Four of the world’s most breathtaking gardens to add to your 2026 travel list

In their transformation of a wetland into a 0.3ha contemporary garden, visual artists Dominique and Benoit Delomez have created a multidimensional vision. They developed it piece by piece, building different universes of shape, level, colour and graphics.

Closed, confidential spaces contrast with more open areas, while the ever-present water serves as a common thread, most notably in the large pond that reflects the house.

The entrance to the garden slips into a narrow passage along a shaded stream covered with duckweed and continues through dense undergrowth and a “nest” of bamboo. The Delomezes installed a series of wooden pontoons above the ferns to allow the wet parts of the garden to be crossed.

Emerging from these shadowy areas, the garden suddenly opens up to a new pond and a circular viewing terrace. There, a waterfall and its artwork,
a plexiglass cube, allow a different view of the garden, through this revealing prism.

At the turn of a laurel alley, a productive vegetable garden in tones of red, green and black emerges, lush even as summer ends. Large mirrors reflect images that fragment and multiply the views, and also seem to split the space. This is one of the fantasies of this remarkable garden, where contemporary elements and unusual objects are boldly introduced. Its creators are happy to subvert the conventional approaches to garden design.

Plantsman Jimi Blake gardened from a young age, earning money by selling the plants he propagated. He went on to study horticulture at the National Botanic Gardens, Glasnevin, Dublin, and was the driving force behind the successful restoration of the public Airfield Gardens in the city. But it is in his own garden at Hunting Brook in the hills of County Wicklow – begun in 2001 from an 8ha site that was little more than a field at the time – that he has allowed his passion for plants to flourish.

Areas range from large, immersive herbaceous beds to shady woodland with meandering paths. Blake is constantly developing the garden, and his approach, as he claims himself, is creative and unconventional: always evolving, curated but naturalistic in style, and with an exuberant leaning towards strong colours – huge displays of salvias and dahlias are a favourite – and striking shapes, forms and textures. Worldwide travel, particularly in China, Australia, South Africa, India and the United States, has informed his plant choices with a current focus on woodland plants. “I live in a woodland, so it’s the most obvious way for me to go – I’m trying to do woodland gardening in a more contemporary way.”

Jimi has amassed large collections of snowdrops, epimediums and corydalis, while also featuring woodland exotics such as scheffleras. Another recent development is the Sand Garden, begun in 2020 and planted with a quirky mix of conifers, succulents and alpines. Hunting Brook is beautifully secluded, yet very much a garden for sharing, and Blake runs regular courses, workshops and open days, as well as lecturing and leading garden tours that allow him to share his dynamic outlook on plants.

This highly innovative conservation project on Japan’s northernmost island of Hokkaido was the brainchild of newspaper magnate Mitsushige Hayashi. His ambition was to create a landscape for a thousand years to offset the carbon footprint of his business and to encourage Japan’s predominantly urban population to reconnect with the wonders of nature.

The masterplan for the 240ha site, in the foothills of the central mountain range, was created by leading UK landscape designer Dan Pearson, along with Hokkaido-based Takano Landscape Planning. The plot has four main areas: an ornamental Meadow Garden, a landform Earth Garden, a wild Forest Garden and a productive Farm Garden.

In the Meadow Garden (pictured), vast swathes of plants showcase a careful selection of indigenous Japanese species alongside ornamental perennials and grasses. Beautiful and soulful, it is a masterclass in naturalistic planting on a grand scale.

Next to it is the Earth Garden with its immense, turfed landforms. Irresistible to both children and adults, their wave-like contours cleverly draw visitors out of the more ornamental areas towards the unfamiliar setting of the Forest Garden beyond, where numerous site-specific artworks can be discovered. The climate is harsh, with long, extremely cold winters and hot, humid summers, so it’s not an easy place to garden.

Fortunately, the site is sensitively managed by close collaboration between Pearson and the garden’s team. Midori Shintani, the head gardener from the outset, moved on in 2024, but her tenure will play an important part in the garden’s envisioned thousand-year life.

The first new garden at the Chateau de Versailles since the 18th century, the reimagined Water Theatre Grove (Bosquet du Theatre d’Eau), by landscape artist Louis Benech, is a tribute to the historic designs by Andre Le Notre.

Originally built between 1671 and 1674, this was one of the most elaborate groves within the palace gardens, which were in turn among the world’s most extravagant.

A favourite of Louis XIV, the water grove was originally used for outdoor theatre and water spectacles, but it fell into disrepair after years of neglect and successive storms. The long-dormant bosquet, a leafy 1.6ha garden within the 810ha forest park, has been revitalised. After winning an international competition for the monumental project, Benech gave it a new, contemporary look, while honouring the park and its past. Like Le Notre, he wanted to collaborate with artists to bring another dimension to the design, and he chose sculptor Jean-Michel Othoniel.

For his permanent, site-specific installation, Les Belles Danses (The Beautiful Dances), Othoniel created three fountain sculptures inspired by the work of choreographer Raoul-Auger Feuillet, dance teacher to the Sun King. The playful piece recreates Feuillet’s balletic notations with gilded glass beads.

Using the lines of the original square, Benech’s composition has a symmetrical effect, while embracing asymmetry. Circular pools, islands and walkways echo Le Notre’s recurring use of multiples of three. Rows of dark evergreens sequester the garden and provide contrast for the glowing glass beads, while highlighting an existing lone yew, prominent on one of the islands.