Day 1
We depart from London at 8.00 am approximately. The coach can also pick up in Reading, Swindon and Bristol at 9.15am, 10.15am and 12 noon respectively (Rail/air connections and/or overnight accommodation in London or Bristol before or after the tour are available on request). We will break our journey by visiting Hestercombe Gardens, near Taunton, one of Gertrude Jekyll and Edwin Lutyens’ greatest masterpieces. The garden is home to a round pool in a round walled garden filled with wintersweet and roses, a Dutch garden of lamb's ears, lavender and the most beautiful orangery of the 20th century. Everywhere there are details of design and planting from which any gardener can learn.
We continue to our hotel, the comfortable Bay Hotel, Newquay (or similar) to arrive in time for dinner. All rooms have en suite facilities, hairdryer, television and hospitality tray. The hotel also boasts a pool, sauna, games room and pool table. The evening will be at leisure to relax.
Day 2
Today following our full English breakfast we will travel to the Lost Gardens of Heligan. The award winning gardens, asleep for more than seventy years, are the scene of the largest garden restoration project in Europe. In the spring of 1991, the Gardens of Heligan lay under a blanket of bramble, ivy, rampant laurel and fallen timber. A year later the restoration team opened the gardens to enable the public to share in the excitement of their discovery.
Our next visit is to Trebah Garden, near Falmouth, which is a wild and colourful Cornish garden with something for everyone. The garden was laid out originally in the 1840s and flourished to become one of England's great gardens by the 1930s. After the death of the then owner, the garden was sadly neglected for many years until it was taken over by the Hibbert family, who still run it today. Wander down the "Zig-Zag", a slope where a rare collection of exotic Mediterranean plants was recently planted. You may also see Rhododendron Valley, a huge amphitheatre of sixty foot high rhododendrons, many of which were imported as seed in the 1890s. We return to our hotel in time for dinner.
Day 3
Today, following breakfast, we will travel to the exciting Eden Project, near St Austell. The Eden Project is a 50 metre deep, 34 acre china clay pit which has been reclaimed and transformed to house 2 controlled environment plant conservatories, the larger of which recreates the climate of the Tropics and displays some of its plants such as cotton, rice, rubber, orchids, bamboo and rainforest flowers. At its highest point it reaches 50 metres, taller than Nelson’s Column. The second conservatory recreates a warm temperature climate and houses plants from Southern Africa, the Mediterranean and south western America, with orange trees, olives, grape vines and hundreds of colourful flowers.
Our last visit today is to the remarkable Pine Lodge Gardens. Set in 30 acres of parkland Pine Lodge boasts a pinetum arboretum, a marsh garden and many rare and tender plants. The plants are labelled for easy identification. Dinner is served at the hotel in the evening.
Day 4
Sadly today we must return home. En route there is still time to visit the gardens of Killerton, near Exeter. Countless trees and shrubs thrive here in the acid soil including rhododendrons, magnolias, stewartias and maples. A masterly rock garden in an old quarry sparkles with hellebores, hostas and geraniums among mossy rocks under a canopy of old camellias and maples.
We expect to return to our original departure point in the evening.