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Gardens of England: Kent, Hampshire and the Cotswolds
9 days
This tour is designed as a brief introduction to England’s wonderful gardens, to show you a range from the iconic to the small cottages and allotments. 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.
Kent is known as “The Garden of England” but it is often under appreciated that the areas and Hampshire and the Heart of England also have so much to offer visitors with a gardening interest.
In addition to gardens and the marvelously scenic countryside, we will also see the varying landscape in these 3 regions of England. Going beyond the usual tourist route, 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. This delightful tour is sure to please everyone, avid gardeners and beginners alike!
We have a Special Event tour featuring Tudor Homes and Gardens and the Hampton Court Flower Show, Footsteps of a Queen. We also offer a Chelsea Flower Show tour and other scheduled gardens tours throughout the year.
Available at any date for private groups of 2 – 15 people. Price available upon application. Rates are based upon vehicle and guide hire per day; groups of 7 - 15 would have a per person rate same/similar to one of our scheduled tours of the same length.
If you do not have a group of traveling companions and are still interested in this custom tour itinerary, you are welcomed to join a waitlist…
We record who is looking for travel companions to make up a tour with them. We need between 6 and 8 persons minimum to operate a tour without it being uneconomic for us or too expensive for you. We will be happy to run the occasional special departure IF there is sufficient interest.
If you would like to check on or join a waitlist for this itinerary, please email us for full information: specialgrouptours@yahoo.com
TENTATIVE ITINERARY
Day 1, Friday
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.
Ightham Mote is deservedly one of the most popular small gardens in the region. Here you can explore 650 years of history in the most complete examples of a mediaeval moated manor house.
Our night stop location for these few nights is in a lovely Kentish village.
NIGHT STOP: Sevenoaks or Cranbrook
Day 2, Saturday
Today, the fabulous Sissinghurst, Vita Sackville-West and Sir Harold Nicholson's world famous garden. 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!
Another iconic garden and house is that of Great Dixter. This is the largest half-timbered house in England but it's the garden that really grabs the attention with it topiary, wild meadows and famed Long Border. It is yet another attraction that cannot be missed.
NIGHT STOP: as above, Sevenoaks or Cranbrook
Day 3, Sunday
Hopefully, there will also be a number of informal gardens visits today. We'll make our decision based as to which based on the weather and which private gardens are open today as part of the National Gardens Scheme.
There is a fantastic array of popular gardens in the area, as you would expect for an area nicknamed ‘The Garden of England!’ There’s Groomsbridge Place and Goodstone Park, each with its literary connections, the Sackville-West parklands estate, Knole House and the Tudor gem, Hever Castle. A day where we are spoilt for choice!
NIGHT STOP: as above, Sevenoaks or Cranbrook
Day 4, Monday
This morning, a lovely local garden will begin our day.
Our ‘big ticket’ stop will be Leonardslee, a 200 acre spectacular featuring 7 lakes, a sculpture garden, ample wildlife and what’s been called “the most stunning rhododendrons and azaleas in the world.”
Hinton Ampner, may be possible today, subject to time. This is a masterpiece of design by Ralph Dutton, 8th and last Lord Sherborne, uniting a formal layout with varied and informal plantings in pastel shades. It boasts a 12-acre garden of year-round interest with scented plants and magnificent vistas over parkland and rolling Hampshire countryside.
NIGHT STOP: Salisbury area
Day 5, Tuesday (RD)
Mottistone Manor is a garden noted for its colourful herbaceous borders, grassy terraces planted with fruit trees and its sea views. The 16th- and 17th-century manor house, which is tenanted, lies at the heart of the Mottistone Estate, which offers delightful walks between the Downs and the coast.
Exbury Gardens is a spectacular 200-acre woodland garden, world-famous for the Rothschild collection of rhododendrons, azaleas and camellias, rare trees and plants. What a rich, riot of colour this is!
NIGHT STOP: as above, Salisbury area
Day 6, Wednesday
This morning, some time in some of the smaller Salisbury area gardens such as Longstock Water or Arrundells.
We will spend ample time at Wilton House, truly one of the country's treasure houses. Here, amidst nearly 500 years of history, you will experience living history at its very best as you wander through its magnificent rooms, marvel at its architecture, soak in its fine paintings and be swept off your feet by its spectacular gardens.
NIGHT STOP: Cotswolds
Day 7 , Thursday
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.
Painswick is a most attractive Rococo garden; a unique 18th century restoration in a hidden 6 acre Cotswold's combe (valley.)
During our time in the Cotswolds, we will 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. With our small vehicle, we'll get where larger coaches can't and avoid the commercialized 'honey-pots,' discovering the best!
NIGHT STOP: as above, Cotswolds
Day 8, Friday
A selection of local gardens today - small but definitely lovely and noteworthy! Mill Dene is a Romantic garden planned around an old mill, thought to be from Norman times. Wendy Dare, the former organizer of the National Gardens Scheme for Charity and judge at the famed Chelsea Flower Show is the designer.
We may find time for a visit to Snowshill Manor, a Cotswolds stone manor house, former home to an eccentric collector. The many roomed garden is founded on completely organic principles.
Seizencote is one of the most English of parks with a distinct feel of Repton influence. Highlights include an orangery and an exotic oriental water garden – a lovely choice for another lovely day!
NIGHT STOP: as above, Cotswolds
Day 9, Saturday
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.
Our garden grand finale is your choice – you can choose to spend time at Blenheim Palace or the group can select one of the fantastic local Oxfordshire farm or cottage gardens to round off your holiday!
This afternoon, we will make our way back into London where you will be dropped off at your hotel.
Please note: All garden opening times are correct at time of printing this website. While we will do our utmost to include all of the properties mentioned as central visits, we reserve the right to change an attraction should it become impossible to deliver a planned visit due to changes in opening days or times that we could not have been aware of at the time of loading this tour to our website.
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