Outside! Accom­mo­da­tions with excep­tional gardens

Organic growth

Hof Flieth [Flieth Estate] in the Uckermark region not only offers its guests the best con­di­tions for per­sonal deve­lo­pment. The won­derfully diverse garden, which is partly untamed, also follows the yearning for more natu­ralness and less order.

Here you can raise your head into the sun in the morning, sway in the wind, flourish and grow beyond yourself. Whether you are wan­dering through the orchard meadows, reading under a tree, counting cucumbers in the vege­table patch or musing among hundreds of peren­nials and shim­mering grasses. Right in the middle of it all are two houses made of brick and field­stone, which can accom­modate from two to six people. Some­times small, with great his­to­rical charm, some­times open and mini­malist. Step out of one of the doors and you and the garden merge directly into the endless expanse of the ter­minal moraine land­scape. Until you reach the next forest or lake. Or a con­vivial gathering around a table in the middle of a meadow.

In a sea of flowers

Bou­gain­villea, magnolia, camellia, lavender, jaca­randa – at the Quinta da Bouça d’Arques in Por­tugal, visitors are immersed in a world of bota­nical poetry. A stately home in the middle of vineyards and forests, where there is an abun­dance of the lush green sple­ndour of the Costa Verde.

Even the names of the apart­ments and cot­tages pay homage to the colourful vege­tation sur­rounding the former 17th-century manor house, which has been extended to include a new building made of con­crete, wood and glass. Whether you opt for a room with tra­di­tional flair or prefer an apartment with a more modern look, it is entirely up to you. When the weather is nice, the romantic garden with its English lawn takes centre stage. It’s easy to resist a trip to the nearby Atlantic Ocean, because after all, the hotel’s own salt­water pool pro­vides refreshment and the breeze makes the waves in the sea of flowers.

Baroque Botany

If you walk through the white garden gate of Her­renhaus Bar­thélemy [Bar­thélemy manor house] on the Sou­thern Wine Route, you will find yourself in a dif­ferent world and time. Beyond the gate, a French bour­geois garden opens up with a wide view of the Rhine Valley.

Winding paths and vine arbours lead past roses in bloom, shrubs and fruit trees to a water basin with a fountain and a garden house with frescoes. Those who prefer some­thing more mys­tical should visit the grove with its rock gate, rose ten­drils, water étagère and mys­te­rious free­mason sym­bolism. But it is not only the artfully designed garden that tells a long story; the old beams, stucco cei­lings and antique fur­niture of the heritage listed manor house also look back on a long history. Today, the lavishly refur­bished pro­perty, in the style of a maison d’hôtes [ guest house], impresses with three suites and three holiday apart­ments and invites guests to expe­rience the art of living in the Pala­tinate.

Garden of Eden

Looking for the carefree scent of summer? With its sun-warmed aroma of citrus and almond trees, prickly pears and wild herbs, Villa Ven­dicari in the middle of the nature reserve of the same name is a sensual distil­lation of Sicilian vege­tation.

Even with your eyes closed, you can picture it: a largely untouched garden with a white house hidden in the middle. With curved walls and rounded corners, it looks as if the salty wind itself had shaped it. Inside, there is a cave-like retreat with large windows, organic fur­niture and a bright atmo­sphere. A stand-alone structure and a secluded pool with a tree house com­plete the picture. Time stands still under the pergola, and the view from the roof extends to the spar­kling sea. An expe­rience that will stay with you long after the summer is over.

A com­posed play of colours

While snow­flakes are still falling from the sky else­where, Mal­lorca is covered in a blanket of almond blossoms from the end of January, bathing the Can Miret estate in a fra­grant sea of flowers.

The design of the tra­di­tional Mal­lorcan house in the north of the island is as carefully coor­di­nated as the interplay of the Medi­ter­ranean flora, which pro­vides changing colour and scent com­bi­na­tions throughout the year. Whether in flowerbeds, or in typical ter­ra­cotta pots, which line the ter­races, pool and natural stone paths. Here, lavender, roses and bou­gain­villea mingle with aga­panthus and trumpet vines, as well as shrubs, olive and almond trees, creating an atmo­spheric backdrop that blends seam­lessly into the natural sur­roun­dings. A won­derfully atmo­spheric place that com­bines tra­dition and modernity, and is best explored barefoot.

Thoughtfully designed

Like a slice of cake, the garden of Die kleine Acht [The little eight] stretches into the wide fields of the Uckermark, pro­tected by tall prairie peren­nials and grasses.

Garden designer Rainer Els­termann engages with phi­lo­so­phical con­side­ra­tions and designs scenes in his gardens that give us back a piece of our origins. In the holiday home Die kleine Acht, the garden also becomes a mul­ti­faceted microcosm in the big picture. The best way to expe­rience blossoms, colours and shapes is to follow the narrow paths and take a seat on the terrace in the middle of the meadows and fields. Inside the con­verted 1950s house, large windows also open up to the land­scape, with puristic, some­times rough mate­rials and mini­malist fur­niture, leaving the stage to nature.

Sicilian oasis

Palm trees reach up into the bright blue sky, sur­rounded by citrus and almond trees, dense greenery, white and red flowers, dancing agaves and aro­matic herbs. In between, there is a buzzing and whirring. A meeting place for flora, fauna and those seeking peace and quiet.

In addition to its two-hectare park and fasci­nating bio­di­versity, the Dimora delle Libellule Estate [Dragonfly’s Home], situated on a hill near Noto, is home to a light and airy reno­vated his­toric wine cellar called pal­mento, as well as a modern guest house – two white holiday apart­ments that combine tra­di­tional archi­tecture and ele­ments with con­tem­porary design. Around the house, shady seating areas invite you to rest, read, chat or dine, while an elon­gated pool with a waterfall com­pletes the paradise. A beguiling place as light-footed as the beat of a dragonfly’s wings.

Berlin Hamptons

If you want to get away from the big city for a few days and take a deep breath in the coun­tryside, just an hour from Berlin you will find a huge garden with old fruit trees, lime trees, flowering peren­nials and villa from the Grün­derzeit that offers families and friends a casually elegant atmo­sphere.

Even though the Uckermark is no longer an insider tip, its idyll never ceases to amaze. The land­scape here is more endless and time seems to pass more slowly. This is also the case at Villa Auguste, a heritage listed building that char­mingly tells of its time of origin with high, partly stuccoed cei­lings, cas­sette windows, ori­ginal flo­or­boards and a Meissen tiled stove, cele­brates nature with bota­nical wall­paper, tiles and wall maps, and invites you to be outside in an enchan­tingly beau­tiful garden. Whether on the lawn, between the flowerbeds or in the shade of the trees.

Arcadia in Occi­tania

A château in the middle of a romantic land­scape park at the foot of the Pyrenees. That’s almost all that needs to be said to transport you to this magical place. Even if the Château de Sibra itself exceeds even the wildest ima­gi­nation.

The 13th-century pro­perty was purchased in 1878 by a French indus­trialist couple and over the decades trans­formed into a pas­sionate Arcadia – a 15-hectare jardin exo­tique  adorned with flowers and trees from all over the world, small follies and rocaille orna­ments. Today, the artfully res­tored château in the trou­badour style offers not only five chambres d’hôtes [guest rooms] but also three holiday apart­ments and a private holiday home in the out­buil­dings, from all of which guests can enjoy garden and park. An aes­thetic work of art and natural expe­rience that allows crea­tivity to flourish and ima­gi­nation to bloom.

Deeply rooted

From the agora [gathering place], along the apple and lime tree avenues, past the cloud hedge and climbing shrubs to the orchard – at the Schnit­terhaus in Groß Sper­ren­walde in the Uckermark region, a land­scape architect with a doc­torate and a pas­sionate vege­table farmer have breathed new life into the grounds of an old market garden.

The former day-labou­rer’s house from the 1920s, which borders directly on the well-designed, three-hectare garden kingdom, has also been lovingly res­tored in every detail and con­verted into a bright, open holiday home for six people, using lots of wood, bright colours and natural pat­terns. It com­bines Scan­di­navian design, a touch of nost­algia, warm cosiness and large windows over­looking the garden, where a covered seating area awaits you.

Text / Com­pi­lation: Julia Hauch & Anne-Birga Niepelt

Photos: Cee Cee Creative (Titelbild: Can Miret), Andreas Zaremba (Hof Flieth), Joao Cruz (Quinta da Bouça d’Arques), Hans-Georg Merkel (Her­renhaus Bar­thélemy), Gio­vanni Costa & Domenico Pic­cione (Villa Ven­dicari), Ina Steiner (Die kleine Acht), Cristina di Paola & Alberto Moncada (Dimora delle Libellule), Daniela & Martin van Eickels (Villa Auguste), Jea­nette Corbeau & Stöh Grünig (Château de Sibra), Marc Wend (Schnit­terhaus)