We depart from our pick-up points in London and Gatwick and head towards Kent and our first visit, Great Comp Garden – a beautiful seven-acre garden with many beautiful and rare shrubs, perennials and other hardy plants.  This Kent Garden is a plantsman’s haven.  The year starts with Hellebores, followed by magnolias, rhododendrons and azaleas, then the remainder of the year follows with rare and exotic shrubs and perennial plants such as the huge collection of Salvias. Ornamental grasses in great variety punctuate the colourful borders and combine beautifully with the myriad colours of late autumn. There are areas of formal and informal plantings linked with meandering grass paths and ruins homing in on an Italian Garden.

From here we continue to the magnificent Lullingstone Castle.  A historic family mansion dating back to the time of Domesday, frequented by Henry VIII and Queen Anne, the manor house and garden are set in the beautiful Darent Valley. The garden was designed by horticulturist Tom Hart Dyke, a modern-day plant hunter who follows in the traditions of plant hunters who used to risk their lives and limbs in pursuit of fantastic blooms and plants. He was held captive for nine months by Columbian guerrillas in 2000 and on his release, he created the World Garden of Plants, which continues to grow and build each year adding rare and important botanical plants to its collection.