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Once in every 10 years – a gardening spectacular
Floriade, Keukenhof and Dutch Gardens 23 April 2012
From: The Van Der Valk Hotel, Venlo
Cost From: £599
Floriade takes place every 10 years and in 2012 the venue is Venlo , in Holland ’s North Limburg , where an estimated 2 million visitors will experience a feast for the senses. Floriade covers a large landscape of over 125 acres will feature pavilions, themed show gardens, flowers, plants, trees and vegetables from countries around the world. Horticultural industries and international organizations and associations will be represented. It has 5 themed areas and each day includes a cultural programme of music, dance, literature, theatre and art. With the assistance of your Brookland Tour Leader and Hillier Host, you will be able to plan the time you spend at Floriade carefully in order to see the highlights of this vast show and with our hotel accommodation just 5kms from the site, it will be possible to enjoy a whole day at this spectacular event.
We will stay for four nights at the Van Der Valk Hotel, Venlo on a half board basis and travel to Holland via a short ferrycrossing from Dover to Calais via Bruges
Gardens, museums, architecture and canals ensure that Holland is one of the most popular destinations in Northern Europe . Holland Keukenhof Gardens
Floriade, The Palace of Het Loo and Dutch Gardens 17 September 2012
From: The Van Der Valk Hotel, Venlo
Cost From: £599
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The September tour will feature Floriade and Het Loo Palace near Apeldoorn , once the favourite summer residence of the Royal Family of the Netherlands Venlo ’s own flower market where intense trading takes place between buyers and suppliers and close by to Venlo
Gardens of South West Ireland
From The Castle Hotel, Macroom
6 to 10 June 2012
From: £829
We fly from Heathrow to Cork in the heart of Southern Ireland for a fabulous feast of plants and gardens. The gardens are magical:
Ilnacullin (Garnish Island ) – Perhaps the most magical setting a garden could have is to be on an island, bathed in warm waters of the Gulf Stream , surrounded by scenery of great natural beauty; such is the situation of Ilnacullin. The Italian garden designed by Harold Peto, the Martello tower, the clock tower, a Grecian temple overlooking the sea, flights of steps and magnificent pedimented gateways: all these superb architectural features are brilliantly integrated with a plant collection of worldwide repute. The island is reached by licensed boats from Glengarriff
The setting for Bantry House and Garden is just magnificent – with views out to Bantry Bay and the Atlantic from a hillside setting. The warm humid climate has influenced the plants that grow there.
Wisterias, magnolias, myrtles, Trachelospermum asiaticum create an Italian feel to the gardens and the garden’s creator, the 2nd Earl of Bantry’ was no doubt inspired by a traditional Grand Tour. There are parterres, terraces and beds around the house with fountains and steps climbing up to a spectacular hillside viewing point. Roses and herbaceous borders provide a traditional feel to the garden.
Lakemount Gardens Cork Ireland , Brian Cross has created, according to the Royal Horticultural Society, one of Ireland
The garden was started in the early 1950’s by Mrs. Peggy Cross, who laid out the basic form by planting hedges to buffet the land from the relentless Atlantic winds. The garden is south-facing and slopes gently away from the house, supporting the cultivation of a multitude of plants from all four corners of the world. Since these early plantings, the garden has evolved into a wonderful oasis of calm. Recently, Brian's wife Rose has created a charming cottage-style area in this constantly-evolving garden.
Unlike most gardens, Lakemount can be described as a garden for all seasons. Careful selection of plants and shrubs provides all-year-round spectacle. No matter what the month, there are always plants of interest and exciting planting compositions within the gardens’ borders.
Lisselan Garden Gulf Stream . Many unusual plants and shrubs not geographically associated with this region can be seen and there are many different types of garden to enjoy.
We also plan to visit one or two stunning private gardens on our visit and there will still be time to enjoy our special hotel. The Castle Hotel in Macroom is a family run 4 star hotel of just 60 rooms and an AA rosette award restaurant. Other facilities include indoor swimming pool, sauna and spa, holistic therapy suites. Macroom is a small historic Irish town with castle ruins and colourful buildings lining the main street.
Fine Gardens of Kent and Sussex
20 to 23 June 2012
The Spa Hotel, Royal Tunbridge Wells
From: £629
Year after year, the demand for this programme does not cease and in 2011 we return to Kent garden of Christopher Lloyd
We experience the new and varied horticultural delights such as Derek Jarman’s famous Seaside Shingle Garden at Dungeness and The Salutation Garden, a hidden treasure in Sandwich . We visit a very private garden associated with Sissinghurst and Vita Sackville West and we also meet Sarah Raven and tour her famous ‘Cutting Garden Lovely Pashley Manor Garden
A busy schedule and we stay at the relaxing and delightful Spa Hotel in Royal Tunbridge Wells. A luxurious hotel that has always been popular with our guests.
Eastern Counties Summer Garden
From The Best Western Priory Hotel, Bury St Edmunds
8 to 11 July 2012
From: £629
This delightful new four day tour is based in Bury St Edmunds which allows us to visit some of Suffolk ’s outstanding gardens and nurseries as well as to travel north east to one of Norfolk ’s most famous and inspirations gardens – the Old Vicarage at East Ruston . En route to our hotel we visit the new Gardens of the Rose in Hertfordshire. The gardens were re-designed for the Royal National Rose Society by Michael Balston and built by Adam Frost Landscapes from 2005 onwards (both Gold Medal Winners at the Chelsea Flower Show). The Society’s overriding intentions are: first, to show how good roses are as garden plants and, second, to display a worldwide collection of rose cultivars – all within an inspirational design. Visitors arrive along this curved walk, which leads from the entrance circle towards the central pergola and ponds. The roses on either side are grouped by colour, ranging from whites to strong reds. Most are popular cultivars and readily available. The central core of the gardens is contained within the pergolas. Here is a profusion of roses of all types, grown in a garden setting alongside shrubs, small trees, bulbs, herbaceous plants and grasses. Coffee will be available on arrival and after touring the garden a light lunch will be available. From here we’ll continue to our hotel to check in.
After breakfast the following morning, we travel to East Ruston Old Vicarage for a private garden viewing with lunch included. Alan Gray and Graham Robeson brought the Arts and Crafts vicarage in 1973 as a holiday home but since 1986 they have lived here full time and developed a spectacular formal garden with magnificent plants. They have opened up vistas which draw in the external landscape, including the church tower. Being only one and a half miles from the sea, careful protection was necessary from the winds in order for tender plants to flourish in the richly fertile loam. Throughout the garden there is evidence of much skill in planting, design and cultivation and over the years Alan and Graham have extended their intricate and opulently planted garden. A strong southerly axis extends from the house and provides a strong framework for a variety of gardens within a garden. In the Mediterranean Garden Exotic Garden has borders of bananas and palms under planted with cannas, dahlias, grasses and salvias and there is a cleverly created Dry Garden
We then return to the outskirts of Bury St Edmunds and visit a highly regarded garden at Wyken Hall, the private home of Sir Kenneth and Lady Carlisle. The gardens at Wyken are very cleverly designed to complement the Elizabethan house and include a Knot Garden and Herb Garden
On the third day of this tour we set out for a drive to Woottens of Wenhaston where we will be met by the owner and founder, Michael Loftus. When Michael started the nursery in 1978 he had no horticultural qualifications although his mother had fine collections of Pelargonium’s which became part of his life and his first horticultural love. Woottens is now the largest grower of herbaceous plants in East Anglia
Our second visit of the day is to Helmingham Hall, a charming moated house with flower gardens of dreamlike beauty. We hope to tour the gardens with Lady Tollemarche before enjoying a Ploughman’s lunch in the Coach House Restaurant. Helmingham Hall has been the home of the Tollemarche family since 1480 and the influence of well known garden designer Xa Tollemarche is very evident. A classic parterre flanked by hybrid musk roses lies before a splendid walled kitchen garden with exquisite herbaceous borders and beds of vegetables interspersed by sweet peas, ornamental gourds or runner beans. On the other side is a herb knot garden and beyond it again are rose beds, lined with billowing lavender and hyssop. The roses, lavishly under planted with Alchemilla mollis, blue and white Campanula persicfolia, geraniums and violas, are chiefly old shrub varieties. David Austin roses and later-flowering perennials prolong the flowering season and the rose garden is of unsurpassable beauty, as is the whole estate.
Finally, on the final day of this tour we visit a beautiful private garden in the area before heading south for Romsey, stopping en route to visit the gardens at Hatfield House in St Albans and hopefully the private East Garden
The main garden at Hatfield House dates from the early 17th century when Robert Cecil employed John Tradescant the Elder to collect plants for his new home. Tradescant was sent to Europe where he found and brought back trees, bulbs, plants and fruit trees, which had never previously been grown in England Tudor Old Palace where Elizabeth
Channel Island Gardens
18 to 22 June 2012
From the luxurious Old Government House Hotel, Guernsey
From: £899
This sell out new tour in 2011 begins with a crossing in Club Class on Condor Ferries from Poole or Weymouth to Guernsey . Our base in Guernsey will be the elegant Old Government House Hotel in St. Peter Port
Guernsey is geographically closer to France than the UK UK Guernsey cattle grazing on green meadows set the scene.
We will visit Guernsey’s very special private gardens, located in typical Guernsey valleys and approached by beautiful but narrow lanes so will travel in mini-buses. Closer to St. Peter Port Grange Court
A visit to the unique island of Sark Channel Islands . A sightseeing tour and lunch will be included today and your transport will be by tractor and trailer and horse and carriage as there are not cars or motorised transport on the island.
Make 2012 the year you book a Hillier gardening tour!
It will be another 10 years before you can visit Floriade, the largest horticultural show in the World again.
All tours are fully hosted by one of the Hillier team and the holiday begins once you have parked the car at Hillier and met your fellow travelers over a morning coffee. We travel by executive coach to some of the best gardens in Europe . Gardening is the theme and good company is the extra special ingredient to ensure a memorable trip.
For more details or to book contact:
Brookland Travel
26 Middlemarsh Street
Poundbury
Dorchester DT1 3FD
Tel: 0845 1212863
info@brooklandtravel.com
Or talk to Tim Mason at Hillier
Tel: 01794 368944
timmason@hillier.co.uk
Floriade takes place every 10 years and in 2012 the venue is The September tour will feature Floriade and Het Loo Palace near Year after year, the demand for this programme does not cease and in 2011 we return to Our second visit of the day is to Helmingham Hall, a charming moated house with flower gardens of dreamlike beauty. We hope to tour the gardens with Lady Tollemarche before enjoying a Ploughman’s lunch in the Coach House Restaurant. Helmingham Hall has been the home of the Tollemarche family since 1480 and the influence of well known garden designer Xa Tollemarche is very evident. A classic parterre flanked by hybrid musk roses lies before a splendid walled kitchen garden with exquisite herbaceous borders and beds of vegetables interspersed by sweet peas, ornamental gourds or runner beans. On the other side is a herb knot garden and beyond it again are rose beds, lined with billowing lavender and hyssop. The roses, lavishly under planted with Alchemilla mollis, blue and white Campanula persicfolia, geraniums and violas, are chiefly old shrub varieties. David Austin roses and later-flowering perennials prolong the flowering season and the rose garden is of unsurpassable beauty, as is the whole estate. This sell out new tour in 2011 begins with a crossing in Club Class on Condor Ferries from Poole or A visit to the unique Make 2012 the year you book a Hillier gardening tour!
