Historic Houses launches 2025 Garden of the Year Award

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Historic Houses launches 2025 Garden of the Year Award: The Historic Houses Garden of the Year Award 2025 has kicked off, with eight beautiful gardens competing to be named the Garden of the Year in a public vote. The award, launched in 1984 and sponsored by Christie’s auction house, has gone from strength to strength since then, with tens of thousands of votes cast in recent years.

Shortlisted entries are chosen from among the hundreds of gardens, parks, and grounds that offer free entry to members of Historic Houses, the association that represents and supports the UK’s independent historic homes, castles, and gardens. Details of this year’s eight finalist gardens can be found below. Voting is open now on the Historic Houses website.

Historic Houses launches 2025 Garden of the Year Award

Historic Houses launches 2025 Garden of the Year Award

Ben Cowell, Director General at Historic Houses, said: “This year’s shortlist shows the variety on show across England’s finest gardens. They range from the historic grandeur of Arundel Castle to the bluebells and wildflower meadows of Hole Park. Hestercombe blends Georgian formality with Edwardian charm, while Iford Manor offers Italianate terraces and tranquil vistas. At Lowther Castle, a planting scheme has taken over the ruins, while at Penshurst Place visitors can enjoy 11 acres of Elizabethan gardens. The walled gardens at Raby Castle have recently had a complete makeover, while Wollerton Old Hall delights with intimate garden rooms and exquisite planting. Each of our shortlist offers a unique journey through history, beauty, and seasonal splendour.”

Ursula Cholmeley, Chair of the Historic Houses Gardens Committee, said: “There is such a wonderfully diverse range of gardens in the UK under independent ownership, and this annual award is a great opportunity to recognise and reward the hard work that goes into the upkeep of these gardens, from both the owners and full gardening teams. This year’s shortlist showcases the natural beauty up and down the country, with eight impressive gardens.”

Orlando Rock, Chairman at Christie’s UK, said: “As proud supporters of this wonderful initiative since its inception in 1984, we always look forward to this time of year with great anticipation. The announcement of the nominations aligns perfectly with the arrival of spring, a season that reflects renewal and beauty. Each garden in this year’s nominations offers a unique vision, brimming with creativity and elegance. We invite everyone to explore these breathtaking gardens and cast their votes for their favourite. Best of luck to all the nominees, and may the gardens continue to inspire us all. “

About the eight competing gardens

Arundel Castle Gardens, West Sussex

Set high on a hill, Arundel Castle commands the local Sussex landscape with magnificent views across the South Downs and the River Arun.

The extensive 38 acres of gardens and landscape provide visitors with beautiful floral displays throughout the spring, summer, and autumn months, with wonderful specimen trees within the landscape and an immense variety of plants throughout the gardens.

https://www.historichouses.org/house/arundel-castle/visit/

Hestercombe Gardens, Somerset

Hestercombe Gardens, located near Taunton, spans 50 acres of quintessential Somerset beauty and showcases four centuries of garden design. Visitors can explore the Georgian Landscape Garden from the 1750s, the Victorian Shrubbery, and the Edwardian Formal Gardens, crafted in the early 1900s by Sir Edwin Lutyens with planting schemes by Gertrude Jekyll, offering a rich and varied horticultural experience.

Through meticulous research and conservation efforts, Hestercombe Gardens Trust have brought back the gardens to their original splendour, blending historical accuracy with enduring beauty.

https://www.historichouses.org/house/hestercombe-house-and-gardens/visit/

Hole Park, Kent

Hole Park is an extensive, private family garden of rich variety set in classic English parkland. Created after World War I in the style of an Edwardian gentleman’s garden, it has evolved into a wonderful blend of the formal and informal thanks to the dedicated vision and care of four generations of the Barham family. Standout features include extensive Yew topiary, herbaceous borders; sweeping lawns with fine specimen trees, ponds and pools, and a magnificent walled garden.

The gardens are centred around a beautiful Georgian house with spectacular views of the surrounding parkland and hills of the High Weald National Landscape.

Historic Houses website

Iford Manor Gardens, Wiltshire

Tucked away at the bottom of a tranquil valley, the garden at Iford is historic and has evolved over many generations of passionate private gardeners, most famously landscape architect Harold Peto who made Iford his home 1899-1933.  He took a Georgian terraced garden and developed it further, building on Mediterranean as well as Japanese influences, with statues, colonnades, rills and ponds gracing the terraces.

By 2025, Iford will have been on a 60-year restoration journey, over two generations. Thought lost after the war, the structural recovery was undertaken by John and Elizabeth Cartwright-Hignett. William & Marianne Cartwright-Hignett encountered a new generation of challenges when they took over in 2016. They have recovered and restored many areas, extending and enhancing in the process.

https://www.historichouses.org/house/iford-manor-gardens/visit/

Lowther Castle, Cumbria

When Lowther Castle & Gardens Trust recruited a garden designer to take on the sleeping beauty that the gardens then were, their brief was clear: the gardens should not be restored as such; instead, the gardens should see layers of the new and layers of the old side by side.

The resulting gardens at Lowther Castle are amazing. They take the formality of the seventeenth century, the pseudo romance of the neo-Gothic, the extravagance of the Victorian and Edwardian eras, and blow them all up – in consequence presenting ideas that are novel and striking and bold.

https://www.historichouses.org/house/lowther-castle/visit/

Penshurst Place Gardens, Kent

The formal gardens at Penshurst Place have records dating to 1346, though their formal structure didn’t begin to take form until the 1560’s, when Henry Sidney divided the area into “rooms” to grow fruit trees.

Today the thriving formal Gardens are divided into eleven distinct rooms which cover a variety of styles including herbaceous borders, renaissance-inspired box hedging, water features, statues and patterns. Visitor highlights include the 100-metre long Peony Border which features four varieties of pink peony, the Union Flag Garden which uses a selection of roses and lavender to create the Union Flag, and the bright vivid colours found along Jubilee Walk.

https://www.historichouses.org/house/penshurst-place/visit/

Raby Castle, Park, and Gardens, County Durham

When 12th Lord Barnard inherited Raby in 2016, he and Lady Barnard commissioned award-winning designer Luciano Giubbilei to join them on a journey of reimagination. The result opened in June 2024; a transformation & ingenious re-thinking of its distinctive spirit. Historic features from red-brick walls to mature yew hedges blend perfectly with new additions, a grass amphitheatre, mazes & graceful rill.

Described by the 4th Duchess in 1870 as “A never-failing delight”, the walled gardens have enchanted visitors for centuries. Evolving to embrace innovation, nurture an ever-increasing variety of plants, and respond to global changes, the most recent transformation sees the garden grow into the 21st century with a graceful, contemporary reimagining.

https://www.historichouses.org/house/raby-castle/visit/

Wollerton Old Hall Garden, Shropshire

Designed by Lesley and John Jenkins, the garden is set around a Grade II* sixteenth century Hall and has developed into an important modern garden in the English Garden tradition with echoes of Arts and Crafts. Covering three acres, it consists of a series of 14 linked garden “rooms” filled with modern and often specialist plantings.

The carefully managed successional planting ensures that each season has its appeal to visitors. The early months of the year are awash with drifts of anemones, erythroniums, snowdrops, trilliums and hellebores and dotted with bursts of colour from scilla, corydalis, muscari and tulips. The summer months are filled with the scent of roses, delphiniums, dahlias and phlox.

https://www.historichouses.org/house/wollerton-old-hall-garden/visit/

About the Garden of the Year Award

For over forty years the public have voted one of Historic House’s member gardens their favourite of the year. The award, run in conjunction with Christie’s, has gone from strength to strength since then.

Shortlisted entries are chosen from among the hundreds of gardens, parks, and grounds that offer free entry to members of Historic Houses, the association that represents and supports the UK’s independent historic homes, castles, and gardens.

In addition, the panel will make a second, direct, award to a garden they consider embodies excellence on a smaller scale, either of area, staffing, or access, and hence has less opportunity to influence the popular poll – known as the Judges’ Choice Award.

Each winner holds the crown for the whole of the following year – the sought-after title can considerably boost visitor numbers, really putting the garden on the map.

Further information about the Garden of the Year Award can be found here.

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Agrovista Invests in Robotics & Expands Line Marking Team

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Agrovista Invests in Robotics & Expands Line Marking Team: Agrovista Amenity is enhancing its line marking capabilities with a major investment in robotic technology and key industry appointments.

As part of this strategy, the company has secured an exclusive partnership with XDC Autonomous Solutions for the distribution of the RM21 Combo Mower in the UK and Ireland. Alongside this, the appointment of David Mitchell as Line Marking Business Development Manager reinforces Agrovista Amenity’s commitment to innovation and expertise in the sector.

Agrovista Invests in Robotics & Expands Line Marking Team

Agrovista Invests in Robotics & Expands Line Marking Team

The RM21, distributed exclusively by XDC, is a game-changing piece of equipment that combines line marking and mowing in a single unit. Unlike traditional line marking robots or standalone mowers, the RM21 can autonomously cut and mark a pitch. Its modular design also includes a growing range of attachments, such as an automated dew brush, a grass collector, and a ball picker for driving ranges, making it a versatile asset for grounds teams across various sectors.

Dan Hughes, Agrovista Amenity’s Head of Commercial, highlighted the importance of this collaboration:

“After five years of growing our amenity, landscape, and consumer business, we identified line marking as an area where we could apply our expertise and leverage cutting-edge technology. The RM21 is not just a line marker – it’s a complete solution with the potential to revolutionise grounds management. Partnering with XDC ensures that we can bring this technology to market with the technical support, training, and after-sales service that our customers expect.”

Under the agreement, Agrovista Amenity will be the exclusive distributor and seller of the RM21, while XDC provides technical sales support, training, and service backup. This allows Agrovista Amenity to leverage its extensive network of over 40 representatives to promote the RM21 effectively, while XDC focuses on delivering expert technical assistance.

To strengthen its position in the line marking market, Agrovista Amenity has appointed David Mitchell as Line Marking Business Development Manager. With six years of experience at Linemark UK, a manufacturer of paint and machinery for line marking, David brings a deep understanding of the sector.

“I see this as an opportunity to develop a strong line marking offering with the right products and people. The RM21 is a fantastic machine, and with the expertise of XDC and Agrovista Amenity’s resources, we have a real opportunity to deliver a competitive, easy-to-use product that enhances operations.”

Matt Murray, XDC’s Director of Sales, expressed his enthusiasm about the partnership and highlighted the RM21’s distinctive advantages:

“The RM21 is a truly unique product – the only combo line marking mower in the world. Not only does it offer significant time and cost savings, but its versatility opens up new possibilities for grounds management. With Agrovista Amenity’s established market presence and extensive sales network, we see this as the perfect opportunity to introduce this groundbreaking technology to a wider audience.”

David also highlighted the growing role of robotic technology in the industry: “The RM21 is not here to replace staff but to support them. Grounds teams face increasing demands, and automation can handle time-consuming tasks, allowing them to focus on more technical aspects of their work. The feedback we’ve received so far has been overwhelmingly positive.

Many customers who previously used other GPS line marking solutions have made the switch, recognising the RM21’s superior value for money and future-proof capabilities.”

Agrovista Amenity’s investment in robotics is part of a long-term strategy to provide innovative solutions that meet the evolving needs of grounds teams. While the initial focus is on the RM21, discussions are already underway to explore the potential for offering a wider range of robotic solutions in the future.

As Agrovista Amenity continues to expand its line marking division and explore new technologies, the company remains committed to delivering solutions that combine innovation, efficiency, and reliability.

For more information about Agrovista UK, visit www.agrovista.co.uk/amenity

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Segway extends its Navimow robotic lawnmower range

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Segway extends its Navimow robotic lawnmower range: Segway Navimow has launched the X3 Series, the latest addition to its portfolio of boundary-cord-free robotic lawnmowers.

The range consists of four new models – the X315, X330, X350 and X390 – and is designed to handle unprecedented lawn sizes with precision, mowing areas of up to 10,000m² (the equivalent of one and a half football pitches). The X3 Series joins the popular i Series and H Series models in the Navimow line-up, which are used by over 170,000 customers globally.

Segway extends its Navimow robotic lawnmower range

Segway extends its Navimow robotic lawnmower range

Optimised performance to tackle larger lawns

Boasting ultra-fast charging capabilities, 6 blades, an anti-clogging blade disc and accelerated mowing speed, the Navimow X3 Series operates at an efficiency level two times faster than the industry average. The machine can cover a 5,000m² mowing area within just 24 hours, making it the ideal solution for handling bigger lawns. This is bolstered by expanded coverage per charge, tending to gardens or fields as large as 1,200m² before the battery runs out.

TÜV Rheinland has endorsed the high-performance credentials of the X3 Series, awarding it the certification for high mowing efficiency after extensive testing. This is the first time a robotic lawnmower has been granted this accolade, underlining the X3 Series’ position at the forefront of mowing innovation.

EFLS 3.0: Precision positioning and extended signal coverage

Segway has upgraded its Exact Fusion Location System (EFLS) for the X3 Series, introducing EFLS version 3.0. This features major upgrades in Real-Time Kinematic (RTK) coverage, Visual Simultaneous Localisation and Mapping (VSLAM), and Visual Inertial Odometry (VIO) technology. This state-of-the-art system ensures unparalleled stability and precision, even in challenging signal environments.

Powered by a customised chip from STMicroelectronics, a world-leading microelectronics manufacturer, the self-developed 3-frequency RTK system increases signal coverage by 20-30%. This mitigates against blind spots that block reception, such as narrow passages or areas under high rooftops. Dual RTK antennas are equipped to address complex layouts, for example properties with both front and back yards, with an extra antenna installed to provide extended signal coverage and unbeatable stability.

Upgraded VisionFence with 300° view

Enhanced VisionFence technology, a solution specifically designed to deliver efficient AI route planning, bolsters the X3 Series with a 300° field of view that enables highly reliable obstacle avoidance. Powered by 3 cameras and a Time-of-Flight (ToF) sensor with a 0.1-2 metre sensory range, hazard detection (including suspended objects such as swings, trampolines, and hanging decorations) is significantly improved. The recognition capabilities of the X3 Series extend to over 200 different obstacle types, ensuring smooth, intuitive navigation.

Additional features that increase user experience and usability include a dot matrix screen that communicates status updates, theft alerts and GPS tracking, smart speaker integration, and a design equipped to handle slopes of up to 50% (27°).

Unlocking new possibilities through the Expansion Bay 

The Expansion Bay with open API allows customers to integrate product extensions tailored to their personal needs.

George Ren, CEO of Segway Navimow BU, commented: “Built to tackle larger areas and layouts of varying levels of complexity, the X3 Series is tailormade for a new market that stands to benefit from the efficiency and accuracy of robotic mowers. Not only can it fulfil the needs of households with larger gardens requiring significant maintenance, its capabilities extend to commercial use where the X3 Series can help estates managers, local councils and many more save time and achieve outstanding results.

“This latest addition to the Navimow portfolio perfectly complements our i Series and H Series ranges. We are now able to meet the diverse range of requirements of UK gardeners, offering autonomous and highly efficient mowing for lawns of all shapes and sizes.”

Price

Prices for each model are as follows: X315E – £2,199, X330E – £2,599, X350E – £3,199, X390E – £4,299

Availability

X3 series will be available through authorised dealer shops. Customers can find the closest dealer shop to their home via Navimow’s website: https://navimow.segway.com/en-gb/pages/channel

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Pleasington Golf Club reopens after course upgrade

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Pleasington Golf Club reopens after course upgrade: Pleasington Golf Club will reopen all 18 holes to visitors on April 10 following a £1 million course upgrade.

The venue, rated among Golf Monthly magazine’s Top 200 Courses in the UK & Ireland and the No.1 heathland course in Lancashire, has undergone an extensive five-year renovation.

Pleasington Golf Club reopens after course upgrade

Pleasington Golf Club reopens after course upgrade

General Manager, Mark Bleasdale, commented: “The course has undergone a remarkable transformation and is looking sensational and playing magnificently.

“We’ve enhanced every aspect of the playing experience from tee to green, including the reshaping of every bunker. We look forward to welcoming back visitors from across the North West and further afield, including the many golf travellers who stop off on their way to and from Scotland.”

As a 12-time Open Qualifying venue, Pleasington Golf Club has firmly established itself as one of the country’s top golf destinations.

The high heathland layout offers golfers a rewarding challenge with stunning views to the Pennines, Lakes and Fylde coast, where exceptional golf and breathtaking scenery meet.

Just one hour from Liverpool, Manchester and Leeds, Pleasington Golf Club is easily accessible via the M6 motorway, making it ideally situated for golfers travelling from both near and far.

To book your tee time, please visit: https://www.pleasington-golf.co.uk/visitors/visitors-green-fees/

For more information on Pleasington Golf Club, please view the Digital Brochure

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EGO drills down on earth and ice

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EGO drills down on earth and ice: EGO Power+, a leading specialist of battery-powered outdoor power equipment, is turning heads with the release of its first Auger Power Head.

A crucial piece of equipment for landscaping, earthmoving, groundworks, agriculture, fencing and utilities installation, the new PHA7400E Auger Power Head is joining EGO’s range of battery-powered outdoor tools, expanding the options for existing EGO customers looking for new ways to use their batteries.

EGO drills down on earth and ice

EGO drills down on earth and ice

The Auger Power Head is compatible with EGO’s ETA0800E 20cm Earth Auger Bit and the ITA0800E 20cm Ice Auger Bit. These enable the Auger to be used for drilling fence posts, planting trees or bushes and drilling large holes into the ground or ice with ease.

While petrol-powered Augers have dominated in the past, the PHA7400E is one of the first battery-powered Augers to join the market. It has already proven popular with new build developers, as EGO’s industry-leading 56V ARC LithiumTM batteries are a cleaner, more convenient option to petrol. The tool is also lighter in weight and more durable than petrol alternatives, which can be heavy and require more maintenance.

EGO’s Auger provides effortless drilling as users can enjoy tailored control with two-speed settings, a variable speed trigger and a reverse function, all of which make for simple operating. It is also very easy to switch between bits.

For enhanced comfort and user safety, the tool’s handles have been designed ergonomically while the anti-kickback system reduces the risk of injury. The tool also offers great balance, high strength, and reliability while the powerful 74Nm of torque makes light work of drilling through both soil and ice.

Both available bits are 20cm in length and feature a 22mm connection for quick, easy, and secure fitting, as well as an anti-corrosion powder coat finish.

The PHA7400E Auger Power Head retails at £309 and the Earth and Ice Bits retail separately at £99 and £119 respectively.

To learn more visit: https://egopowerplus.eu/node/3364

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