Map reading our way along the twisty lanes of the East Sussex-Kent border, we crane to see a B&B sign. King John’s Lodge, a property we booked based on reviews of its garden, announces itself like any other private residence in this area of outstanding natural beauty, with a discreet nameplate. We swing in and are momentarily taken aback by the grandness of the house, a part-medieval, part-Jacobean manor, in which King John II of France was supposedly held hostage after the Battle of Poitiers.

We let ourselves in through the surprisingly small oak door and peer into a long room, with a kitchen at one end. There we’re greeted by a reassuringly domestic scene: the owner, Richard Cunningham, deep in an armchair, feeding his baby grandchild. A friend of his shows us to our bedroom — a small, twin-bedded room in the medieval part of the house with a low ceiling, mullioned windows and original beams — and suggests that we might like to take a walk round the garden in the evening sun.

We step out through the back door and on to the lawn where a toddler is chasing a pair of ducks. The view is glorious: there’s not another house or a road in sight, just the rolling greenness of the South Downs.

Richard soon joins us, his energetic pointer at his side. He wants to make sure that we don’t miss the “secret garden”. He explains that the eight- acre grounds, sloping away from the house, were the reason he and his wife Gill bought the house in 1987. At that time, both house and garden were derelict, with brambles pushing up through the floor of the largest drawing room, which was added on by the Edwardian owner to enable him to throw parties (and get husbands, no doubt) for his four unmarried daughters.

While the Cunninghams were restoring beams, opening up inglenook fireplaces and shoring up bay windows, they had a perpetual bonfire going in the garden to deal with the aftermath of the great storm of 1987, which felled about 60 trees. In a way, the storm was a blessing in disguise since it opened up the garden, allowing Richard to do what he loves most: create views.

“I put myself in charge of vistas,” he explains, “and Gill’s job was the planting.” The result is a garden of delights that looks as if it has been there for decades. The lower part is sweeping parkland, where the grass is trimmed by a flock of sheep.

The rest is a series of different areas, entered by gates, arches in hedges and winding paths. There are magnificent weeping trees perfect for games of hide-and-seek; rose-swagged arbours and elegant benches positioned to provide the best views; a Victorian sports pavilion; a lily pond that separates the grazing sheep from the lawn; a sunken garden, filled with Mediterranean plants, sheltering a heated swimming pool that guests can use; a meandering woodland area full of native plants; and Richard’s secret garden, the dell where he and Gill repaired the original pond with ballasted sandbags and ringed it with pink and white drumstick primulas.

Richard’s tales of the lodge have been so engrossing that we have not got the whole way round the garden by supper time. So next morning, after a delicious breakfast in the Jacobean dining room, where the dented stone of the fireplace is testament to many years of knife and sword sharpening, I resume my tour, leaving my husband to read the papers on the terrace.

That’s what is so special about B&Bs run by gardeners — you get a chance to visit and revisit the garden (in some you’re even welcome to stay all day) and owners are more than happy to share their plant knowledge and to suggest other must-see gardens near by.

Richard and I are joined by Harry, the Cunninghams’ son, who has been propagating plants from the garden for the past two years and this spring opened his first nursery in the converted chicken sheds. Harry identifies various stunning plants in Gill’s “white garden” and I jot these down, along with other lovely planting combinations in the woodland part. Luckily, I have already spotted several of the plants in the nursery so our very reasonable overnight expenditure has become a little less reasonable by the time I return to the house.

King John’s Lodge, Sheepstreet Lane, Etchingham, East Sussex (01580 819232, www.kingjohnslodge.co.uk). B&B from £40pp.

B&Bs with gardens

There is plenty of planting inspiration at these B&Bs. All have three bedrooms and offer dinner on request.

Devon: Kingston House, Staverton, Totnes (01803 762235, www.kingston-estate.co.uk). B&B from £160 a room; pleached limes, mulberry trees, box parterre.

Norfolk: Sallowfield Cottage, Wattlefield (01953 605086). B&B from £50 a room. Soft herbaceous planting and a beautiful pond surrounded by specimen trees.

Shropshire: Acton Pigot, Acton Burnell (01694 731209 www.actonpigot.co.uk). B&B from £25pp. Croquet on the front lawn, mixed borders, a wood and a walled garden with a swimming pool.

Wiltshire: Ridleys Cheer, Mountain Bower, Chippenham (01225 891204). B&B from £40pp; 120 species of shrubs and roses, potager, arboretum and wildflower meadow.

Yorkshire: Old Vicarage, Darley (01423 780526, www.theoldvicaragedarley.co.uk). B&B from £30pp. Cottage- garden beds, pergolas with clematis and roses, a water garden that attracts wildlife.

Scotland: Rossie, Forgandenny, Perthshire (01738 812265). B&B from £40pp. Trails through these garden “rooms” and into the woodland are filled with colour from bulbs, shrubs and trees.

Further reading: Alastair Sawday’s Special Places to Stay: Bed & Breakfast for Garden Lovers (£11.24, www.sawdays.co.uk).