Actress Amber Heard has avoided a conviction for illegally taking her dogs into Australia. Ms Heard, married to actor Johnny Depp, had pleaded guilty in court to making a false statement on her immigration card about the couple’s Yorkshire terriers. But the Queensland judge gave her a one-month good behaviour bond with no conviction recorded. If she breaks the bond …

Forget big names such as Kew and Versailles, these almost-secret gardens around the world are worth tracking down, for lovers of horticulture, sculpture – and the bizarre More than capable … the Capability Brown-designed Gatton Park, in Surrey. Photograph: Alamy Gatton Park, England This year marks the 300th anniversary of the birth of English landscape gardener Lancelot “Capability” Brown, who …

Researching this romantic corner of the Arabian peninsula for her book, Katherine Webb fell in love with the beautiful calm of the desert Sand scene … the Empty Quarter, Oman. Photograph: Alamy My novel is set in Oman, so I visited as a researcher not as a tourist. Rather than relaxing, I wanted to see as much as possible: to …