Galloping Gardener's best British garden memories after three years of blogging

"Gardens are a real gift of happiness and joy"

It's Easter 2012 and I've been blogging about gardens for three years! I'm the first to admit I've come a long way in that time, because I knew nothing and I really do mean NOTHING about gardens when I started. I'd never thought about them, certainly didn't appreciate the energy and love that went into creating them, and had no idea about structure, plants or the effect different soils and climatic conditions have on the way they grow!

Tremenheere - at the heart of the county that my father loved so much - we spent much time visiting gardens in Cornwall during his long illness and I learned that gardens are great healers for mind and spirit

My interest in garden visiting began when my father was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2008. He was living in Cornwall and I lived in Sussex, but as his disease progressed, I spent more time with him in the West. And as we progressed through his illness (which had been diagnosed too late to save him), the pastime that gave us both the greatest pleasure was visiting gardens together.

Cothay Manor in Somerset will always hold a special place in my heart. It's exotic, slightly chaotic and beautiful

We were able to savour the peace we found in those wonderful Cornish landscapes, sit together for hours and talk, and enjoy the plants that we saw together. And towards the end of his life, on the few occasions he was well enough to leave the hospice in a wheelchair, I couldn't help but notice how much good our garden visits did him. He came alive again, however ill he felt, and would return home to the hospice looking happy and relaxed. That was when I started blogging, during the long evenings that I spent alone at my hotel, between my visits to the hospice.

Great Dixter is one of the gardens that my husband and I visited regularly because it's close to our home - created by Christopher Lloyd, it now has iconic status because of its planting schemes ... and deservedly so

I hardly need tell readers how much I miss him, but he left me with a legacy that has continued to bring me pleasure even since - garden visiting - and there's rarely a day when I visit a garden that I don't reflect on those happy days we spent together at the end of his life.

Sussex Prairies, created by Paul and Pauline McBride, brings joy to my heart every time I visit

Three years down the road, I find myself in a similar situation again, but this time it's my beloved husband who is ill. He also learned the gift of gardens with me during my father's illness, and we then spent successive years enjoying gardens together - more than 100 here in the UK, plus many more in France when visiting friends and of course, in the US because we had a house there. As his illness has progressed, we've visited many gardens together with him in a wheelchair and what we've learned is however bad the situation is, gardens are a real gift of happiness and joy!

The Peto garden at Iford Manor - a surreal, steep, hillside plot filled with exotic statuary and a sense of pure theatre

Now garden visiting has become a way of life for me, and since giving up our home in Florida, I find the winter months very long, even though I'm lucky enough to spend some time in India working on my hospital project there. It's not quite the same as visiting gardens in Florida and California during the cold months, but gardens have now become such an important part of my life, that I spend the winter researching properties I plan to visit once spring comes.

Levens Hall, Cumbria is reputed to be the most magnificent topiary garden in the world - I visited with my husband last year on a tour of Cumbria, before he was confined to a wheelchair for garden visits

If I'm honest - gardens have brought me a huge amount of pleasure in the last three years - especially when dealing with the difficulties of illnesses suffered by those close to you. I know I can't make those people better, but I've learned that gardens have incredible healing properties, both for the people who are ill and for me as a carer. And it doesn't matter how bleak life looks at home because a garden visit will always put a spring back in my step and give me the courage to carry on.

John Brookes who created Denmans Garden, near Chichester, who has become a dear friend. We recently travelled to India together and visited gardens throughout Rajasthan. John is looking out over Chittaurgarh during our travels

And then there are all the wonderful people I've met along the way - garden owners, like John Brookes at Denmans, who recently travelled to India with me; Anne Wareham from Veddw, famous for her tongue (and creator of thinkinGardens), but charming when you get to know her and who's now a special friend; Paul and Pauline McBride of Sussex Prairies, who've travelled to India with me twice and taught me more than anyone else about perennials and planting; head gardeners and those who do the really hard work for them, plus garden photographers and fellow bloggers. Many of those friends, gardeners and photographers also have their own blogs.

Veddw captured my heart the first time I went there and met Anne Wareham and her husband, Charles Hawes for the first time. It has become one of my favourite gardens anywhere in the world because it has so much personality

In terms of photography, I've had the pleasure of working with Clive Nichols at Barnsley House; got to know Charles Hawes, who takes photographs that I covet (and is married to dear friend Anne Wareham); and am off to meet Andrew Lawson next week at Great Dixter. There are many others on my wish list who I long to meet to learn about their fantastic techniques, but I'm sure our paths will cross one day.

The famous laburnum arch at Barnsley House, former home of Rosemary Verey, where I spent a day working with Clive Nichols trying to improve my photography techniques!

If I listed all the wonderful people I've met, you'd never get to the end of this post, but we all share a common interest and think nothing of getting our hands dirty, all for the love of gardening! And I've been lucky enough to make a lot of new friends too because I'm learning that gardening is no different to many other passions, whereby you graduate towards those you share the passion with. And special thanks go to my own wonderful gardener and friend, William, who has taught me about nurturing my own garden. Without him, I would never have understood anything about gardening and "growing"!

The Garden House in Devon - always a joy to visit en route to Cornwall

So to mark my wonderful adventures in the last three years, I've selected some of the gardens that I've really come to love during my travels - these are the ones that I return to regularly. Of course, it's a subjective choice, but each and every one is special to me. Many are in the south of England because that's where I live, and I need to be here to look after my husband. But I will be branching out in this fourth year of blogging in an attempt to satisfy my insatiable interest in visiting gardens.