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Kent Landscapes
Literary Landscapes in the Garden of England: Stately Homes and Cottage Gardens in Kent and Sussex - Properties with Gorgeous Gardens and Literary Connections
Special Event - tour includes the Broadstairs Charles Dickens Festival!
5 days from London
The county of Kent is known as 'The Garden of England' and this tour is designed as a brief introduction, 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.
In addition to gardens and the marvelously scenic countryside, dotted with oast houses and sometimes lavender fields, this region offers opulent stately homes, historic castles and a rich history dating from the time England began. This tour is designed to hopefully be a fun twist on the usual as all of the gardens we visits also have literary connections!
Tour Date: 17 - 21 June, 2012
Tour Rates: $1699 USD per person; $2249 USD single rate
What your tour price includes: Your accommodation for 4 nights while on the tour including both full breakfasts and dinners. Your price also includes entrance fees to listed attractions, transportation, services of driver/guide-companion and all taxes and tips other than those you may wish to give your guide.
TENTATIVE ITINERARY
Day 1, Sunday
We will make our way out of the city into the marvelously scenic countryside of Kent, a region dotted with oast houses and sometimes blooming lavender fields, an area that rightfully holds the title “The Garden of England.” We’ll travel via the old coaching route, a path well known to Charles Dickens and Chaucer’s pilgrims, along an ‘olde’ London high street and through some charming local Kentish villages to two lovely estates.
We’ll see Westerham, a village mentioned in the Domesday Book and a place with connections to Winston Churchill and General Wolfe of Canada. Nearby is the 17th Century manor house Squerryes Court, home to the Warde Family since 1731. This was the main filming location for the recent BBC mini-series of Jane Austen’s Emma. The estate features attractive formal gardens and parklands with fine views of the surrounding countryside. Originally laid out in 1700, the current gardens are designed following the 18th Century plan as a guideline and feature rich borders, parterres and avenues.
Finchcocks is a Georgian manor set within 13 acres of lovely gardens and parklands, home to a fine musical museum featuring over 100 period keyboard instruments. Amongst the collection are the instruments used in recent period films including Pride and Prejudice, Sense & Sensibility, Emma, and Vanity Fair. Setting the mood, our visit hopefully should coincide with a short recital of classical pieces popular in Regency England.
NIGHTSTOP: Cranbrook area, Kent
Day 2, Monday
Vita Sackville-West and Sir Harold Nicholson's world famous garden of Sissinghurst will be our main visit today. 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 writing workshop, a walled herb garden, mixed border gardens, an oast house museum, a white garden and a cottage garden. Writer and friend to the Bloomsbury Group, Vita’s home also has Virginia and Leonard Woolf’s printing press on display.
Kipling’s home of Batemans is our next port of call. Here, much of the house and grounds, with its tranquil river side setting and pretty gardens, is as the author left it, including his study. The interiors reflect Kipling’s love of the East. As a contrast to the large formal estate gardens, this garden is not grand, but exudes the charm of an English country garden with yew hedges, a rose garden and shallow pond all added by Kipling.
NIGHTSTOP: Kent, as above
Day 3, Tuesday
A full day today! This morning, see historic Canterbury, paying our respects much like Chaucer’s Pilgrims inside the wonderful cathedral and the town itself. Nearby, time and interest permitting, we can see Goodnestone Park, the family estate of Edward Austen Knight’s in-laws. Here is a charming Regency garden with fragrant, famed Walled Garden where Jane Austen was a frequent visitor. It is said that a ball here inspired the start of Pride and Prejudice.
The rest of our day will be spend enjoying the Broadstairs Charles Dickens Festival, a Bicentenary celebration of the author’s life and works. There is a wide range of special events, costumed characters and the opportunity to mix with the locals in this lovely seaside resort town. The locals here, the setting for Dickens’ Bleak House, has held an annual Dickens Festival since 1937.
NIGHTSTOP: Kent, as above
Day 4, Wednesday
‘Bloomsbury in Sussex’ today as we explore the homes of Virginia Woolf at Monk’s House, her final home, and that of her sister Vanessa Bell, Charleston Farm. Here we’ll visit the farmhouse that was the weekend getaway for Woolf, Lytton Strachey, EM Forster and TS Elliot among others. Entering these rooms is like stepping back in time. The gardens of Charleston are of the Arts and Crafts style infused with an Italian flair and certainly reflect the originality of its owners, featuring mosaic paving, original and classical sculptures and a variety of colorful plantings. Vanessa Bell described her creation as “a dithering blaze of flowers and butterflies and apples” while painter Dora Carrington wrote, "Never, never have I seen quite such a wonderful place!...What excellent things there will be to paint in that garden with the pond and buildings."
NIGHTSTOP: Kent, as above
Day 5, Thursday
A leisurely and lovely day as we meander our way back into London. Firstly, we can visit Tunbridge Wells, a former spa town where Regency high society went to “take the waters.” The town is mentioned several times in various Jane Austen novels. Keep your eyes opened in the local shops for ‘Tunbridge ware,’ specially carved wooden boxes uniquely made here.
Our main visit today is to a top garden, one with connections to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and his timeless creation 'Sherlock Holmes' plus a popular recent film version of Pride and Prejudice. The romantic setting of Groomsbridge Place, a moated manor estate featuring formal gardens and a bird of prey centre, has been the inspiration for authors, gardeners and artists since the 17th Century.
Finally, we can have a visit to Dickens’ Rochester as we make our way back into the capital.
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 other theme tours available throughout the year, please visit our Garden Tours and Literary Tours.
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