Cotswolds - The Cream of Cotswold Gardens, 3 Nightsfrom £ 415.00

Join the author of the definitive guide to Britain’s trees on a stroll through the finest Cotswold gardens

Tour Overview

Broadcaster, author and garden expert Tony Russell will be making full use of home advantage as he guides us round some of the finest gardens to be found nestled among the green and rolling hills of Gloucestershire. Our tour begins at the calm and soothing Abbey House garden at Malmesbury. Hidcote Manor’s garden rooms and Kiftsgate’s splendid views are justly famous but we shall also visit the small, private garden of Mill Dene and at Sezincote discover a fine old garden set against exotic Indian architecture. We also visit the flamboyant Painswick Rococo garden, with its extravagant follies and features and as the author of the definitive guide to the trees of Britain and Europe, Tony will be in his element among the 1500 trees from around the world at Batsford Arboretum.

During our stay in the Cotswolds we will based at the 4-star Tortworth Court Four Pillars Hotel, beautifully situated in the heart of the south Gloucestershire countryside. All rooms have en-suite facilities with television, hairdryer, trouser press and hospitality tray. The hotel’s leisure facilities include an indoor pool plus sauna and steam room, with a range of spa treatments available.

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Tour Itinerary Back to top of page

Day 1
We depart from our pick-ups points in London, Reading, Swindon and Bristol and head for Malmesbury and our first visit, the Abbey House Gardens. This is the private garden of Barbara and Ian Pollard, famous as the ‘naked gardeners’ – although not when groups are visiting! When the Pollards took over this five-acre site it was practically waste ground but a complete transformation has been achieved. It has a unique ‘mediaeval’ herb garden, topiary, a knot garden, extensive herbaceous borders and many ornamental trees, but the great joy of Abbey House is its collection of roses, one of the largest private collections in the UK. Dinner is served on arrival at the hotel.

Day 2
This morning, following breakfast, we visit the gardens of Hidcote Manor, near Chipping Campden. Although among the best known gardens in Britain, Hidcote Manor still has the power to startle. It was begun before World War I by an American, Major Lawrence Johnston, who devised a type of garden that many think of as quintessentially English. It is a garden built up of separate rooms, each connected to the rest but often with blazing contrasts, laid out in a disciplined setting. Everywhere something enticing is glimpsed through an opening, across a pool or framed by a gate.

Later we continue to Kiftsgate Court, which offers an admirable selection of plants and flowers, not least of which is the well-known rambling rose R. filipes ‘Kiftsgate’. The house, in a splendid setting with views to the Vale of Evesham, is surrounded by a series of enclosed gardens, whose formality is blurred by generous planting.

We return to our hotel where dinner is served in the evening.

Day 3
Enjoy your breakfast. We begin this morning with a visit to Batsford Arboretum, one of the jewels in the Cotswolds. Set in 55 acres, it contains over 1500 trees with species from all over the world. The collections cover a wide range of plants particularly from the Far East with a good collection of Acer (Maples), Bamboo, Magnolias, Pinus (Pines), Prunus, Quercus (Oaks) and Sorbus. The landscaping includes rockeries, streams and waterfalls, a lake, statues and a hermits cave.

We continue to the gardens at Sezincote, a remarkable house designed in the Mogul style of Rajastan, with a central dome, minarets, peacock-tail windows and pavilions. A curving Orangery frames the Persian Garden of Paradise with its fountains and canals and the water gardens, with pools, waterfalls and a grotto, are a fine example of the Picturesque style.

Our final visit of today is to the fascinating Rococo Garden near Painswick. This gem of a garden was originally laid out in the early 18th century and is set in a hidden Cotswold valley with magnificent views of the surrounding countryside. The garden can be traced back to 1730 when George Hyett built his Georgian country home which upon his death in the 1740s, passed to his son, who transformed the hidden coombe behind the house into a flamboyant pleasure garden. The garden fell into neglect but was restored in 1884. The garden was recognised as the sole complete survivor from the brief Rococo period of English garden design and today the six acre garden is almost completely restored to the scene shown in the Thomas Robins painting. We return to the hotel in time for dinner.

Day 4
This morning after breakfast we check out of the hotel. Our final visit is to the private garden at Mill Dene, near Moreton-in-the-Marsh. The garden surrounds a Cotswold stone water-mill, set in a tiny, steep-sided valley and has evolved naturally in classic English ‘country garden’ style. A millpond, stream, grotto, potager and trompe l’oeil all contribute to the owner’s design for surprise, concealment, scent, colour and sense of fun. A delightful way to end the tour.

Following our visit we will return to our original pick-up points with arrival due in the late afternoon/early evening.

What's Included Back to top of page

3 nights dinner, bed and full breakfast at the 4-star Tortworth Court Four Pillars Hotel in the Cotswolds. All rooms have private facilities and the hotel boasts full leisure facilities

Comfortable coaching throughout

Entrance to Batsford Arboretum and the gardens of Abbey House, Hidcote Manor, Kiftsgate, Sezincote, Mill Dene and Painswick Rococo

Services of Tony Russell as guide and tour manager

Supplements Per Person Back to top of page

Single room supplement £60.00

Insurance £19.00 (66 years and above £38.00)

Rail/air connections or overnight accommodation before or after the tour available on request

Departure Points Back to top of page

London - Coach bay on Tothill St, between St James's Park Underground (Broadway Entrance)& Westminster Abbey

Reading - Outside Sainsbury's Savacentre, Junction 12 on M4

Swindon – Holiday Inn, Marlborough Road opposite Coate Water Park

Bristol – Bristol Airport shuttle service coach stop at Bristol Temple Meads Railway Station

All pick-up-points are subject to minimum numbers.

A 4-day package by air from Edinburgh or Glasgow (other airports on request) is available from £515pp – ask for our separate brochure

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