Holker Hall, UK

There’s a reason Holker’s gardens are so lush - rain, and plenty of it. Not ideal conditions for photographers, but it certainly adds atmosphere as well as guaranteeing the perfect growing conditions for a vast range of specimens. No matter the weather, the gardens are a dream to shoot: formal beds and clipped hedges by the house giving way to wildflower meadows and woodland means there’s something worth capturing around every corner. The monumental Great Holker Lime and Neptune’s Cascade provide dramatic focal points, while carefully considered compositions draw the eye through the planting in the borders. And when that great hosepipe in the sky is being turned on and off at random, the shifting light creates painterly scenes that reward the photographer’s patience. Whether it’s intimate botanical portraits or grand landscapes you’re after, Holker’s blend of structure and spontaneity makes every frame a potential keeper.