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Special Group Tours Toll Free: 1 866 725 5250 |
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RHS Chelsea Flower Show, Gardens of Kent & Heart of England Blossoms & Blooms Includes RHS membership and a full day ticket on a ‘member's only’ day to the famed Chelsea Flower Show! This tour is designed as a brief introduction to the gardens in two of England loveliest counties, Kent and The Heart of England. There are flower-filled gardens, formal and informal, large and small, planned and wild, all bursting into riots of color and overloading the senses with fragrant smells and sights. Going beyond the usual tourist route in our mini-coach, off the beaten track where those herded on impersonal big buses can’t go, we will introduce you to some local treasures as well as the major sites. Your multi-talented driver/guide will fill in each touring day as time will permit, with visits to some little local gems, participants in the National Gardens Scheme, Gardens open for Charity. The highlight of our gardening adventure is sure to be a membership in the Royal Horticultural Society. The RHS is the premiere gardening organization of Britain. Membership offers a host of benefits including a garden magazine full of gardening advice, discounted/complimentary entrances to dozens of gardens throughout the year and priority access to the RHS Flower Shows. Your tour package also includes a full day ticket to a member only day to the Chelsea Flower Show. This delightful tour is sure to please everyone, avid gardeners and beginners alike!
We also offer several Gardens Tours throughout the year.
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Tour Date: 21 - 27 May, 2010 GUARANTEED DEPARTURE What your tour price includes: Your accommodation for 6 nights in 3-4 star properties while on the tour including breakfast daily and most dinners, as listed. Your price also includes all entrance fees to gardens and attractions while with your guide, an annual RHS Membership, a full day ticket to the RHS Chelsea Flower Show on a Member's Only Day, mini-coach transportation, exclusive services of your driver/guide-companion, all taxes, tolls and tips other than those you may wish to give your guide. Airport transfers, accommodation pre and post tour and London transport passes are not included but can be added to your package as you wish. Ask us for details. Tour Cost: $2599 USD per person, $400 single supplement Special Departure. Only a few seats left, book today! Contact us for availability or to hold space on the tour: specialgrouptours@yahoo.com
This tour begins and ends in London. You will be picked up from your London hotel at approximately 09.00am. Day 1, Friday, 21 May We begin our gardens adventure with a garden that requires no introduction – the RHS Wisley is known the world over, and with good reason! We will spend ample time here, exploring the rock garden, alpine garden, wild garden, formal rose courtyards and all that this wonderful place has to offer. This afternoon, via the marvelously scenic Kentish countryside, dotted with oast houses and sometimes blooming lavender fields, we’ll have a visit to Groomsbridge en-route to our overnight location. Groomsbridge offers formal gardens (knot garden, secret garden, oriental garden, white rose garden…) and also an ‘Enchanted Forest,’ woodland walks with a mythical design, a bird of prey centre and several species of wildlife. Literary fans may find the Sherlock Holmes connections of interest too! Overnight: Kent Day 2, Saturday, 22 May Today, the fabulous Sissinghurst, Vita Sackville-West and Sir Harold Nicholson's world famous garden will be our main visit. You'll have plenty of time to explore this intimate and intricate garden and to visit those parts of her home open to the public. Here, we’ll find a Tudor tower complete with Vita’s workshop, a walled herb garden, mixed border gardens, an oast house museum, a white garden and a cottage garden. Certainly something to delight all interests! This afternoon, by special arrangement, we’ll see the delightful Hole Park Gardens. Here, a 15 acre garden surrounded by open parklands, massed bluebells in season in the woodland walk, standard wisteria, orchids in flower meadow, yew hedges, large lawns and specimen trees. First opened in 1927, the gardens offer a walled garden, pools and mixed borders combined with bulbs, rhododendrons and azaleas. Overnight: Kent Day 3, Sunday, 23 May This morning, we’ll enjoy a visit to one of the small, local cottage or farm gardens from the Yellow Book Gardens for Charity Scheme. Whichever one we visit, you’ll have the personal touch of meeting the locals and perhaps a bit of sharing of gardening secrets. There’s rose and clematis walkways, rock gardens, sculpted yew hedges and ponds with water lilies all on offer. Our next port of call is Savill Gardens in Surrey. Designed by Sir Eric Savill in the 1930s under the patronage of the Royals, this 35 acres of contemporary and classically designed gardens and exotic woodland is a gardener’s delight. Savill has been called one of Britain’s greatest ornamental gardens! Today is our lucky day since Broughton Castle is only opened on Sundays! We will have time to explore what the Daily Telegraph calls “A Mid-Summer Night’s Dream of a garden,” with its walled garden known as the Ladies' Garden (established in the 1880s on the site of the 16th century kitchen,) mixed borders, water, lawns, topiaries and fragrant rose gardens. Overnight: Stratford-Upon-Avon Day 4, Monday, 24 May During our time in the Cotswolds, we will try and find some time to meander through the honey-thatch cottage villages famous in this region. Each is unique and pretty in its own right and there are many opportunities for a stop in a tea shop or wandering the antique shops, as you wish! Our first main visit today is Hidecote Manor Gardens. Created by horticulturist Lawrence Johnston, this garden consists of a series of small gardens within the whole, separated by walls and hedges of different species. It's famed for rare shrubs, trees, herbaceous borders, and interesting plant species. Dependent upon time, there is Kiftsgate Court Gardens across the road too. Sudley Castle, a place with connections running through the Tudor Dynasty and court circle. It was the home of three queens; houses the marble tomb of Katherine Parr, the wife of Henry VIII who survived and a place where scandal left its impression on the young mind of the future Queen Elizabeth I. This lovely place offers seven enchanting gardens, amongst these are a Tudor Knot garden with water features and a delightful mosaic. Dinner is not included tonight to allow for flexibility in attending the theatre. Overnight: Stratford-Upon-Avon Day 5, Tuesday, 25 May Our day first sees us visiting Blenheim Palace. This incredible treasure house, set near Oxford on the edge of the Cotswolds, was given to Winston Churchill's ancestor John, 1st Duke of Marlborough. The superb collection here includes fine paintings, furniture, bronzes and the famous Marlborough Victories tapestries. In addition to the palace itself, with all of its opulent splendor, you'll also have ample time to wander the amazing gardens, designed in part by Capability Brown. A trip to Blenheim Palace would certainly not be complete without visiting the Water Terraces, Rose Garden, Arboretum, Cascades or the Secret Garden! Our final garden of the day will be Waterperry Gardens, on the edge of Oxfordshire. Waterperry Gardens are a magical place where you are surrounded by beautiful trees, shrubs and flowers, classical borders, modern planting, secret corners and long vistas. Home to the renowned horticultural college between 1932 and 1971, the emphasis was on food production rather than spectacular ornamental gardens but that has changed in recent years. You'll now find a Formal Garden, the Mary Rose Garden, a Waterlily Canal and the Long Colour Border, and the recently planted arboretum in the meadow area beyond the canal. We will enjoy a dinner together in one of London’s lovely riverside pubs this evening. Overnight: London Day 6, Wednesday, 26 May FULL DAY ON THIS MEMBER DAY TO CHELSEA FLOWER SHOW Today is our grand finale, a full day, member access day at the Chelsea Flower Show! One transfer will be provided from your London hotel to the show in the morning and one transfer back in the evening. You are welcomed to come and go from the show as you please using public transport. This evening is free so you can enjoy the show until closing or have the option of attending the theatre. Overnight: London Day 7, Thursday, 27 May Optional tour add-ons are available for a supplemental fee including airport transfers, London accommodation, London city tours or a private extension visiting some of the glorious London area gardens such as Kew, Syon House, Kenwood and more.
PLEASE NOTE: There is a minimum of 6 guests required to operate this departure. Please do not confirm airfare prior to verifying arrangements. THIS TOUR IS NOW A GUARANTEED DEPARTURE; the minimum guests requirement has been met. Please Note: All attraction opening times are correct at time of printing this website. While we do our utmost to include all properties, we reserve the right to change an attraction should it become impossible to visit due to change in opening times, days. For information about more garden tours available throughout the year, please visit our Garden Tours page. |
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