South Australia’s Heritage, Art & Gardens with Clare Valley

Meet at The Playford Hotel at 1.30pm, where you’ll join a city sightseeing tour, including a visit to the David Roche Foundation which displays the many antiques and fine arts David collected over his lifetime. Later this evening, enjoy a Welcome Dinner. 

Stay: Four Nights, Adelaide, The Playford Hotel or similar

• Dinner

Take in the sights of the Barossa Valley today. While enjoying all that this premier wine region has to offer, we stop in at Maggie Beer’s Farm Shop. Continue to the historic Seppeltsfield Winery, with its avenue of stunning date palms, then visit the private garden of AL-RU Farm, a cattle property which features a stunning garden. 

• Breakfast
• Lunch

This morning, we are shown around ‘Sophie’s Patch’, before adjourning to the drought-tolerant, Mediterranean-style Highcroft Garden. Later, spend time in the quaint German-influenced village of Hahndorf and experience its vibrant main street, with its many cellar doors, sweetshops and cafes. We then drop in at Hans Heysen’s home and studio to see the magnificent gums he was so famous for painting. 

• Breakfast
• Dinner

Today, tour the manor house and gardens of Carrick Hill, before taking a look inside the Australian Museum of Gardening. The collection here spans almost 400 years. Afterwards, visit Ayers House, a lavishly restored colonial-style mansion and the former home of South Australia’s eighth premier. The house dates back to the 1850s, while its museum offers an immersive insight into Victorian history. This afternoon, choose to either explore the Art Gallery of South Australia or take a relaxed tour of the Adelaide Botanic Garden with your Botanical Guide. 

• Breakfast
• Dinner

Depart Adelaide for the Clare Valley. Along the way, visit the famous Haigh’s Chocolate Factory, where you’ll get to sample the exquisite delicacies. Stop for lunch at Anlaby House and Garden, home to South Australia’s oldest merino stud. Enjoy its historically listed gardens, including a walled vegetable garden and terraced lawns. We then visit a local winery for a tasting and afternoon tea. 

Stay: Two Nights, Clare Valley, Clare Country Club or similar

• Breakfast
• Lunch
• Dinner

Arrive at one of South Australia’s best-known homesteads, Martindale Hall. Each room here is a living museum, which allows you to see how the upper class lived in the late 1800s. A charming garden and maze complete this historical image of affluence. Continue on to the historic town of Burra for lunch, before visiting Bungaree Station, a part of South Australia’s rich pastoral heritage which ran 100,000 sheep in its heyday.

• Breakfast
• Dinner

This morning, visit the most famous garden in the Clare Valley, The Heritage Garden. Kay and Walter Duncan have worked hard to create and maintain this lush six-acre private country garden, that includes 2,000 rose bushes. Travel back to Adelaide this afternoon, where your tour concludes at The Playford Hotel at around 2.30pm. 

• Breakfast