Up and down Yorkshire dales .... gardens that made my heart leap!

York Gate, just outside Leeds - one of the greatest garden secrets in the Northern England

After four glorious days in Yorkshire, dodging the downpours, I'm going to bring you some real garden delights in the next few weeks. I've driven more than 1,000 miles looking at landscapes that made me realise how lucky I am to be alive. I've seen weather conditions that made me hold my breath, driven through floods, got stuck in mud and donned my wellington boots more times than I care to remember.

Parcevall Hall is a terraced garden overlooking a landscape that will make you glad you're alive

Yorkshire has some really magnificent gardens and part of their charm is the surrounding landscape. Parcevall Hall looks out onto the world beyond, as does Sleightholme Dale Lodge. York Gate, just outside Leeds, is one of the world's great garden secrets - home to Perennial, the garden charity that helps horticulturists in need.

Sleightholme Dale Lodge, North Yorkshire

Driving home today was something else. It took me nearly eight hours to drive 300 miles because the weather conditions were so appalling! The heavens opened on more than one occasion and I couldn't even see the car in front of me. But I clung to the memories of the gardens I'd seen this week and arrived home safely. As the rain continues to pour down, I hope to brighten your wet days with garden dreams.

Stillingfleet Lodge, just outside York - a  charming garden created from nothing over the last 38 years 

I ended my trip at Stillingfleet Lodge just outside York - a charming cottage garden created around Vanessa Cooke's family home. And her nursery is filled with plants that will make you understand the true meaning of envy! I wanted to buy them all and bring them home, but I restrained my urge and drove south with happy memories of the gardens I'd visited this week.

For more gardens to visit in England and France, click here