Tour Code

Depart London

Return London

CFS

NIGHTSTOP

DAY ONE

DAY TWO

Ightham Mote, Knole, Scotney Castle

Ightham Mote, deservedly one of the most popular small gardens in the region. Here you can explore 650 years of history in the most complete examples of a mediaeval moated manor house.
Scotney Castle has been termed England's most romantic garden with Victorian terraces covered in a riot of coloured shrubs overlooking a 14th century moated castle.

The garden is set on the side of a valley at 500 feet but is sheltered by the magnificent woods of the Sussex Weald.

Finally, a climatic finish to our first day with a visit to Knole. This is one of England great 'treasure houses'. Home of the Lords Sackville since 1603, the property has much to offer including Royal Stuart furnishings and a fine art collection of English masters. Knole was the birthplace of Vita Sackville-West (whose own garden creation we'll see later) and was used by Virginia Woolf as the setting for her novel 'Orlando'. A visit here is like stepping back in time.

Sevenoaks

DAY THREE

Groombridge Place, Hever Castle, Sissinghurst

We travel the short distance to the fabulous Sissinghurst Castle. Vita Sackville-West's world famous garden is another that requires no introduction to garden enthusiasts. You'll have plenty of time to explore this intimate and intricate garden and to visit those parts of her home open to the public.
Hever Castle is the jewel in our day. Hever is many people's idea of what a 'real' castle should look like, from its gateway and courtyard to its surrounding moat. It is the most fairy-tale like. Though dating back to 1270, and being the family home of one of Henry VIII's ill-fated wives (Anne Boleyn), it also has a relatively contemporary feel provided by the Astors who took over and restored the castle in the early part of last century.  With a 30-acre garden including a unique Italian garden filled with roses and statues, there's plenty to admire here.
Our final garden today will be Groombridge. This has the added attraction of an attached house and Sherlock Holmes fans will enjoy discovering the connection here to the great detective.   We also need to leave some flexibility for 'serendipity' today as we'll no doubt find some attraction en route that is unplanned but which we simply must stop for. Well, it wouldn't be a Back-Roads tour if that didn't happen!

Bodiam, Great Dixter, local informal gardens and your choice!

On a Back-Roads Touring Co. tour we like to leave room for adaptation; adaptation to the weather, the local conditions, and most importantly, adaptation to the desires of tour participants. Thus, on today’s programme we’ll leave space for you, in consultation with the guide to decide on at least one visit. This region is blessed with homes and gardens; Penshurst Place, Leonardslee, Pashley Manor and Emmetts, to name but a few that have wonderful qualities.  This morning the choice will be yours.
Another iconic garden and house is that of Great Dixter. This is the largest half-timbered house in England but it's the garden that really grabs the attention with it topiary, wild meadows and famed Long Border. It is one that cannot be missed.
We've an opportunity of a slight change of pace and period for today's final visits. You'll have the choice of seeing the magnificently preserved 15th century Bodiam Castle, the Abbey connected with the famed 1066 Battle of Hastings or, perhaps, Kipling's house, Bateman's. Dinner is not included tonight to allow some flexibility for attending London theatre.

Chiswick House, Ham House, Kew

Our London day concentrates on some of the gardens and stately homes that run along the banks of the Thames to the west of the city like a string of pearls.

Robert Adams ‘Osterly Park’, Gunnesbury House, the municipal gardens of Walpole House in Ealing are all deserving of attention but supreme amongst them is Syon House with its Tudor connections and National Trust arboretum.

A short distance away, close to Marble Hill House and under the watchful eye of Richmond Hill, sits Ham House. This magnificent 16th century pile boasts on of the last formal Dutch gardens. Our method of reaching the house, by rowed ferry across the Thames adds a special dimension to the visit!

Last, but certainly not least on our day is the Royal Botanic Gardens of Kew.

Dinner tonight will be taken in an historic Thames riverside pub.

The World famous CHELSEA FLOWER SHOW is our central feature of the day. There’s an afternoon option to visit Chiswick House for those who don’t want the whole day at Chelsea. Chiswick is a pleasant garden and ‘party’ home created by Lord Burlington and architect Inigo Jones at Chiswick. This public, neighbourhood space delights all visitors with its informality and its well tended and colourful flower beds.

Dinner is not included on the tour this evening to give flexibility to those who wish to stay as long as is possible at the Chelsea Flower Show.

Kenwood House, Highgate Village - a guided walk, Highgate Cemetery

North London offers us a day of variety. We have the amazing Kenwood House. We can do no better than to quote from the National Trust’s own website description: ‘Set in leafy grounds beside Hampstead Heath, this outstanding house was remodelled by Robert Adam between 1764 and 1779. He transformed the original brick building into a majestic villa for the great judge, Lord Mansfield. The richly decorated library is one of Adam's great masterpieces, a feast for the eyes.’

Nearby is a London village, captured in time – Highgate. What is time but full of care if we have no time to stand and stare. And so we shall, soaking up the atmosphere of a more gentle time but with London of the 21st century not only a short way away, but visible from the hill top.

Finally, a place where few might think of going on a garden tour, but where can one beat the serenity of a great cemetery? And Highgate is no ordinary cemetery. It s a huge, sprawling collection of wonderful tomb stones, of Victorian Gothic fantasies, of family memorials, all set amidst what has been designated a Grade II park. The good and the great are buried here too (some 850 ‘notable’) and our stroll will take us past everyone from Karl Marx to Sir Ralph Richardson.   

Dinner tonight will be taken in the neighbourhood of Chiswick or Ealing.

Southside House & Hatchlands or Claredon or Polesdon Lacy

Our first visit of the day is a very special one; to a home described by connoisseurs as an unforgettable experience, Southside House provides an enchantingly eccentric backdrop to the lives and loves of generations of the Pennington Mellor Munthe families. Maintained in traditional style without intrusive refurbishment and crowded with the family possessions of centuries, Southside offers a wealth of fascinating family stories and associations with Queen Natalie of Serbia and her son Alexander, Nelson’s Lady Hamilton and others. Our visit has that special touch in that we have ‘family connections’!

Polesden Lacey, our next stop, represents the Regency period (1820s) in our historical panorama. Sumptuous? Certainly sumptuous enough to have attracted King George VI and wife Elizabeth (our beloved and much missed Queen Mother) to spend part of their honeymoon here. In addition to the magnificent interior, there's the lovely walled rose garden to walk through.

Finally, we'll look at Hinton Ampner. This is one of the great gardens of the 20th-century. It is a masterpiece of design by Ralph Dutton, 8th and last Lord Sherborne, uniting a formal layout with varied and informal plantings in pastel shades. It boasts a 12-acre garden of year-round interest with scented plants and magnificent vistas over parkland and rolling Hampshire countryside. Alternative gardens offered today are Hatchlands and Claredon.

New Forest to IOW, Mottistone Manor, Osborne House

The Isle of Wight sits a short ferry crossing from Portsmouth and offers us a unique day out with some fabulous sightseeing opportunities. The jewel in today's crown is Osborne House. This was where Queen Victoria chose to spend her Summers. The house and gardens are national treasures. Here, inside, you'll see how Queen Victoria lived (and also sneak a look 'beneath stairs' to see how her staff worked and lived). In the wonderful 50 acre gardens that sweep to the Swiss Cottage & its garden, you'll walk amongst magnolias,. Lebanon cedar, azaleas and other in-season blooms. There's also a perfect Victorian walled kitchen garden.

A second visit for the day takes us to Mottistone Manor, a garden noted for its colourful herbaceous borders, grassy terraces planted with fruit trees and its sea views. The 16th- and 17th-century manor house, which is tenanted, lies at the heart of the Mottistone Estate, which offers delightful walks between the Downs and the coast.

We'll spend the rest of our day soaking up the atmosphere of this lovely little corner of the British Isles and exploring its coastline and resort towns. If we've time, and the inclination amongst group members, we might also see Morton House.

Highclere Castle, The Heale Gardens, Stourhead

We've several magnificent properties on today's visit schedule.

Stourhead is a celebrated 18th-century landscape garden and Palladian mansion with enchanting temples, monuments and rare planting around a tranquil lake and set in mature woodlands with a collection of exotic trees. A highlight is the stunning views you get from the top of Alfred's Tower, one of the finest garden follies you'll ever see.

Next, Highclere, one of England's most beautiful Victorian Castles set amidst spectacular Parkland. We have the risk the cliché and say that this building can only be described as ‘breathtaking’. It is the largest mansion in Hampshire with a history going back over 500 years. It lies in a perfect park, the work of Capability Brown during 1774-7 but which also has remnants of the gardening activities of early monks who inhabited the place when it belonged to the Bishop Of Winchester.
 
Finally, we visit The Heale Garden. After the formality of our first two stops, this 8 acres of surprise and colour offers a sharp contrast. There’s a confusion and cluttering that excites the eye and fires the imagination. Most visitors are inspired as everywhere there’s a pocket of riches that one feels can be recreated in one’s own humble patch!

Stonehenge, Wilton House, Mottisfont, Winchester

First to Wilton House, truly one of the country's treasure houses. Here, amidst nearly 500 years of history, you will experience living history at its very best as you wander through its magnificent rooms, marvel at its architecture, soak in its fine paintings or be swept off your feet by its spectacular gardens.
Another marvel nearby is self-selecting as an inclusion on our tour. Though not having any connection with a home or garden, we cannot drive by the amazing Stonehenge with at least a photo-opportunity stop!
Last on today’s formal programme is the magnificent cathedral city of Winchester. The cathedral grounds are a delight and a walk beside the gentle river and it’s adjoining meadows reminds us that nature needs little help in giving us her own natural gardens.
Our journey back into London may offer a final opportunity for stopping at the gardens of Selbourne. Surely, no garden tour can be complete without at least the brief ‘tipping of the hat’ towards one of the great early gardeners and naturalists, Gilbert White.  

Tour concludes upon arrival at your London hotel (accommodation not included in tour price).

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Please note: while we will do our utmost to include all of the properties mentioned as central visits, we reserve the right to change an attraction should it become impossible to deliver a planned visit due to changes in opening days or times that we could not have been aware of at the time of loading this tour to our website. 

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