Chelsea Flower Show 2024 & Gardens in Kent & Sussex

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Tour Summary – What’s Included

• Small Group escorted tour to the world famous Chelsea Flower Show and culminating in a visit to 9 exceptional historic and contemporary gardens in Kent & Sussex.
• Accommodation in two very comfortable 4* Hotels : Doubletree by Hilton London Victoria and Buxted Park Hotel.
• Transportation by private coach accompanied by experienced tour guide with botanical knowledge.
• Complimentary welcome drinks on arrival.
• Entrance fees for all gardens and venues visited.
• 24 hr Emergency Service

Tour Description

This tour offers a delightful journey through some of the most enchanting gardens in Kent and Sussex. Starting with a comfortable stay at Doubletree by Hilton London Victoria, you’ll have the opportunity to explore iconic landmarks in the city. The tour includes visits to breathtaking gardens such as Doddington, Hole Park, Sissinghurst, Great Dixter, High Beeches, Leonardslee, Goodnestone Park, and Long Barn. Each garden offers its own unique beauty, from formal terraces to wild gardens, rhododendrons, azaleas, and captivating floral displays. You’ll also learn about the history and significance of these gardens and their influence on horticulture. The tour culminates with a visit to the prestigious RHS Chelsea Flower Show, where you can immerse yourself in the best of horticultural excellence. After a memorable journey, you’ll check out and depart from London Heathrow Airport, taking with you lasting memories of stunning gardens and newfound friendships.

Tour Itinerary

Day 1 – 18 May 2024 – Arrival & Check-In – Doubletree by Hilton London Victoria

• This is the first of two nights that we will stay at the very comfortable Doubletree by Hilton London Victoria during this tour.  With direct access from London Heathrow Airport, guests can check into the hotel from 14:00.  We’ve chosen this hotel not only for its comfort but also its location .  From here you can explore some of the iconic London landmarks and area on foot:  including the British Museum, St. Paul’s Cathedral, Covent Garden, Regent Street, Soho, Hyde Park and Oxford Street.
• Meet your tour guide and fellow garden visitors over complimentary drinks between 1800-1900 .  Make you own arrangements for Dinner.

Day 2 – 19 May 2024 –  Check-Out – Gardens Visited: Doddington, Hole Park –  BREAKFAST & DINNER INCLUDED

• Doddington Place is a lovely 10-acre garden surrounding an imposing Victorian mansion. The garden features terraced lawns, a formal sunken garden, a rock garden, and a recently restored Edwardian wild garden. Here we can enjoy the tranquility of the wooded areas and the sweeping views of the surrounding countryside. We learn about the garden’s history, the different families who have shaped its landscape, and the ongoing efforts to preserve this beautiful estate.
• As we wander through the gardens, we discover a delightful Italianate terrace adorned with statues, urns, and a stone balustrade. In spring, the wooded area comes alive with a vibrant display of rhododendrons, azaleas, and camellias, as well as various bulbs and perennials, adding bursts of color to the landscape.
• The Rock Garden boasts a variety of alpine plants and succulents, nestled among rugged rock formations and small ponds, creating an enchanting and serene atmosphere. The Edwardian Wild Garden, with its winding paths and diverse plantings, provides a tranquil retreat for both visitors and wildlife.
• Hole Park is a privately owned estate. Nestled within 200 acres of exquisite classic parkland, these colorful gardens offer breathtaking views of the rolling hills, woodlands, and fields of the picturesque Kentish Weald. The highlight of this estate lies in the vibrant gardens. In May, visitors are treated to a magnificent display of tulips, roses, and clematis. The vineyard garden boasts impressive standard wisterias, while rhododendrons and azaleas grace the landscape with their blooming beauty.
• As you wander through the meadows, you’ll spot delicate wild orchids flourishing alongside architectural spires and star-shaped flowers of ‘camassia’. Be sure to visit the sundial garden, where an oval-shaped window in the topiary hedge offers a captivating view of the Wealden countryside.
• We leave Hole Park and head to Buxted Park Hotel, a glorious country house hotel set in the heart of 312 lush acres. We’ll spend the next three nights at this hotel.  Dinner here is included during our stay.

Day 3 – 20 May 2024 –  Gardens Visited: Sissinghurst, Great Dixter. BREAKFAST, LUNCH & DINNER INCLUDED

• Sissinghurst is the first of two gardens that we will visit today.  In 1930 Vita Sackville-West and Harold Nicolson created Sissinghurst Castle garden around a moated Elizabethan mansion.  Their garden has become extremely influential, helped partly by Sackville-West’s writing in which she documents the gardens development.  The garden is designed around a series of axial walks each terminating with a statue or some other garden element.  Enclosed garden compartments open out from each walkway and many have a sessional theme.  During our Spring visit we’ll experience the spectacular Lime Walk: drifts of bulbs provide a stunning tapestry of colors all as per Nicolson’s original meticulous planning.   Other parts of the garden have specific color schemes.  For example, you’ll find the White garden next to the Priest’s House and the Cottage Garden which is planted mainly in orange and yellow.  Sissinghurst Castle Garden was given to the UK National Trust on the understanding that, as per Nicolson’s wishes, it should be kept up to date with new plants.  Although the original design (thankfully) remains unaltered new plants are introduced very much in line with principles set out by Gertrude Jekyll.
• After having lunch at Sissinghurst, we head off to Great Dixter, one of two of the great historic gardens in East Sussex. Built in 1450, the large timber framed house was bought by Christopher Lloyd’s father in 1910 was restored by the famous architect Sir Edwin Lutyens.  The gardens, once a farmyard, were designed by Lutyens.  Part of the reason why Great Dixter has become so famous and influential is because of the planting style introduced there by Christopher Lloyd and taught by him over many years at the local horticultural college. His planting style is characterized by the way in which he manages to combine plants in harmonious groupings and where plants of different heights, colors and leaf texture weave together into a unified whole. This style of gardening is often referred to as tapestry gardening and has been copied throughout the world.  Experimentation has always been central to Lloyd’s gardening approach and nowhere more can this be seen in his 65m long/4.5-meter-wide Long Border, which as you will see is a spectacular mixture of shrubs, climbers, perennials and annuals.   After Lloyd’s death the garden has been looked after by Fergus Garrett and is better than ever thanks to his heroic efforts.
• After our visit to Great Dixter we travel back to our hotel to rest before dinner (included).

Day 3 – 21 May 2024 – Gardens Visited: High Beeches, Leonardslee –  BREAKFAST, LUNCH & DINNER INCLUDED

• After breakfast we’ll travel to High Beeches, perhaps the most magical Sussex woodland and water garden that we will visit on this tour. Created in 1906 by Colonel Giles Loder, a cousin of the owner of Leonardslee garden, High Beeches is set in over 25 acres and holds the UK’s National Collection of stewartias, a relative of the Camelia.
  As we are visiting the garden in Spring we expect to see sheets of bluebells in between glades of rhododendrons, azaleas and magnolias all of which should be in flower at the time of our visit, as well as many rare trees and shrubs of course. The many benches spread throughout the property will entice you to explore and admire the Spring colors at leisure.
• We next travel to Lower Beeding and visit Leonardslee, one of the finest and largest woodland gardens in England. We will have lunch here.
• Leonardslee was created by the plantsman Sir Edmund Loder in 1887 on 250 acres of land on the edge of Wealden Forest. With panoramic views towards the South Downs, Leonardslee was designed around the site’s natural features. There are woodland walks, grassy glades and seven lakes all of which provide a perfect setting for the many rare plants which we will see in blossom during our visit to this exceptional woodland garden. Leonardslee is noted for its rhododendrons and during our tour we will be sure tocome across the very special scented Rhododendron x loderi which was first cultivated on the property. With rhododendrons lining the paths in abundance, we will come across sheets of bluebells in the woodland and on the banks of the lakes and streams we will find densely planted candelabra primulas, lysichitons and gunneras.
• We return to our hotel for dinner (included).

Day 4 – 22 May 2024 – Gardens Visited: Goodnestone Park, Long Barn – BREAKFAST  & LUNCH INCLUDED

•  Goodnestone Park, a 17th-century estate nestled in the heart of Kent. This quintessential English garden boasts 14 acres of meticulously landscaped grounds, featuring a classic floral garden in front of the house. As we venture further, we find a gravel garden, a woodland garden and an arboretum with many unique trees, including a large collection of Cornus. The highlight of the park is its walled garden, divided into compartments with different color combinations, where old roses bloom profusely and walls are covered with a variety of climbing plants. We take a leisurely stroll through the herbaceous borders, the charming rose garden, and the serene water features. We learn about the estate’s connection to Jane Austen, who was a frequent visitor, and the inspiration she drew from these surroundings.  We will have lunch here before setting off to visit our next garden – Long Barn.
• Long Barn’s three-acre formal garden was created by the renowned garden designers, Vita Sackville-West and Harold Nicolson in the early 20th century. In 1915, they acquired the house and attached a 16th-century barn to it, transforming it into the stunning property that it is today. The Lindberghs, Charles Lindbergh and Anne Morrow Lindbergh, lived in Long Barn from 1936 to 1938, and added their own unique touch to the garden. After Sackville-West and Nicolson moved to Sissinghurst in 1932, they sold Long Barn in 1945. Today, the garden remains largely original and is lovingly curated by the current owners, Lars and Rebecca Lemonius. Visitors to Long Barn will be transported back in time as they immerse themselves in the rich history and details of this magnificent garden. Afterwards, we travel back to our  London hotel and get ready to attend the Chelsea Flower Show tomorrow morning.
• Make your own arrangements for dinner.

Day 6 – 23 May 2024 – RHS Chelsea Flower Show. BREAKFAST INCLUDED

• The premier event of the horticultural calendar anywhere in the world!  How better to describe the Chelsea Flower Show, our final destination of this tour?  The Chelsea Flower show runs over 5 days and because there is so much to see here, we devote one whole day of this tour to let you explore the show on your own.   Today, we’ll leave early and aim to arrive at the show just as it opens.  As you’ll probably know, what makes this horticultural event very special is that no matter where you go, you will only see the best of the best.  Designers, garden nurseries and horticultural experts from all over the world are pre-selected to compete here to receive a much-coveted Chelsea Gold, Silver or Bronze award.  It is extremely competitive: careers can be both made and broken here.
• If this is your first trip to Chelsea Flower Show, your tour guide will provide you with some tips on what to see to match your interests and what has caught our attention at the show.  Chelsea Flower Show is sure to please even the most exacting of visitors!  After your day at the show you will be picked up by coach and driven back to the hotel.   Those wishing to stay and explore this area of London are free to do so by making their own way back to the hotel later in the evening.
• Make your own arrangements for lunch and dinner.

Day 7 – 24 May 2024 – Check-Out

• Checkout of the hotel will be 12 noon.  After check-out, travel the short distance to London Heathrow Airport for your onward flight or perhaps you’ll stay in the UK for a little longer. Either way you will be taking with you memories of the stunning gardens and the friendships that you have made during our unforgettable journey.