A Cumbrian visitor attraction has been compared to Kew Gardens and Wisley for the quality of its gardens.
Levens Hall, near Kendal, was voted ninth in a nationwide survey to find the Top 20 gardens in the UK, which also included such visitor favourites as Chatsworth House, Arundel Castle and the Royal Botanic Garden in Edinburgh.
Dating back to the 1690s, Levens Hall is home to 10 acres of gardens and retains many original features including the world’s oldest topiary gardens.
It also prides itself on a unique collection of ancient box and yew trees and an ever-changing array of over 30,000 bedding plants, all grown in the greenhouses onsite.
The survey, by florists Flying Flowers, used search volumes to rank the UK’s top gardens, revealing which floral hotspots the public were most interested in visiting.
The top three were Kew Gardens, RHS Wisley and Wrest Park in Bedfordshire.
A spokesman for Flying Flowers said: “The UK is home to some of the world’s most beautiful gardens which are home to a mixture of designs and styles. With many of our gardens offering a huge range of flowers and plants cared for and studied by gardeners and botanists, they’re the perfect places to explore and get in touch with nature this summer.”