GREAT GARDENS

The tour starts at 8.00am on Monday 2 June, at London Gatwick airport for our flight to Newquay.

The tour ends at 4.00pm on Thursday 12 June, as we arrive at London Victoria Station.

Meet your tour leader at London Gatwick airport at 8.00am to commence the tour. We have a 9.30am flight from Gatwick to Newquay, where on arrival we depart by coach to St Ives to stretch our legs and grab lunch, before a visit to the studio and garden of 20th-century sculptor Barbara Hepworth. The Barbara Hepworth Sculpture Garden and Museum is based in the studio Hepworth established in 1949, in search of more space to work on her sculptures. Most of the monumental bronzes are still in the positions in which the artist herself placed them, and the garden itself was laid out by Hepworth with help from a friend, the composer Priaulx Rainier. We continue on to Tregenna Castle, our base for the next four nights. Set within 72 acres of private grounds, overlooking the Cornish coast, we enjoy a welcome drink on arrival followed by dinner in the hotel. Overnight St Ives (D)

Following an introductory talk this morning, we travel by coach to Marazion, where, depending on the tide, we’ll either walk the pilgrims’ causeway or cross by boat to St Michael’s Mount. Once a sister abbey to Mont St Michel off Normandy, the island and castle have been owned since the 17th century by the St Aubyn family. After touring the castle, we explore its extraordinary gardens, parts of which date back to the 18th century. Making our way back across the causeway, we first enjoy a welcome lunch at The Godolphin Arms on the water’s edge of Mount’s Bay before a short coach ride to Godolphin – a romantic Tudor mansion set in extensive Elizabethan gardens. One of Cornwall’s best-kept secrets, this 600-acre estate was built by the Godolphin family, who were prominent in the reign of Queen Anne, and features gorgeous woodlands (complete with Bluebells) and a display of antique farm wagons housed in the 16th-century stables. We return to our hotel to freshen up before our performance at The Minack Theatre this evening. This spectacular open air theatre is perched on the Cornish cliffs overlooking the spectacular panorama of Porthcurno Bay. Overnight St Ives (B, L)

Today, we take in the scenic views above the iconic Cornish coast as we fly across the sea to the Isles of Scilly. At the heart of this archipelago lies Tresco, one of five inhabited islands, and it’s here we visit Tresco Abbey Gardens – home to subtropical plants and the Valhalla Museum, displaying wooden figureheads from local shipwrecks. First laid out in the 1830s by Augustus Smith around the ruins of a Benedictine Abbey, Tresco Abbey Gardens are still owned and run by the same family. The mildest and warmest climate in the UK thanks to their position in the middle of the Gulf Stream, the Isles have a remarkable subclimate, sunny most of the year, mild and wet. A subtropical paradise, home to plants that would stand no chance at all just 30 miles away on the Cornish mainland, the garden is home to species from across the world’s Mediterranean climate zones, from Brazil to the Antipodes, and from Burma to South Africa. In the late afternoon we take a flight back to the mainland, with the evening at leisure. Overnight St Ives (B)

We make our way to Penzance in West Cornwall this morning, where we enjoy a guided tour of the fabulous Tremenheere Sculpture Gardens. With one of the best views in England, looking out across the English Channel to the sun-kissed walls of St Michael’s Mount, this remarkable 20-acre hillside garden contains an extraordinary collection of contemporary sculpture scattered amongst large scale exotic planting by the likes of James Turrell, Kishio Suga and David Nash to name a few. Once upon a time, Tremenheere was the hill that provided the monks of St Michael’s with wine and vegetables, but today, the garden has been created over the past 25 years from the vision and sweat of Neil Armstrong – plantsman, curator, gardener and local GP – and his wife Jane Martin. After a leisurely walk through the valley, we then catch the famous Branch line from St Erth back to St Ives, one of the most scenic in Britain. This short but spectacular train journey sweeps along the coast, past the golden sands of Hayle Towans and Carbis Bay before arriving at Porthminster Beach. On arrival, the afternoon is at leisure and you may like to take an optional visit to Tate St Ives before returning to the hotel. Overnight St Ives (B)

We leave Saint Ives and head east to our next hotel in the countryside outside St Austell, set in 43 acres of parkland. Our first stop on the way is at The Lost Gardens of Heligan. Laid out in the 19th century they are a classic example of the Victorian ‘Gardenesque’ style and as such are highly prized for their botanical diversity. A genuine secret garden, the once-thriving Heligan estate was lost for decades under dense undergrowth until a door to one of the walled gardens was discovered by accident in 1990. An award-winning restoration project followed and today we’re able to explore 200 acres of subtropical gardens, ancient woodland and a jungle filled with strange and marvellous plants and trees. The world’s attention was focused via television programs on the garden’s ‘rediscovery’ in the 1990s, in which one of the central figures was Tim Smit. The experience proved pivotal for Smit, now Sir Tim Smit, in the creation of his Eden Project. Opening in 2001, the Project’s central attraction are its two remarkable biomes, the smaller simulating a Mediterranean environment, the larger a rainforest. In addition to this there are miles of paths that twist and turn up and down the slopes. This evening we enjoy dinner together in the hotel. Overnight St Austell (B, D)

This morning we head north to the coastal village of Padstow, famous for its association with celebrity chef Rick Stein. Upon arrival, you are free to explore this charming village before we enjoy lunch at one of Stein’s restaurants. After lunch, we visit Lanhydrock, a late Victorian country house, and one of the loveliest National Trust properties in Cornwall. Dating back to the 17th century, much of the house was destroyed by fire in 1881 and subsequently rebuilt. At the same time, the formal gardens as we see them today were laid out. There is time to stroll the extensive gardens admiring the herbaceous borders, a formal parterre and colourful higher gardens filled with camellias, magnolias and rhododendrons. We return to the hotel, with the evening at leisure. Overnight St Austell (B, L)

We depart the hotel this morning for one of Britains finest gardens, The Garden House on the edge of Dartmoor. A true plantsman’s paradise created by Lionel and Katharine Fortescue with the help of head gardner Keith Wiley, it delights both the seasoned gardener and those who simply enjoy immersing themselves in the beauty and tranquillity of 12 acres of stunning gardens. We enjoy a stroll around the grounds, exploring the Summer Garden, Cottage Garden and Acer Glade, the walled garden and finally the Jubilee Arboretum, where we break for lunch. In the afternoon we travel to nearby Wildside. After leaving The Garden House in 2004, Wildside has been Keith Wiley’s experiment in ‘new naturalism’, a movement which seeks to work in harmony with nature, allowing plants to thrive much as they would in the wild. The four-acre site – once a cider orchard – now consists of the lower garden, the courtyard garden and the canyons. Following our visit, we return to the hotel with the evening at leisure. Overnight St Austell (B)

Departing St Austell, today sees us heading for the wilds of Dartmoor and our hotel for the last three nights, the beautifully situated Bovey Castle – originally the home of the son of newsagent millionaire, WH Smith. On the way we call into the fairytale gardens of Endsleigh. Set in 108 acres, Endsleigh was the last garden designed by Humphry Repton in 1814, commissioned by the scandalous Duchess of Bedford. The garden brings together a multitude of landscaping elements for which Repton was renowned and is today known as the ‘Garden Paradise of the West.’ We enjoy a guided tour of the grounds, followed by a light lunch in the cafe. We then enjoy some free time (and possibly a cream tea!) in the world heritage-listed market town of Tavistock. Continuing to Bovey Castle in the later afternoon, there is time to freshen up on arrival before we gather for dinner in the hotel. Overnight North Bovey (B, L, D)

The morning we visit the historic Hestercombe House & Gardens near Taunton, offering four centuries of garden design across fifty acres, with its earliest remaining feature a stone archway dating from about 1280. Hestercombe’s formal garden, commissioned in 1903, is arguably the finest example of Gertrude Jekyll’s collaboration with Sir Edwin Lutyens. We then make our way to Castle Drogo, the last castle to be built in England. Constructed between 1911 and 1930, it was also designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens, and is now considered one of his finest achievements. Although much of the planting was done by George Dillstone, Lutyens of course called in his long-time collaborator Jekyll for advice. Overnight North Bovey (B)

Today takes us to north Dartmoor as we make our way to the most beautiful and romantic of all Royal Horticultural Society gardens in England, Rosemoor. The garden was initially created by Lady Anne Palmer and later, when the garden was taken over by the Royal Horticultural Society in 1990, a master plan was produced by Elizabeth Banks Associates to develop the garden. Aptly, given its name, its rose garden alone includes over 2000 plants. Rosemoor is a public display garden offering examples of new and innovative planting using the widest possible variety of plants. Its summer Hot Garden is a perennial favourite. There are also fine examples of trees from around the world in its arboretum. Our final night sees us gathering for a private farwell dinner in the Bovey Room of the Castle. Overnight North Bovey (B, D)

After breakfast this morning we travel by coach to London, with our glorious garden visits culminating at the world-famous Stourhead enroute. Probably the most beautiful 18th-century Arcadian Landscape garden in England, Stourhead was created between 1740 and 1780 by wealthy English banker Henry Hoare. An idyllic mix of Classical and Gothic, the walk around the lake, crossed at one end by its beautiful Palladian bridge, takes in temples to Apollo and Flora, a pantheon, a thatched cottage and one of the most dramatic Rococo grottos in England. Following a break for lunch on the grounds, we continue to London Victoria Station where the tour ends in the late afternoon. (B)