Gardens of Guernsey and Sark

After breakfast, we travel to the Victorian walled garden at Saumarez Park. Work to restore the walled garden is still in progress, but it is already producing well, yielding crops in varieties appropriate to the Victorian era. The garden has also gained several first prizes in the Northern Agricultural & Horticultural Society's annual show held in the park.

Within the park is the National Trust of Guernsey’s Folk and Costume Museum, where we will enjoy a guided tour. The museum illustrates the history of the people of Guernsey over the last 250 years through their costumes.

We then visit the private gardens of La Haye du Puits. This is a very old estate with extensive formal gardens. We continue to Bruce Russell & Son, a wonderful workshop and showroom where they craft traditional silverware, gold, and platinum jewellery. During the last century, they have been commissioned to design and craft spectacular jewellery for royalty and heads of state.

We conclude today at Candie Gardens, which have given pleasure to many since they were left to the people of Guernsey in 1887.  The gently sloping upper lawn affords the visitor a panoramic view over St Peter Port and the neighbouring islands beyond. The Lower Gardens provide a rare example of a late 19^th century Public Flower Garden as originally laid out, while the heated glasshouses date to the end of the 18^th century, making them the oldest in the British Isles.

We return to our hotel, where dinner will be served in the evening.

A private garden awaits us this morning with its wide variety of unusual and tender plants and shrubs. We continue with a visit to a Craft and Farmers Market, followed by Le Friquet Garden Centre, which is the largest on the island and offers a huge array of plants, seeds and bulbs, together with a relaxed covered shopping area and lively eateries. Later we enjoy a scenic guided coach tour of the island, stopping off at points of interest along the way.

Following breakfast, the day is free to explore at leisure.

Alternatively join our optional excursion to neighbouring Sark, where we  visit the gardens of La Seigneurie, which were created on land bought by Seigneur Le Pelley in 1835. The Walled Garden is aligned with the Church Le Pelley built in 1820 and the central arches framed a view of the tower, a scene now obscured by the new Island Hall. The high walls give protection from the wind and, together with the mild micro-climate, allow many tender and half-hardy plants to thrive. The more unusual specimens are labelled, such as the Australian Bottlebrush and New Zealand Tea Tree. Probably the oldest surviving feature of the original layout is the formal rose garden edged with box hedging. Other features include a Victorian glasshouse on the north wall which shelters some long-established vines; a productive vegetable garden which helps supply the café, and adjacent sensory and wildflower gardens. We later return to Guernsey.

After breakfast we have free time in St Peter Port for shopping. Guernsey’s capital has been a busy entrepôt since Roman times and the Channel Islands’ premier port, graced by the wealth of ship builders, privateers and merchant adventurers. Georgian and Regency styles were enriched by an influx of French emigrés, including Victor Hugo, whose influences included Parisian-style urinoirs! Today the town is a captivating blend of styles, framed by a tumble of terraces and tiered gardens and criss-crossed by worn steps and hidden alleys. There is an excellent range of shops, and the Old Quarter is the place to find antiques.

We enjoy a final visit to another private garden before we transfer to the airport in time for our return flight to London.