Old Westbury Gardens

Westbury House was completed in 1906 for John S. Phipps, a Charles II-style mansion of red brick set at the end of a long allée on Long Island's Gold Coast. What makes it unusual is that it is still furnished — the family's English antiques, paintings and porcelain remain in the rooms they were bought for.

Two hundred acres of landscape surround it, and the gardens are the reason to come back. A walled Italianate garden, a two-acre formal rose garden, boxwood parterres, avenues of beech and linden, lakes, temples and long stretches of woodland path all connect in a design meant to be walked rather than viewed.

What is flowering changes constantly — bulbs and lilacs in spring, the roses in June, perennials into late summer, and the beeches turning in October. The estate appears in a great many films, and once you have walked it you understand why.