France and England Garden Tour with Deryn Thorpe

DAY 1 Monday 19 June, 2023 In flight
Our holiday begins with a Singapore Airlines flight from Sydney, Melbourne, Perth and Brisbane to Paris.

DAY 2 Tuesday 20 June, 2023 Paris
We arrive in Paris this morning where we are met by our coach and transferred to our hotel. After time to refresh, we have a sightseeing tour with a local guide showing us the romance of Paris city. Highlights include Notre Dame Cathedral, the Louvre, the Tuileries and a drive along the Champs Elysee to the Arc de Triomphe. In the afternoon, we visit the Chateau de Bagatelle on the edge of the Bois de Boulogne. Renown for its rose garden with climbing roses, the garden consists of several small formal gardens including an orangerie, water lily pool, grotto, potager and iris garden. Those wishing to dine together can meet in the lobby where the tour manager will suggest good value restaurants for dinner.

DAY 3 Wednesday 21 June, 2023 Paris
Today we travel west of Paris to visit Château de Versailles, the extravagant palace, set in grand formal gardens, for Louis XIV. In the grounds of Versailles, we visit the Grand Trianon and the Petit Trianon which belonged to Queen Marie Antoinette, with its romantic landscape of meandering paths, streams, rustic bridges and lake. We continue on to visit Le Hameau, featuring rustic thatched cottages grouped around a lake surrounded by woodland. Deryn has visited this garden on many occasions and will explain the story behind the buildings and gardens and make the scene come alive. we return to Paris in the afternoon. This evening we will have an included dinner, so group members can get to know each other.

DAY 4 Thursday 22 June, 2023 Paris
Today is filled with roses, starting with a morning visit to Roseraie De L’Hay–Les- Roses. This garden is described as the living history of the rose, spanning the ages from wild roses to those of today. We will see the glorious sight of pergolas and trelliswork swagged and swathed in old-fashioned roses. In the afternoon, we visit one of the world’s most inspiring landscapes, Claude Monet’s famous house and beautiful garden at Giverny. This garden, with its ponds and water lilies and green Japanese bridge, appears in many of the artist’s paintings. In front of the house are garden with espaliered apples and pears and abundant plantings of roses, irises, spring bulbs and annuals. It has been magnificently restored and maintained to a high standard and gives a vivid impression of Monet’s inspiration. It’s one of Deryn’s favourite places and she will reveal stories of how the garden was created and Monet’s vision and life in the charming village of Giverny. We return to Paris in the early evening.

DAY 5 Friday 23 June, 2023 Paris
This morning we visit the Musee de l’Orangerie to view Monet’s extraordinary cycle of water-lily paintings known as the Nympheas, which were the main focus of Monet’s artistic production during his last thirty years. They depict his waterlily garden at Giverny, which we visited yesterday. We enjoy a free afternoon to explore Paris, according to your interests. Go shopping, soak up the Parisians atmosphere, walk along the Seine, stroll around Montmartre a former artists’ village once inhabited by Picasso and Dalí, and home to the domed Sacré-Coeur basilica, or visit one of the many famous museums and art galleries. The tour manager and Deryn will suggest places to visit.

DAY 6 Saturday 24 June, 2023 Orleans
After breakfast we journey south west to Orleans in the scenic Loire Valley, stopping along the way to visit Chateau de Vaux le Vicomte which has a Baroque chateau garden, which was the first great work by Andre Le Notre, who went on to design Versailles’s gardens. Deryn will take us around the gardens which are organized on a central axis with elaborate parterres, ornate fountains, ponds, topiaries and statues. Orleans, rich in history, located on the banks of the Loire river, is the capital of the region. The tour manager will suggest some nearby restaurants that offer good food and value.

DAY 7 Sunday 25 June, 2023 Orleans
Today is an extravaganza of garden design and will stay in your memory for years. We travel through the Loire valley to visit the Festival des Jardin de Chaumont sur Loire, which started in 1992 to introduce the public to imaginative and innovative new design. The thirty show gardens are selected from designs submitted by landscapers from around the world and are set within landscaped grounds. In the afternoon we visit the famous 16th century Chateau Villandry, reknown for its ornamental vegetable gardens. The ornamental formal garden has been terraced into three levels, displaying hedges of box, fine yew topiaries and flowers. The lowest level is the famous potager, which has a checkerboard design and elevates vegetable growing to a fine art. We will return to Orleans for an evening at leisure.

DAY 8 Monday 26 June, 2023 Orleans
The morning is free for you to explore the charms of Orleans. This afternoon’s treat is a trip to Chateau de Clemenceau, which spans the River Cher, which reflects its stately beauty. 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. DAY 9 Tuesday 27 June, 2023 Sarlat la Caneda We will travel south through the beautiful rolling French countryside to the Dordogne region. We will stay in Sarlat la Caneda, which is considered France’s best preserved 14C town, for four nights. It’s a gastronomic hub too with cèpes (wild mushrooms), strawberries, walnuts and truffles appearing in many regional dishes. It’s one of Deryn’s favourite French town as it abounds with narrow medieval streets and gothic and renaissance buildings. The tour manager will recommend restaurants where we can soak up the atmosphere while dining.

DAY 10 Wednesday 28 June, 2023 Sarlat la Caneda
This morning we will have a guided walking tour of this fascinating town, which grew up around the Benedictine abbey founded in the middle of the 9th century. Sarlat reached its peak during the 13th and 14th centuries and there are many buildings from this period and a delightful covered market in an old cathedral. In the afternoon we will travel east to visit the extraordinary Les Jardins de Marqueyssac. Located on a bastion overlooking the Dordogne River, the 19th century stone-tiled castle has more thanr 6 kilometres of shaded pathways lined with 150,000 handpruned shrubs, punctuated with belvederes, rockeries, waterfalls and greenery. Known as the Italian Garden in Perigord its sophisticated topiary uses clipped box, cypress and rosemary in flowing, organic shapes.

DAY 11 Thursday 29 June, 2023 Sarlat la Caneda
This morning we travel east to visit the Manoir d’Eyrignac. The manor house dates from the 17th century and the elaborate formal garden, dates from the 18th century. The garden was comprehensively recreated in the 1960s. Elaborate topiary and hedging frames a sequence of rooms and passages that lead to the house. Near the house, is a stylized parterre with sweeping curves of clipped box and soaring Italian cypresses. In the afternoon, we visit Chateau de Hautfort, which holds a commanding position surrounded by the woodland landscape of the Perigord region. The Count of Choulot completely redesigned the park and gardens in 1853. Baron and Baroness de Bastard bought the castle in 1929 and the formal gardens were restored. A conifer tunnel with windows cut out to give framed views across the surrounding countryside is a unique feature of the garden.

DAY 12 Friday 30 June, 2023 Sarlat la Caneda
This morning we will visit Les Jardins de Cadiot, described as an English garden with Mediterranean plants. There are many roses and wonderful perennial borders planted with mainly white, purple and blue plants in beautiful combinations. There are masses of daylilies, centranthus, hydrangea, daisies and froths of romantic annual colour. In the afternoon we will visit Le Jardins de l’Imaginaire Terrasson, which has 2,000 roses and 20,000 perennials in 13 themed gardens, an ampitheatre, water jets and magnificent views over the old town of Terrasson-Lavilledieu.

DAY 13 Saturday 1 July, 2023 Canterbury
Enjoy views of the French countryside as we travel to the delightful small town of St Emilion, a UNESCO-listed village dating back to the Middle Ages. We spend some free time and can explore the narrow streets and market square and then continue to Bordeaux airport where we fly to London. On arrival we drive to Canterbury, Kent. Known for its lush countryside with apple orchards and hop oast houses.

DAY 14 Sunday 2 July, 2023 Canterbury
This morning is free to explore Canterbury a medieval city encircled by ancient walls, originally built by the Romans. There are charming cobbled streets and timber-framed houses and majestic Canterbury Cathedral, founded in 597 A.D. In the afternoon we visit Scotney Castle, a 14th building with a moat and tour the romantic garden which is set within a wooded estate. The formal garden overlooks a quarry garden while the grounds of the old castle enclose a rose garden. The lakeside planting adds an air of informality. Evergreens and deciduous trees provide structure while many shrubs and flowering plants ensure something is in bloom at every season.

DAY 15 Monday 3 July, 2023 Canterbury
Today we visit two world-reknown gardens and Deryn’s two favourite English gardens. Great Dixter surrounds a charming thatched 15th century manor house. The gardens were designed and constructed by Christopher Lloyd, a noted plants man; gardener and writer who lived his whole life on the property. Its stewardship today is under head gardener, Fergus Garrett, widely considered one of the world’s finest gardeners. It includes fine topiary, a magnificent mixed, long border and a wild woodland. This afternoon we visit Sissinghurst Castle, created by writer Vita Sackville West and her husband Harold Nicholson. In early July the roses will be at their peak and the cottage garden will be clothed in a myriad of warm red and golden hues. It’s one of the best times to see the romantic all-white garden which was created to shimmer in the moonlight.

DAY 16 Tuesday 4 July, 2023 London
We travel to Greenwich, where we board a ferry to sail along the Thames to Westminster. We’ll see the many developments that have recently occurred in the dock area of the river, including the tower at Canary Wharf, which until recently had been the tallest building in London. The tour manager will meet those wishing to dine with the group in the lobby to suggest restaurants for dinner.

DAY 17 Wednesday 5 July, 2023 London
We travel west to visit the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew. We’ll wander down the long borders, the longest herbaceous borders in the country, and be spoilt by amazing aromas, hues and textures. Among the 320 metres of beds are 30,000 plants, each selected for their beauty, colour and form, including lavender, lilies, coneflowers and daisies. The Rose Garden will be at their peak too. Started in 1750 as a private garden, Kew is the largest living plant collection and has the world’s biggest Victorian conservatory. We continue with a visit to a private garden in West London. We will enjoy discussing gardening with Londoners.

DAY 18 Thursday 6 July, 2023 London
The highlight of our time in London will be our escorted visit to the famous Hampton Court Flower Show. It is the summer event in the English horticultural calendar. It boasts many amazing landscaped gardens built by prominent landscapers and more than 500 displays featuring the best flowers, plants and trees, with many new introductions. For gardeners, it is the experience of a lifetime and a highlight of our garden tour. Deryn will make sure we get the most out of the show by leading us around the show gardens. We will enjoy a farewell dinner this evening to say goodbye to tour members and Deryn.

DAY 19 Friday 7 July, 2023 London
We will have free time this morning. In the afternoon we travel to North London to explore Capel Manor Gardens, which has more than 60 gardens and landscapes set around a Georgian manor house. It contains some previous gold-medal winning show gardens from the Chelsea Flower Show, including The Australian Garden from 2011, as well as a 17th century walled garden, Italianate maze, vegetable plots and plant collections of scented pelargoniums and salvias. We continue to the airport for our flight to Australia.

DAY 20 Saturday 8 July, 2023 In flight

DAY 21 Sunday 9 July, 2023 Australia
We will arrive in eastern Australian ports this morning and travel arrangements conclude.