Day 1
We depart by coach from our designated pick-up points and head north for the Lake District stopping en route for refreshments.
Our first visit will be to the gardens of Arley Hall, near Northwich. A pair of herbaceous borders was laid out in 1846, and they survive to this day, beautifully maintained – one of the great garden sights of England. There are also old walled gardens with good mixed borders and a simple terraced walk above a ha-ha. Still in private ownership, Arley Hall preserves the atmosphere of a garden kept for it’s own delight.
We will then travel to our comfortable accommodation at the Crooklands Hotel near Kendal, which offers a peaceful, rural setting, good food and a convivial atmosphere. All rooms have private facilities, direct dial telephone, TV, hairdryer and tea/coffee making facilities.
Dinner will be served in the hotel in the evening.
Day 2
After breakfast, we will visit Dove Cottage in Grasmere, William Wordsworth’s home from 1799 to 1808 and now an award-winning museum. This is where much of his poetry was written and where his sister Dorothy kept her famous journals. There were many famous visitors to Dove Cottage during Wordsworth’s time here: Walter Scott, Thomas De Quincey, Robert Southey and Samuel Taylor Coleridge, to name but a few. Much of his life at Dove Cottage was centred around the garden and orchard, the harshness of the white-wash cottage subdued by his training of roses, honeysuckle and scarlet beans to clamber up the walls. Dorothy brought such plants as wild thyme and wild orchids from the side the lake.
Our next visit will be to gardens at Brantwood, the home of the late John Ruskin. The gardens and the house were largely conceived by John Ruskin as a “living laboratory” for social and environmental issues, each incorporating a careful aesthetic mix of seemingly natural effects embellished by man. The “Hortus Inclusus” – a medieval-style garden, contains an extensive collection of British native herbs. Behind the house over 270 different British hardy ferns thrive beneath the tall oaks of the Linton Fern Garden. Closer to the house is the Professor’s Garden – Ruskin’s cottage garden experiment, which has been restored in the spirit of its creator. A selection of herbs, cottage flowers and 19th century varieties of fruit thrive in this small plot. There is also a carefully reconstructed bee-house.
Our final visit today is to the wonderful gardens of Holehird, in a well wooded position on slopes above the eastern shore of Lake Windermere. The Lakeland Horticultural Society are responsible for the impeccable upkeep of this magnificent garden. The soil is acid and rainfall is famously high, giving excellent conditions for azaleas, ferns and rhododendrons, Himalayan poppies and maples. A fine walled garden, recently restored, gives protection to many surprisingly tender plants - callistemon, carpenteria and diascia. Holehird has National Collections of astilbes - probably the largest in the world - hydrangeas and polystichum ferns.
We return to the hotel in time for dinner.
Day 3
Today following breakfast we will visit Holker Hall where the gardens are the result of the late 18th century planting of Lord George Cavendish. Several new features were added in the early 19th century – an arboretum, a conservatory, balustraded terraces and a large walled kitchen garden. There are spectacular displays of rhododendrons in spring and early summer; later in the season magnificent blooms grace the arbours and cascade with a riot of colour. The Great Holker Lime, labelled as one of the finest and largest common limes (Tilia europaea) in Britain, measures 7–9 metres in girth, and was awarded the distinction of being one of Britain’s 50 great trees in honour of the Queen’s Golden Jubilee. There is a National Collection of Styracaceae and a labyrinth – one of the newest features of the garden which is set within the wildflower meadow.
Our final visit of the day is to the gardens at the National Trust Sizergh Castle near Kendal. Originally built in the Middle Ages by the Strickland family, who still live here, this imposing house, at the gateway to the Lake District, stands proud in a rich and beautiful garden with a pond, a lake, an important collection of hardy ferns and a superb limestone rock garden. The estate is crossed with footpaths, giving stunning views over Morecambe Bay and the Lakeland hills.
We return to the hotel in time for dinner.
Day 4
This morning we must leave the hotel after breakfast and head for home, stopping en-route to visit Levens Hall gardens. The topiary gardens are world-famous and were created in 1694 by Monsieur Guillaume Beaumont, who had been trained under Le Notre at Versailles, and who laid out the gardens at Hampton Court. Under the magnificent topiary you will find colourful spring or summer bedding. There is also a rose garden, a nuttery, fine herbaceous borders and a fountain garden laid out with pleached limes in 1994 to celebrate 300 years of the gardens at Levens Hall.
Our final visit will be to Bridgemere Garden World in Cheshire. No other garden centre has the sense of horticultural excitement that you will find at Bridgemere. It is a huge place - 25 acres in all - and there are enormous numbers of plants of every kind: it probably carries the greatest commercially available range in the country.
We then continue south and expect to return to our original departure points mid-late evening.