Day 1. Arrive London
Arrive into London and be transferred to the hotel. Enjoy dinner this evening and meet your fellow guests.
- Daily Meals Included:
- • Dinner
Day 2. Private Gardens of London
Experience a day's cruising on the river Thames, visiting private and barge gardens. Meet their owners and enjoy the opportunity to compare English planting techniques with the Australian method. This afternoon we make our way down to our Sussex Hotel.
- Daily Meals Included:
- • Breakfast
- • Lunch
- • Dinner
Day 3. Sarah Raven's Cutting Garden and Wakehurst Garden
This morning we arrive at Sarah Raven's Cutting Garden, the wife of Adam Nicolson, the grandson of Vita Sackville-West. Sarah is a well-known gardener, writer and TV personality who has transformed an old Dairy Farm property 'Perch Hill' into a stunning garden and cookery school in East Sussex. Afterwards visit Wakehurst Garden with its 20th century arts and crafts garden and picturesque woodland surrounding a grand 16th century house.
- Daily Meals Included:
- • Breakfast
Day 4. Pashley Manor and Merriments Gardens
This morning visit Pashley Manor Gardens to see Romantic English landscaping and artistic planting framed by fine old trees, fountains and ponds, with the unusual Tudor/Georgian manor house. Afterwards visit Merriments Gardens with lawns, richly planted borders, a pergola, a bog garden and a water garden with a bridge.
- Daily Meals Included:
- • Breakfast
Day 5. Long Barn Garden
Today visit Long Barn, the former home of Vita Sackville-West and Harold Nicolson. The house is also notable for having famous residents such as Douglas Fairbanks and Charles Lindbergh at various times. Enjoy time to explore the gardens before returning to your hotel for a free afternoon to relax.
- Daily Meals Included:
- • Breakfast
Day 6. Gravetye Manor and Loseley Park and Gardens
Visit another classic arts and crafts style garden at Gravetye Manor considered to be amongst the most influential in English gardening history due to the innovative and revolutionary gardener, William Robinson who lived here. Afterwards we visit Loseley Park and the privately owned castle and gardens. Gertrude Jekyll provided plans for the garden in 1905 where even today you can still see the Yew hedges, Mulberry and Cedar trees. Loseley was also used as one of many filming locations for the popular TV series 'The Crown'. Make our way to our hotel near Hampton Court Palace for a two night stay.
- Daily Meals Included:
- • Breakfast
- • Lunch
Day 7. RHS Wisley and Hampton Court Palace
Today we travel to RHS Wisley Gardens - Britain's best loved garden. See both informal and formal gardens here as well as their small scale 'Model Gardens' to see what can be achieved at home. This afternoon you may choose to explore the castle and privy garden of Hampton Court on your own or enjoy some free time to relax.
- Daily Meals Included:
- • Breakfast
- • Dinner
Day 8. Hampton Court Flower Show
This morning enjoy a short stroll from your hotel over to Hampton Court Flower Show with your Botanical Guide. Spend a full day here, if you wish, at what is said to be the most spectacular and largest of the English garden shows. Your tour concludes in London this afternoon with a drop off at London Heathrow Airport at approximately 3pm or The St James Court Hotel at approximately 4pm.
- Daily Meals Included:
- • Breakfast