turn of the 20th century to commemorate Canada’s contribution to the then British Empire. An ornate iron gate chased with gold guards the entrance to the park near the Canada Memorial, which pays homage to the Canadian forces who lost their lives in the two World Wars.

Canada Gate at Green Park, London, UK by Ian Dick

Keen Olympics followers will have also seen Green Park as part of the triathlon. The Royal Parks hosted the event, with the cycle leg running along the paths through the park.

Clapham Common

South London has parkland of a different kind to the open spaces north of the Thames. While North London has enclosed parks with ornately planted beds and borders, South London has expanses of common land on which Londoners can stretch their legs and enjoy what sunshine the capital manages to trap.

Clapham Common, London, UK by Justinc

Clapham Common is the best known of the London commons and covers 220 acres between the boroughs of Wandsworth and Lambeth. The most popular features of the common are the ponds – Eagle Pond and Mount Pond – which are used for coarse fishing and sailing of model boats.

In recent years, the common has hosted a number of music festivals. In 2012, the electronic music festival South West Four is due to take place on the common on the 25th and 26th August, bringing the big names from dance music from around the world together in what organisers hope will be the summer sunshine.

Conclusion

Although densely populated and filled with iconic buildings, London has a surprisingly large amount of open space, see them all from the air at https://www.thelondonhelicopter.com/. On your visit to London, try to check out some of the parks and get a feel for how Londoners spend their outdoor time right within the city limits.

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Photo licensed under the Creative Commons, created by Udo Schröter

Muskau Park is located on the border between Poland and Germany, along the Neisse River. It covers an area of over eight hundred hectares, thus it is one of the largest and certainly the most famous English parks in both countries. The park includes also two magnificent castles – An Old Castle, dating back to the 13th century and two centuries younger New Castle. Right here, beside those two castles, was Muskau Park founded in 1815. The founder was Prince Hermann Ludwig Heinrich von Pückler-Muskau, whose name is probably not missing in any publication of the garden architecture. He was an excellent artist in landscape gardening and wrote also several great publications about a harmony between a nature and human activity. In 1834 he summarized his ideas and findings into the publication, which meant a complete breakthrough in this area. Unfortunately, not all plans could be implemented. The cost of construction of the park and extensive reconstructions of the adjacent castles greatly exceeded the architect’s investment options. In 1845 Pückler was forced to sold a park and the adjacent estate and the new owner engaged for completion works the famous landscape architect Eduard Petzold.

Photo licensed under the Creative Commons, created by Udo Schröter

Muskauer Park was seriously damaged during the World War II. Both castles and surrounding structures, including bridges, were destroyed by bombing. In addition, the park was in 1945 divided into two parts, which made its reconstruction very complicated. More than two thirds of the area fell to Poland and and the rest to Germany. The closer cooperation between those two parts started in the 90′s of the last century, while the reconstruction work is still being done.

Not only the life-work of Hermann von Pückler, but also the way how Muskau Park was created, greatly influenced the development of landscape architecture in Europe and America. This is why the park was in 2004 inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

The park is now open for visitors every day from 10 to 18 hours, winter months excluded. The admission is free.

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Photo licensed under the Creative Commons, created by David Baron

Palace of Versailles is also an important symbol of the Great French Revolution, when in 1789 the nobility was expelled from there to Paris, and executed by the guillotine.

Beautiful castle is admired mainly for its unique architecture and large surrounding gardens, which are really amazing. Many rulers in other European countries later attempted to imitate the construction of their residences just according to this French chateau; for example, Viennese palace Schönbrun.

During an excursion in the Château de Versailles you definitely do not miss the spectacular tour of the royal apartments and beautifully decorated chapel. The complex has really got a lot of rooms, wings and associated buildings, so if you want to see everything it takes you almost all day.

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Very interesting is a unique Hall of Mirrors, but you should visit also the Museum of History, which shows you all the important events that are associated with this place. I have to say that they are terribly much.

In the gardens you can find many fountains and statues. The best time to visit the gardens is in the summer during the summer musical and water festival Les Grandes Eaux Musicales, when the fountains are turned on and chamber music bands play in the gardens.

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The interior of the greenhouse is divided into three separated parts with different temperature and humidity. The visitors can see the vegetation of the tropical and partly subtropical regions. Plants are arranged to evoke the idea of ​​natural plant communities. Unlike in other greenhouses there are numerous species of plants that are very common in the tropical areas and apparently have little significance. However an overall collection of these species is very valuable.

Visitors at first see the dry Australian bush and rare flora from the island of Madagascar. Then walk through xerophilic vegetation of southern Mexico and some areas of Africa, among which the most popular are Namaqualand and Little Karoo. The middle and largest part of the greenhouse is humid lowland rain forest. It is connected to other parts by an underground tunnel which is built between two large freshwater aquariums. Here you can see a number of tropical fish and other animals.

The biggest part consists of tropical plants of South America, and selected locations of Central America. Other parts are reserved for flora of Australia and Oceania, Africa and Madagascar, Vietnam, Sunda Islands and the Philippines. Visitors can watch the life in tropical lakes, or may rest for a moment on the panoramic terrace listening to a nearby waterfall. The last part is cold and evoke the life in the high mountains. There are plants from American Andes. The central part of the exhibition is devoted to rare vegetation of table mountains in Venezuela.

Trip to tropical nature is not only a dream, any more. Walk across exotic mountains, forests and semi-deserts in Europe.

Tropical greenhouse Fata Morgana is a part of Prague’s Botanical Garden in Troja and the basic admission is 70CZK (€3). For further details see the official website of Prague’s Botanical Garden.

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The town is a resort of the aristocracy, the wealthy and celebrities. Some famous people spent holidays here, such as Charlie Chaplin, or Winston Churchill. Admission to the villa is 10 euros.

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Powerscourt Gardens is dominated by a large lake with a fountain and lots of water lilies. There is even a cemetery of the favorite animals of local family. From here you have a great view of the impressive mountain Great Sugar Loaf.

Powerscourt House and Gardens are located approx. 20km from Dublin city centre.

Opening hours and fees:

Gardens
Daily: 9.30am – 5.30pm
Gardens close at dusk in Winter
Closed December 25th & 26th

Ballroom & Garden Rooms
Sundays 9:30am – 1:30pm All Year
Mondays 9:30am – 1:30pm May to September

Entrance Fees
Adults €6.00, Student/OAP €5.50
Child (U16) €3.50, Child (U5) Free

Waterfall
Opening Times
Jan/Feb/Nov/Dec 10.30am – 4.00pm
Mar/Apr/Sept/Oct 10.30am – 5.30pm
May/Jun/July/Aug 9.30am – 7.00pm
Closed 2 weeks prior to Christmas

Entrance Fees
Adults €5.00, Student/OAP €4.50
Child (U16) €3.50, Children (U2) Free

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The Gardens of Ninfa are open to the public only on certain dates set and the entrance is allowed only through guided tours, in order to preserve its delicate environmental balance.

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The tour lasts about one hour. At the end you can visit the Hortus conclusus, an Italian garden dating from the 17th century, featuring citrus and ponds with swans.

The garden is open to the public from April to October and the basic admission fee is €10.

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