The key to our searches was the "Yellow Book" which lists, county by county, every private garden open for a few days or weekends of the year. The emphasis is on private gardens... and there are now thousands which can be visited on certain weekends and public holidays. The National Gardens Scheme quotes, "You don't need to be a devoted gardener to be interested in all of this - garden openings are simply a beautiful and relaxing way to spend an afternoon. Some people just visit gardens for the delicious home-made teas often on offer!" There are, however, many aficionados of beautiful English gardens and of the hundred originally included when the scheme launched in 1927 almost all are still open for visitors.

Our Wiltshire garden tours used to be planned so as to include three in an afternoon, and no more. There are limits to the amount of quiet appreciation, note-taking, pleasant chat with strangers and number of wedges of cake with cups of tea that can be consumed without sitting under a shady tree and falling into a slumber. Sometimes, because of good organisation within a village, and, shared micro-climatic conditions, it would be possible to park the car and stroll to three locations within a few minutes walk of each another. Surprisingly - or perhaps not given the creativity gardeners, not to mention some unspoken rivalry - grouped locations usually provided a variety of styles and presentations. Of course, all it takes is for neighbouring gardeners to think Tudor or Japanese, or Herbs or Water and the only common feature will be the garden dividing fence.

Such is the variety of the gardens that upwards of £1.5 million is raised and donated to various charities each year... the average entry price having risen to an acceptable £3 from the 50 pence I remember in the 1980s. The Yellow Book garden's descriptions are largely written by the owners and become charming vignettes of their labours and loves.... for example this entry from my dog-eared and heavily inscribed "Wiltshire Gardens 1985" leaflet...

Foscote Gardens Grittleton, 5 m NW of Chippenham. A420 Chippenham-Bristol; after 2 m turn right on to B4039 to Yatton Keynell; fork right for Grittleton; in village proceed 2 m; just over motorway turn right at Xrds; house on right. Plants for sale also garden cushions. NO DOGS. Home-made TEAS at Foscote Stables. Combined charge both gardens 70p, Chd. 20p, Sun. June 30 (2-6)

Foscote Stables (Mr & Mrs Beresford Worswick). 2 1/2 acres; many clematis; shrub roses; unusual shrubs & trees; small collection ornamental ducks; adjoining Victorian cottage garden.

Foscote House (Mr & Mrs John Lendrum) adjacent, a C16 Cotswold stone house visited by Cromwell during Civil War (not open) surrounded by compact 1 1/2 acre garden; mainly lawns, shrubs & trees planted within last 15 years.

On other occasions we would chose a route following a river or valley and on more than one occasion have followed the upper course of the Salisbury Avon between Upavon and East Chisenbury (Medieval Priory in 5 acre garden) to Enford (The Grange - Queen Anne farmhouse), Fittleton, Netheravon, Figheldean through Amesbury and down to Lake to the north of, and Teffont Magna to the west of Salisbury... but that is a serious trip for a complete weekend being in excess of 20 miles!

On the other hand you can choose to visit just a single garden, savour the scented atmosphere, feel the sun's soothing warmth on every pore of your skin and refreshing breeze on every every hair of your body... quite literally. Because the owners of the Abbey House Gardens, situated next to Malmesbury Abbey host an open day au naturel. Ian Pollard, award-winning architect turned garden designer, and his wife Barbara love to dig, plant and prune in the buff and became known on BBC TVs Gardeners' World as the "Naked Gardeners"... although they only normally garden in the nude when the gates to the public are closed.

In the last ten years the Pollards have completely transformed the 5-acre garden surrounding their former Benedictine monastery... and there is an illustrated gardening book available on their website. Having lived in Malmesbury in the 1980s I remember the Abbey House being quite sombre and run down... I also remember the Pollards' wonderful formal gardens (centre image, third row, main photo) at Hazlebury Manor, near Box, on the Wiltshire-Avon boundary, and how, on open days, he would dash around, full of energy, selling potted shrubs and trays of plants from his extensive nursery.

As I also enjoy being naked in our small French courtyard garden - I find there's nothing more invigorating after digging and weeding than turning the garden hose on myself - I will certainly visit the Abbey House Gardens during a "bare-it-all" open-day one day... and make amends for the French family who declined to even visit the gardens fully clothed. Really... I thought it was the English who were "sniffy" about these things!