Here's a few they missed...

Because if you happened to see, earlier this year, a feature entitled The Best 50 Gardens, you'd get the impression that, other than Castle Howard, near Malton, Yorkshire has no gardens of merit. The must-sees on the list included the likes of Powis Castle (Wales), Great Dixter (Sussex), Tresco Abbey (Isles of Scilly), Hidcote Manor (Chipping Camden) and Hestercombe (Somerset). Not exactly a convenient day out for anyone up here in the forgotten North.

And while gardens and gardening are all a matter of personal taste, I find it almost impossible to believe that Yorkshire fared so badly.

So, it was with some relief that Welcome to Yorkshire ("charged with the vital task of ensuring the region's tourism industry" as it says on the website, www.ytb.org.uk) has come up with a little booklet containing the names and details of 59 of Yorkshire's best gardens.

Not surprisingly, Castle Howard is in there. It deserves to be; it's a cracking place to visit, with temples, lakes, statues, a superb walled garden and seasonal displays of daffodils and rhododendrons. (The house itself is well worth the entrance fee). The little booklet is set out alphabetically, so there can be no arguing as to which garden should take precedence; just accept it – they all have something very special to offer people who like plants. So we start off at Castle Howard. Not the bits mentioned above, but the Arboretum Trust, Kew, at Castle Howard. If you like trees, you'll love it here; thousands of trees from around the world, now all living and thriving in a small part of Yorkshire. Again, there are seasonal highlights, but the overall impression of the arboretum is of a place where man and nature are at peace with the world. Next is Beningbrough Hall and gardens, the National Trust pile near York, followed by Bolton Castle, near Leyburn, and so on to Yorkshire Sculpture Park, certainly a garden with a difference.

Between them are gems like Burton Agnes Hall, at Driffield, Duncombe Park, Helmsley, Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal, Harewood House, Harrogate's Valley Gardens and Newby Hall and gardens at Ripon. Of course, there are many, many more – including E Oldroyd and Sons Ltd, famous rhubarb producers, at Hopefield Farm, Rothwell, Leeds – several of which deserve to be on anyone's list of must see gardens in Britain. For instance – Parcevall Hall gardens and RHS Garden Harlow Carr should be on anyone's list. The former, although well of the beaten track, is 24 acres of formal and woodland gardens in one of the finest settings in Yorkshire. "Once seen, never forgotten" is an apt description. As for Harlow Carr... it has everything and just gets better year on year as the RHS pours in more money, expertise and imagination. Shame on you, Independent, for its omission.

And so it goes on – Vanessa Cook's Stillingfleet Lodge Garden and Nurseries, near York; the exquisite York Gate garden at Adel, Leeds; the wonderful walled garden at Scampston, stunning Sledmere House, near Driffield; and the cliff-top jewel that is Sewerby Hall and its gardens, near Bridlington. I won't name all 59 in the booklet (and I am sure there are quite a few more which deserve inclusion) but if you want to know what's what and where's where, phone 0844 888 5122 or log on to www.yorkshire.com or pop into a Tourist Information Centre.

YP MAG 9/10/10