Tuesday May 25, 2010 Departure
Tour members travelling on the pre-tour Chelsea Flower Show extension will depart today.

Wednesday May 26, 2010 London
On arrival at Heathrow airport we are met by our chartered coach to travel to our London hotel. We will have time to freshen up before undertaking a city tour escorted by a local guide. Some of the great landmarks we’ll see include Buckingham Palace, Whitehall, Trafalgar Square, Westminster, St Paul’s Cathedral and the Tower of London. The tour manager will point out local restaurants nearby and those wishing to dine together can meet in the lobby.

Thursday May 27, 2010 London
The highlight of our time in London is today’s visit to the famous Chelsea Flower Show. We’ll be at the show when the gates open, so we can see the exhibits before the crowds build up. Chelsea is the main event in the English horticultural calendar and boasts the world’s finest displays of flowers, plants, trees and of course, the incredible display gardens. We will depart Chelsea early afternoon to return to our hotel, with a stop at Harrods to drop off those people who would like to shop.

Friday May 28, 2010 Paris
This morning we fly to Paris to meet other tour members.

France and Ireland Itinerary

Sunday May 30, 2010 Blois
A highlight of the tour is our visit this morning to Claude Monet’s famous house and garden at Giverney. This beautiful garden, with its ponds and water lilies and its Japanese bridge, appears in many of the artist’s paintings. Another section of the garden has a more formal layout, featuring espaliered apples and pears and a riot of colour from plantings of roses, irises, bulbs, poppies and thousands of annuals. It has been magnificently restored and gives a vivid impression of Monet’s inspiration. Helen will make sure that we get the most out of this garden. We then travel south to Blois in the scenic Loire Valley, rich in history and exquisite Renaissance chateaux. The Chateau de Blois, located in the town centre, was the principal royal residence until Henry IV moved the court to Paris in 1598. The charming, hilly, partially pedestrian quarter is enclosed by the chateau, cathedral, and river. We stay in Blois for four nights. The tour manager will suggest some nearby restaurants that offer good food and value.

Monday May 31, 2010 Blois
This morning we have a walking tour of Blois with a local guide. We’ll explore the interesting, winding medieval streets and see the beautiful 18th-century bridge across the Loire River. We visit the gorgeous Chateau de Blois once occupied by King Louis XII. The chateau comprises several parts built between the 13th and 17th centuries and is filled with treasures. The afternoon is free for you to explore the charms of Blois.

Tuesday June 1, 2010 Blois
Today we travel through the Loire valley to visit Les Jardins du Prieure Notre Dame d’Orsan, inspired by monastic gardens and tapestries of the middle ages. Medicinal and culinary herbs, vegetables and fruits are grown organically surrounded by marvellous topiary cloisters. The afternoon’s treat is a visit to Chateau de Chenonceau, spanning the River Cher in which its unique beauty is reflected. Known as the Ladies’ Castle, its design and charm are a result of six important women throughout its history. Two large formal gardens and extensive woodland surround this fairytale chateau. We will return to Blois for an evening at leisure.

Wednesday June 2, 2010 Blois
Today we travel through the picturesque Loire valley to visit the world-famous Festival des Jardins de Chaumont sur Loire. Jean Paul Pigeat established the festival in 1992 in the grounds of the chateau with the aim of showcasing imaginative and innovative landscape design. The 30 show gardens are in leaf-shaped enclosures, hedged by beech or hornbeam and will challenge your notions about garden design. In the afternoon we visit the fabulous 16th-century Chateau Villandry, representing the highest standards of garden design and maintenance. Its extraordinary formal gardens have been terraced into three levels, displaying hedges and motifs of box, fine yew topiaries and abundant roses. The lowest level is the potager, which elevates vegetable growing to a fine art.

Thursday May 27, 2010 Departure
Our holiday begins with a flight on Singapore Airlines to London.

Friday May 28, 2010 Paris
This morning we arrive in Paris. Tour members visiting the Chelsea Flower Show will also arrive in Paris this morning. Late morning we have a sightseeing tour with a local guide to acquaint tour members with the romantic city of Paris. Highlights include Notre Dame, the Louvre, the Tuileries and a drive along the Champs Elysee to the Arc de Triomphe. We will have an included welcome dinner this evening to enable tour members to meet each other and to meet Helen Young.

Saturday May 29, 2010 Paris
Rose lovers and romantics will be inspired by our visit to Chateau de Bagatelle on the edge of the Bois de Boulogne. In addition to the noted rose garden with its climbing roses, there is a waterlily pool, grotto, potager, and iris and peony gardens. In the afternoon you’ll be free to explore Paris, according your interests. Go shopping, soak up the Parisienne atmosphere, walk along the Seine or visit one of the many famous museums and art galleries.

Thursday June 3, 2010 Bayeaux
After breakfast we journey north-west to Normandy. En route we visit Chateau de Sassy near Argentan, which occupies a splendid position overlooking the beautiful countryside. The garden features a screen of pleached limes with, at its centre, an elegant little pavilion flanked by tall Irish yews. We travel to the picturesque town of Bayeux, made famous by the historic tapestry depicting the conquest of England by the Normans under William the Conqueror in 1066. The town came to prominence again during the Allied D-Day landings on 6 June 1944. Bayeaux survived the war virtually unscathed, so it is a lovely town to stay for three nights. It is a centre of lace making and lace makers can still be seen undertaking their intricate craft. The tour manager will meet those wishing to dine with the group in the lobby.

Friday June 4, 2010 Bayeaux
A local guide takes us this morning around the sites of World War II, providing us with an insight into the bravery of the troops invading occupied France. We will finish the tour with a visit to the unique Bayeux tapestry. Group members can stay on at the museum to understand in detail this very special tapestry or spend time exploring the town.

Saturday June 5, 2010 Bayeaux
This morning we visit the beautiful, privately-owned Chateau de Canon. It features a French formal garden with a dash of the English landscape garden. Within the rectilinear layout there are temples, summerhouses, fake ruins, pagodas and other follies, plus magnificent statues. A memorable series of walled gardens linked together by arched openings are mass planted with flowers, including luscious peonies. The owners make their own cider and sparkling pear wine on the estate. In the afternoon we visit Chateau de Brecy - one of the most exquisite and approachable gardens in France. It is Renaissance in inspiration, intimately related to the house and harmonious in all its parts. The 17th-century walled garden extends over five terraces behind the château. Punctuated with stone ornaments, it contains a knot garden, rose garden, fountains, superb topiary, and a chapel. We will return to Bayeux for an evening at leisure.

Sunday June 6, 2010 Rouen
Just out of Bayeaux we visit Plantbessin, a nursery of rare plants laid out in garden rooms, such as Japanese, perfumed and heather. There is also a herb garden, an arboretum and a maze. This nursery is a plantsman’s delight. We travel west to visit the wonderful Le Jardin Plume owned by Sylvie and Patrick Quibel. This garden has been named France’s best modern garden. The Quibels have an ability to combine classical formality with natural planting. Splashes of bright flowers float amid the greens of the Summer garden. The potager is crowded with fruit, vegetables and flowers. We continue to Rouen, where we stay for four nights. Rouen has been an important town since Roman times and has a heritage of fine buildings and many museums. The tour manager will meet those wishing to go together out for dinner.

Monday June 7, 2010 Rouen
We first visit Les Jardin Agapanthe. This is a contemporary small garden packed with luxuriant planting. The designer Alexandre Thomas has manipulated the space by means of winding paths, creating different levels and using tricks of perspective to make the vistas seem longer and the garden larger. We travel to visit Le Clos Du Coudray, winner of the third prize for the “Best Park in France 2006”. Covering 20,000 square metres it has a stream winding through a series of themed gardens including a rose garden, potager and a shady garden with fabulous hostas and a national collection of Epimediums.

Tuesday June 8, 2010 Rouen
Our morning garden visit is to Le Vasterival, a superb garden created by Princess Sturdza. This extraordinary garden near the sea enjoys a benign microclimate, protected by the lie of the undulating land. One of the most attractive qualities of the garden is the wonderful contrast between secret passages leading temptingly off into plantings of jungle-like density and long serene vistas across open glades. It is not to be missed. In the afternoon we visit Le Bois des Moutiers, which has at its heart a perfectly preserved Arts and Crafts house designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens. With Gertrude Jekyll, Lutyens laid out a beautiful formal garden near the house including a white garden reflecting the style of Sissinghurst. On the other side of the house an extensive woodland garden features masses of rhododendrons and azaleas, superb maples, magnolias, camellias and hydrangeas.

Wednesday June 9, 2010 Rouen
After a free morning to explore Rouen, we travel to Chateau de Miromesnil, famous for its original potager garden that mixes perfect rows of vegetables and soft fruits with beds of flowers in beautiful combinations. There are masses of roses, clematis, delphiniums, peonies and bulbs to delight you as well as a splendid beech plantation and magnificent 200-year-old cedar sheltering the 17th-century chateau.

Thursday June 10, 2010 Belfast
We travel to Paris to catch the flight to Ireland. On arrival we travel to Belfast where we stay for two nights. The tour manager will meet those wishing to dine with the group to go out for dinner.

Friday June 11, 2010 Belfast
We enjoy a city tour of Belfast this morning. Belfast is one of the great industrial and commercial cities of the Victorian era. We see Donegal Square and its grand buildings, gracious City Hall, the Grand Opera House and St Anne’s Cathedral, and learn about the Troubles that blighted the city’s growth for 30 years. The afternoon’s visit is to Mount Stewart House and Garden, acknowledged as one of the very finest in Europe. The magnificent formal gardens, extensive parklands and the palatial mansion were home to one of the most eminent and influential families in the Unionist cause. Sir Edward Lutyens and his garden designer Gertrude Jekyll were employed to design a garden that linked the garden to the house. The Italian garden grows a superb array of herbaceous plants. There is a Spanish Garden and a Sunken Garden, which displays yellow, blue and orange flowering plants, Jekyll’s favourite colours. This garden is one to remember.

Saturday June 12, 2010 Dublin
Today we drive south to Dublin. After checking in to our hotel we have a sightseeing tour of exciting Dublin. Ireland’s famous capital is located on the River Liffey and looks seawards to its port and the waters of Dublin Bay. We see elegant Georgian squares and streets including Merrion Square laid out in 1762, and Trinity College founded in 1592 by Elizabeth 1. Grafton Street, is Dublin’s finest pedestrian shopping street and Temple Bar has been transformed from a dilapidated district into a network of pedestrian streets, vibrant with pubs and restaurants. We see Leinster House converted to house the Republican parliament in 1922 and St Stephen’s Green, formerly common land, enclosed in 1663 and now beautifully landscaped gardens. The tour manager will suggest nearby restaurants for dinner.

Sunday June 13, 2010 Dublin
This morning we visit Primrose Hill, a Regency villa with a 2.5 ha garden created over the past 40 years by owners Cicely and Robin Hall. The property is approached along a beech avenue, and in late spring and summer the herbaceous borders are in full colour. Many rare and unusual plants are cultivated here to perfection. In the afternoon we visit garden writer and broadcaster Helen Dillon’s acclaimed garden. Within a walled rectangular garden, typical of Dublin’s Georgian town houses Helen Dillon has created one of the best town gardens in Ireland. The clever design and extensive collection of rare plants make this a must-see for garden lovers. Set around a newly created canal, incorporating pools and cascades, the mixed borders of shrubs and herbaceous perennials change every season revealing unusual plants and exciting colour combinations.

Monday June 14, 2010 Dublin
We travel south today to first visit Powerscourt Gardens, one of Ireland’s showpiece gardens. From the Palladian house we stroll down the amphitheatre of terraces dating from the mid 19th century to see the very grand Italianate formal garden. The 7th Viscount was a noted tree collector, setting up a fine, woodland arboretum. Other features include the Triton pool and water jet, the famous perspective gate and lovely views over the natural beauty of the surrounding landscape. We then visit Valclusa, a private hillside garden near the Powerscourt Waterfall. The rich planting is carefully planned to provide year-round colour, with fine trees, and collections of old shrub roses, geraniums and hostas. At the top of the garden is a new butterfly garden, while the waterfall terrace has wonderful views across the valley to the cascade.

Tuesday June 15, 2010 Departure
Today is free for individual exploration and last-minute shopping. We depart the hotel mid-afternoon to travel to the airport for our return flight to Australia.

Wednesday June 16, 2010 In flight

Thursday June 17, 2010 Australia
We arrive in Eastern Australian ports this morning and travel arrangements conclude. Tour arrangements conclude on arrival in Melbourne, Sydney or Brisbane.