If you have never been to the Hampton Court Flower Show or other iconic English gardens, read on if you want to check this off on your bucket list. For a full rundown on my recent trip to the Chelsea Flower Show, and gardens in the Cotswolds and Wales, you need to check out my post.
Sussex, Norfolk, Kent, Essex, and Suffolk, have some of the most beautiful and famous gardens of England, and you owe yourself a trip there. If you are serious about things of a horticultural nature, then look no further than my upcoming tour of Hampton Court Flower Show & English Garden tour. The English know how to garden, and for them, it is a blood sport when they display at garden shows. And we have a full day at the Hampton Court Flower Show on Royal Horticultural Society members day only. That means less crowds to deal with!
Starting with the Hampton Court Flower Show which is the largest of its kind in the world, we travel to Kent, the ‘Garden of England’, to visit Chartwell, the family home of Sir Winston Churchill. Pictures, books, and personal mementos evoke the career and wide-ranging interests of this great statesman, writer, painter, and family man, while the hillside gardens reflect Churchill’s love of the landscape and nature. You may be able to spot the black swans that have been there since Churchill’s time.
Sussex, Kent, Norfolk, and Surrey are a treasure trove of beautiful stately gardens surrounding grand estates, some like Leonardslee Lake & Gardens that has roaming wallabies and a one of a kind miniature/dollhouse exhibit. Closed for many years for a major renovation, Leonardslee is open for the first time in many years, and I can’t wait to tour it.
Great Dixter is one of my favorite gardens included, the garden of the late plantsman Christopher Lloyd. So many containers are packed into this garden, the containers become a huge feature. The flower-filled borders are some of the prettiest in England.
Many other iconic gardens are included with a total of 14 gardens, Ely Cathedral, Sutton Hoo archaeological site, and a nature boat trip down the Norfolk Broads to see the countryside. Also, an afternoon cream tea at the famous Essex Rose Tea House is included- a lot to pack in for 10 days!
My tours are for small groups, are all by coach and we stay at 4-star hotels. I have a wonderful tour guide who has been with me for four tours and makes all of our visits a delight and very informative. We have a lot of fun exploring medieval towns and the countryside and experience England’s centuries-old fascination with gardening.
