If there’s one tour that epitomises the joy of strolling around a perfect English country garden, it is this one – with one shining example after another to be savoured and enjoyed.

Even if you have visited some of these properties before, such is their allure that you can return again and again, just as you would re-read your favourite novel. First-time visitors will be bowled over by the quality and pedigree of these gardens, which capture the essence of the English country garden. We start at Great Comp, filled with rare and beautiful shrubs, followed by Lullingstone Castle. Nymans Garden offers outstanding plants in a theatrical setting and is twinned with the Sussex Prairie Garden, reminiscent of the work of the great Dutch garden designer Piet Oudolf. We also visit Sissinghurst, surely the most-copied flower garden in the world, and Great Dixter. A stroll around the gardens of Wakehurst Place and a special tour at Perch Hill, the garden of a well-known TV presenter, round off a distinguished tour.

With all gardens offering year-round colour and interest, choose between the fresh greens of spring, the warmth and extravagance of summer or the myriad colours of autumn.