RHS announces top five garden towns

The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) has released its top-five list of places to visit gardens in the UK for this year.

Among the names on the list was Cricklade, which received the gold medal position for a small town thanks to its "unique" North Meadow Nature Reserve.

Nottingham was also selected for its many parks and nature reserves, while Ravensfield in South Yorkshire scooped the award for the best small village.

According to travelbite.co.uk, RHS judges considered a shortlist of 69 finalists before choosing their top five.
The RHS said that Ravensfield in particular had impressed, with judges calling it the "epitome of village life".

"The RHS judges thought this delightful community was a colourful and most attractively presented village in the whole of the UK," it said.

"The location is also teeming with wildlife, visible along many wildlife trails."
A visit to any of these locations should provide enough inspiration to get gardeners back out into their greenhouses in preparation for spring.