GREAT GARDENS OF WESSEX

Day 1 | Wednesday 27 May
Arrival & Upton Grey Manor
Our journey begins at the Marriott Heathrow Airport Hotel, before travelling by coach to Upton Grey Manor. This Arts and Crafts masterpiece was first created by the great Gertrude Jekyll in 1908. Lost to the vagaries of time, it was only re-discovered by John and Rosamund Wallinger when they bought the falling-down manor house in 1984. Subsequently, guided by Jekyll’s original planting plans, Ros has recreated, exactly and passionately, the garden as it first was with signature herbaceous borders, colour-themed planting schemes and intimate garden rooms defined by yew hedges and stone walls. After time to explore the terraced walks, orchard and wildflower meadows, we continue west to Bath, stopping en route for lunch in a traditional countryside inn. On arrival, we check into our hotel before taking an orientation walk through Bath’s harmonious Georgian streetscapes. In the evening we enjoy a welcome dinner in our hotel’s fine-dining restaurant. Overnight Bath (L, D)

Day 2 | Thursday 28 May
Allt y Bela
After a talk in our hotel this morning, we travel into the Welsh countryside to visit Allt y Bela, the restored medieval home and gardens of renowned designer Arne Maynard. Nestled in a secluded valley, the ochre-washed farmhouse is framed by a rich tapestry of planting. At its heart is topiary – not simply ornamental, but structural – replacing garden walls to create flow and division. The garden also overflows with roses, woven naturally into meadows and trees, or trained over domes and along stone walls. Among them are striking varieties like Rosa ‘Astra Desmond’, chosen for its resilience and soft beauty in shaded corners, and Rosa ‘Sir Paul Smith’, whose long-flowering blush cascades near the house in a glamorous counterpoint to the rural setting. This is a rare opportunity to explore a designer’s own evolving canvas – a space of experimentation, seasonal drama and deep personal expression. We return to Bath in the mid-afternoon, leaving time to explore the city’s independent shops, enjoy the thermal spa, or take a riverside walk before an evening at leisure. Overnight Bath (B)

Day 3 | Friday 29 May
West Lavington Manor & Seend Manor
Today we are the guests at two outstandingly beautiful, and private, Cotswold gardens. The first is West Lavington Manor, a 15th-century estate with a spectacular five-acre walled garden established by Sir John Danvers, who introduced the Italianate garden to England in the early 1600s. Guided around by either passionate owner, Australian ex-pat Andrew Doman, or his equally passionate head gardener Jonathan (plus his trusty canine companion Nettle), we explore formal terraces, ornamental ponds and sweeping lawns, alongside features such as a laburnum walk, authentic Japanese garden, orchard of 25 fruit varieties, and a
recently added mulberry rotunda. A short drive then brings us to The Three Daggers, a country pub where we enjoy a relaxed lunch showcasing local produce. In the afternoon we visit neighbouring Seend Manor, where 28-acre grounds have been imaginatively designed by Julian and Isabel Bannerman for owners Amanda and Stephen Clark. The Bannermans are famous for their romantically idiosyncratic designs at, among many, Highgrove, Arundel Castle, Woolbeding and Dumfries House. The one-and-a-half-acre walled garden and surrounding landscape reflect global themes inspired by the couple’s travels and life abroad. Water features, specimen trees and terraced plantings create a space that balances theatricality with quiet reflection. We return to Bath in the late afternoon. Overnight Bath (B, L)

Day 4 | Saturday 30 May
Bowood House & Lacock Abbey
Following a morning talk in the hotel, we travel to Bowood House, a Georgian country estate that has been home to the Fitzmaurice family for over 250 years. Set within 100 acres of Capability Brown–designed parkland, Bowood blends sweeping lawns, a serpentine lake and woodland glades with formal terraces, an Italianate garden complete with fountain and sculpture, glorious herbaceous borders and a vibrant walled garden. Inside, the house displays a fine collection of art and period furniture, reflecting its role as the historic seat of the Marquesses of Lansdowne. After a break for lunch in the estate café, we continue to Lacock, a perfectly preserved village of timber-framed cottages, owned almost entirely by the National Trust. Untouched by modern development, Lacock has been used as a film location for numerous period dramas. At its heart lies Lacock Abbey, founded as an Augustinian nunnery in the 13th century and later transformed into a Tudor manor house following the Dissolution. We explore its eclectic architectural layers, cloistered courtyards, and tranquil gardens. The adjoining Fox Talbot Museum celebrates the groundbreaking work of William Henry Fox Talbot, one of the inventors of photography, who lived at Lacock in the 19th century. Before return to Bath, we’ll also visit the village allotments – an evolving patchwork of plots cultivated by locals – which offer a window into contemporary gardening practices rooted in centuries of tradition. Overnight Bath (B)

Day 5 | Sunday 31 May
The American Museum & Gardens and Prior Park
Not far from our hotel we find the American Museum & Gardens, located in a Georgian manor with beautiful views over the Limpley Stoke Valley. Inside, the museum presents a rich collection of American decorative arts, with period room settings that trace the development of domestic life from the 17th to the 19th century. The gardens outside reflect an intriguing transatlantic dialogue – combining the structure and formality of English landscape design with planting schemes inspired by American prairie, woodland and colonial styles. Seasonal displays, a replica of George Washington’s garden at Mount Vernon, and a newly designed New American Garden offer a unique perspective on how identities and environments shape garden aesthetics. After our tour of the house and gardens, we enjoy free time for lunch in Bath followed by a visit in the afternoon to the beautiful and intimate Prior Park. Created in the 18th century by entrepreneur Ralph Allen with advice from Capability Brown, its sweeping views over Bath, its famous Palladian bridge – one of only four surviving in the world – and its informal woodland paths exemplify the English landscape style at the height of its popularity when Jane Austen was living in the city. This evening we enjoy dinner
at Côte Brasserie in the heart of Bath. Overnight Bath (B, D)

Day 6 | Monday 1 June
Stourhead
Following a morning talk, we travel to Stourhead, one of Britain’s most iconic and influential landscape gardens (and the one that first kindled Mike’s passion for garden history). Created in the 1740s by wealthy banker Henry Hoare II, the estate reflects the ideals of the English Landscape Movement at its height – a vision of Arcadian beauty shaped by art, literature and the classical world. Hoare worked closely with garden designer Stephen Switzer and architect Henry Flitcroft to transform the valley below the Palladian mansion (built by his father for his family to escape the grime of London) into a living painting, complete with a central lake, classical temples, grottoes and bridges, all revealed in a carefully orchestrated sequence of views. Our tour of the house and subsequent walk through the gardens reveal a physical expression of the Grand Tour aesthetic, echoing the landscapes of Claude Lorrain and Poussin, while incorporating philosophical ideas of harmony, reflection and controlled wildness. After lunch at The Spread Eagle Inn, nestled within the estate, we return to Bath for our final evening here. Overnight Bath (B, L)

Day 7 | Tuesday 2 June
Iford Manor
Departing Bath this morning, we first travel to Iford Manor, famous for its romantic terraced gardens created by Edwardian architect and landscape designer Harold Peto. Influenced by Italian Renaissance gardens, Peto’s design incorporates colonnades, statues and water features within a steep valley setting. Peto, who lived at Iford from 1899 until his death in 1933, shaped the garden as a personal retreat and artistic statement, drawing on his extensive travels through Europe and the East. In 1965, Iford was bought by Elizabeth Cartwright who, together with her husband John Hignett, faithfully maintained Peto’s dream. Our private tour of this well-called ‘haven of peace’ will also include the family’s private walled garden. Following lunch in the estate’s new cafe, we continue north to Cheltenham. On arrival, we take an orientation walk that introduces us to the Regency architecture and elegant public gardens for which the town is known, and in the evening, we dine together at a local restaurant. Overnight Cheltenham (B, L, D)

Day 8 | Wednesday 3 June
Sezincote House & The Laskett
Our morning begins with a visit to Sezincote House, one of the most remarkable and unexpected architectural statements in the English countryside. Built in the early 19th century by Colonel John Cockerell, the house draws directly from Mughal architecture, complete with onion dome, chhatris and minarets – all rendered in Cotswold stone. The design was inspired by the Cockerell family’s service in India and reflects the Regency era’s fascination with the exotic. In 1812, the house was to prove the inspiration for the Prince Regent’s Brighton Pavillion, and the surrounding gardens, laid out by Humphry Repton, echo this Indo-classical aesthetic, combining formal structure with serpentine paths, reflective pools and imaginative planting. The house has survived and prospered due to being bought in 1944 by Cyril and Betty Kleinwort, of the wealthy banking family. Following a private garden tour with head gardener Greg Power, we have a tour of this most exquisite of houses. After lunch nearby at The Horse & Groom in Bourton-on-the-Hill, we continue to The Laskett, the personal creation of Sir Roy Strong, enfant terrible of the arts world and former director of both the National Portrait Gallery and the V&A, and his late wife, the theatre designer Julia Trevelyan Oman. Developed over more than four decades, the gardens unfold as a series of theatrical ‘rooms’, each meticulously layered with historical allusion, personal memory and visual drama. Reflecting the couple’s deep knowledge of art, history and performance, the garden is both a private autobiography and a tribute to the formal traditions of English garden-making. We return to Cheltenham in the late afternoon. Overnight Cheltenham (B, L)

Day 9 | Thursday 4 June
Hidcote & Kiftsgate Court
We begin our day at Hidcote Manor Garden, created in the early 20th century by Major Lawrence Johnston, an American-born horticulturist whose artistic sensibility and passion for plants transformed this corner of the Cotswolds into one of Britain’s most influential gardens. Johnston pioneered the concept of the ‘garden room’, designing a sequence of enclosed outdoor spaces, each with its own mood, colour palette and structural rhythm. Clipped hedges, stone walls and carefully aligned sightlines give way to intimate spaces planted with rare and exotic species collected during his plant-hunting expeditions across Europe, Africa and Asia. The garden’s atmospheric layering and innovative structure helped define the Arts and Crafts garden style and continues to influence designers today. A short walk then brings us to Kiftsgate Court Gardens, a strikingly different yet complementary creation. Over three generations, the women of the Hyde family – Heather Muir, her daughter Diany Binny and granddaughter Anne Chambers – have shaped a garden of great charm and individuality. The design combines formal terraces with exuberant borders and contemporary sculpture, offering ever-changing vistas. Among its many highlights is the enormous Rosa filipes ‘Kiftsgate’. It currently smothers three mature trees and is a sight to behold when in bloom. After time to explore the grounds, we return to Cheltenham for a relaxed evening. Overnight Cheltenham (B)

Day 10 | Friday 5 June
Highgrove
Following a final talk and some free time in Cheltenham, we travel to Highgrove, the private residence of His Majesty King Charles III. Since acquiring the estate in 1980, the King (then Prince of Wales) has personally overseen the transformation of the grounds into a living expression of his values – environmental harmony, heritage preservation and sustainable land stewardship – working closely with leading designers and gardeners, including Miriam Rothschild, Isabel and Julian Bannerman, Sir Roy Strong, and Debs Goodenough, to create a diverse and richly planted landscape. The result is a garden of remarkable depth and variety, from wildflower meadows and Islamic-inspired carpet gardens to highly formal box parterres, topiary and an organic kitchen garden that supplies the royal household. Our guided tour offers privileged insight into this deeply personal garden, concluding with a champagne cream tea in the Orchard Room. After returning to Cheltenham, we gather for a farewell dinner, marking the end of our journey through some of southern England’s most inspiring and beautifully curated landscapes. Overnight Cheltenham (B, AT, D)

Day 11 | Saturday 6 June
Departure
The tour ends after breakfast. Individual transfers to London Heathrow or other onward arrangements will be provided. (B)