Gardens Etc Tours for 2010

Malvern Spring Show Week
MAY 6,THURSDAY
A tour during the Malvern Show is a new idea, but the area is so rich in glorious gardens it’s been hard to choose. These are three really spectacular spring gardens. The first, Model Farm in West Malvern, is so brand new to the NGS that our tour is ahead of its official opening. Next comes talented potter Jenny Hughes’ delightful, flower-packed garden at Orleton House, near Tenbury Wells, and the third is Little Larford, which is famed for its magnificent displays of tulips. Price £90.

Chelsea Flower Show Week
River Thames Tour
MAY 25, TUESDAY
A novel way to visit London’s lovely riverside gardens! We will be taking a boat along the river, from Tower Bridge to Chiswick stopping off at gardens along the way. The cruise starts at the plantpacked London barge gardens at Tower Bridge, sails upstream to the gardens at the Inner Temple Garden, and ends with a walk along the esplanade at Chiswick Mall, to see some of the small - but all exquisite - gardens there. Experienced London guide Hugh Jenkins will talk about the sights along the way and lunch will be a buffet on board. Price £100

Hampstead Garden Suburb
MAY 27, THURSDAY
Over-subscribed in 2009 so, thanks to NGS Hampstead organiser Anne Crawley, we make a second visit to Hampstead Garden Suburb to see five wonderful treasures in this Arts and Crafts ‘village’ tucked away on the edge of Hampstead Heath. There is much to see by Edwin Lutyens’ including St Jude’s church with its famed art and crafts murals. Lunch will be at Kenwood House, with time to admire the view and see if the enormous Handkerchief Tree is out, and maybe browse inside to enjoy some of the paintings. Price £90

An Artists’ Tour
Camberwell, London
JUNE 2, TUESDAY
Sometimes a photograph is not enough. There is a desire to have something more long-lasting from a garden visit. This tour encourages people to express themseves in paint in a glorious South London artist’s garden. Not tuition, just fun and a pleasant day out! Successful and talented artist Lynette Hemmant’s long garden in June is packed with roses, billowing down a wrought iron spiral staircase, and she is offering guests the chance to paint, sketch or draw in the garden at the height of its beauty framed against the tall spire of the local church. Lynette will be on hand in her garden studio and painting herself, and ready to give words of encouragement. Price £80

Hampton Court Flower Show Week
Buckinghamshire Tour
JULY 6, TUESDAY
Our first visit is to Lord Carrington’s extensive garden at Bledlow, with much to charm, including a magnificent sculpture garden, the peony-filled walled garden, and a beautiful wilderness area abutting the River Lyde. Famed children’s author, the late Roald Dahl’s garden is a total delight; with the charmingly named Wind in the Willows, a unique watery three-acre garden with two rivers meandering through it, evoking echoes of Ratty and Toad, as our third. Price £90

Tatton Park Flower Show Week
Cheshire Tour
JULY 22, THURSDAY
Last year’s tour of Cheshire gardens during Tatton Park Show week was a successful first, and 2010, with NGS County Organiser Nicholas Payne as guide again, will be even better. The tour takes in a visit to Parm Place, with wonderful views; the extensive gardens at Cholmondeley Castle, where the Marchioness will introduce us to its delights, including the rose garden and the picturesque temple by the lake; and Mayfield, in the pretty village of Lymm, where amazing colour from monardas, penstemons, phlox, and scrambling clematis can be found, despite the substantial shade of six mature trees. Diversity is the name of the game at our last garden, Springbank with much to see in this big garden, set in a hollow, with its pond, bog garden and rose-smothered pergola. Price £90

For more information please contact Janine Wookey at:

Gardens Etc,
4 Piermont Green,
East Dulwich,
London,
SE22 0LP

Tel: 020 8693 1015
Mobile: 07711 279 636
Email: j.wookey @btinternet.com

http://www.gardentoursetc.co.uk/