Springtime Gardens of Europe & UK

Departures: May 7th departure which includes a full day at the Chelsea Flower Show.
See also April 9th and offers an optional 7 day Japan Cherry Blossom Stopover

Tour highlights
Keukenhof Gardens, Monet's Garden, Howard Castle, Yorkshire Dales, Beatrix Potter's House, Harewood House, Chatsworth House… and many more.

Day 1, Saturday May 7th: 

Join your flight to Europe today.

Day 2, Sunday May 8th: 

On arrival in Amsterdam this afternoon we transfer to our city centre hotel, our home for three nights. We rest from the flight and meet our fellow travellers for a Welcome Drink and Dinner. [D]

Day 3, Monday May 9th: 

Every day on a Great Trains of Europe Tour begins with a full buffet breakfast [B]. Our city sightseeing tour this morning features Amsterdam's beautiful canals. Into the countryside this afternoon (who will be first to see a windmill?) to the small, historic Hortus Bulborum - with tulips dating from 1595 - as a gene pool for the Dutch bulb industry. There are 3,500 different species. Back to our Amsterdam hotel this evening. [B]

Day 4, Tuesday May 10th: 

We spend a full day in one of the world's finest bulb fields, the Keukenhof Garden, with 80 acres of tulips, daffodils, hyacinths and other flowering bulbs, shrubs, ancient trees, exhibitions, gurgling streams, flower parades, and seven themed gardens. Little wonder we need all day to visit the Keukenhof! There are restaurants and tea shops in the garden. [B]

Day 5, Wednesday May 11th: 

Our first great rail journey today. Our luggage is transported on ahead as we take our reserved First Class seats in the sleek Thalys train, for Paris at 300kph. We arrive for a late lunch in the Latin Quarter near our hotel, our home for 4 nights. A city sightseeing tour as we get our bearings in the City of Lights. [B] [D]

Day 6, Thursday May 12th: 

A quiet morning to stroll in the nearby Luxembourg Gardens or visit a museum or two. Like to say 'bonjour' to Mona Lisa, or perhaps see Monet's waterlilies? They are finally on view in their original context at l'Orangerie Museum. After lunch we visit Louis XIV's magnificent Versailles Palace with its sweeping gardens. Can garden lovers bring themselves to have snails for dinner? [B]

Day 7, Friday May 13th: ^ Top ^

A quiet morning in the shops or the museums. After lunch we visit Giverney and Monet's garden: the flower garden called Clos Normand is in front of the house and, across the road, is the water garden with its famous Japanese bridge covered with wisterias, weeping willows, and the famous nympheas (water lilies). [B]

Day 8, Saturday May 14th: 

A day in the country to visit two of France's grand gardens - Chateau Vaux-le-Vicomte and Fontainbleu. 'The forerunner of Versailles”, the Chateau Vaux-le-Vicomte was laid out in 1661, and includes a parterre, immaculately clipped topiary yew, water features, reflective pools, and a grand canal. Once the noblest garden in all France, Fontainbleau was made for King Francois I, to rival the great courts of Italy. [B]

Day 9, Sunday May 15th: 

Another of the great rail journeys of the world as we farewell Paris and join the 300 kph Eurostar through the Chunnel. Customs requires that we travel with our luggage today. In London we join British Rail and follow the route of the Flying Scotsman to the mediaeval city of York. We stroll around the Minster and the Shambles and then transfer to our inn, in the North York Moors village of Pickering. A pub dinner tonight. [B][ [D]

Day 10, Monday May 16th: 

This morning we visit the gardens of Castle Howard, laid out by Sir John Vanburgh in the early 18th century. Castle Howard is the palace of the Flyte family in “Brideshead Revisited”. We lunch (with Claude Jeremiah Greengrass?) in the village of Goathland, “Aidens field” in the TV series “Heartbeat”. Here we join the historic North York Steam Railway home to Pickering. [B]

Day 11, Tuesday May 17th: 

This morning we visit historic Harewood House. Its garden is classic Capability Brown - forming an idyllic rural setting. We move on to the spa and garden town of Harrogate for a cream tea or a stroll around Harrogate's famous public gardens. Can you spot Agatha Christie? She “disappeared” here in 1926. [B]

Day 12, Wednesday May 18th: 

We journey this morning through the Yorkshire Dales, immortalized in James Herriot's “All Creatures Great and Small” novels and television series. A village pub lunch stop, then on to the Lakes District where we settle into our Lakeside hotel. [B] [D]

Day 13, Thursday May 19th: 

We take a magical rail journey today through some of the Dales' and England's finest scenery on the historic Settle to Carlisle Railway. A pub lunch, an afternoon cream tea and visits to some more of the Yorkshire Dales' picturesque villages. [B]

Day 14, Friday May 20th: 

This morning we visit Beatrix Potter's garden, Hill Top - watch out for the fierce bad rabbit - and then move on to the National Trust's 14th century Sizergh Castle, with gardens dating from the 18th, loved for their ponds, borders, lawns and avenue of lowering cherries. [B]

Day 15, Saturday May 21st ^ Top ^

Our British Rail journey south today brings us to the Peak District of Derbyshire, to visit the gardens of historic Chatsworth House, dating from 1687. Another Capability Brown garden, Chatsworth has been famous for its beauty since Jane Austen's Day. We move on in the late afternoon to the Cotswolds where we stay in a village inn in the pretty riverside village of Bourton-on-the-Water. [B] [D]

Day 16, Sunday May 22nd: 

Today's sightseeing includes attractive English cottage gardens interspersed with picturesque Cotswolds villages of honey-golden stone: Lower Slaughter, Stow-on-the-Wold, Moreton-in-Marsh, Burford. This is serious antiques country. [B]

Day 17, Monday May 23rd: 

Today we visit two of the Cotswolds' best known gardens today - Sudeley Castle and Hidcote Manor. Sudeley oozes the simple beauty of the English country garden with its rich historical associations. The National Trust's Hidcote Manor Garden, created in the 1930s by Major Lawrence Johnston, has a unique structure of 'outdoor rooms', linked by vistas and furnished with topiary. [B]

Day 18, Tuesday May 24th: 

Back on British Rail today, we journey through more of the Cotswolds' rolling hills, as our luggage is taken on ahead to await our arrival in our London hotel. We enjoy London's sights from a double-decker bus. The Oxford Street shops are close to our hotel. A West End Show tonight? [B]

Day 19, Wednesday May 25th: 

The Oxford Street shops or Harrods this morning before an afternoon excursion into Kent, to Sissinghurst, one of the world's most celebrated gardens, the creation of Vita Sackville-West. It is located in an intimate setting in the grounds of an Elizabethan mansion, with romantic compartments filled with colourful floral displays. [B]

Day 20, Thursday May 26th: 

A full day today at the Chelsea Flower Show, arguably the world's greatest and best known. Our Farewell Dinner tonight. [D]

Day 21, Friday May 27th:  

Our tour ends this morning after breakfast. [B]

Tour costs:  

$AUD 12,950 per person Twin Share. Land Content only join in Amsterdam, leave in London

Single Room supplement $AUD 2000.

Enquire about competitive airfares.

What's included?^ Top ^  

All Great Trains of Europe Tours include:

• First Class rail travel in reserved seats
• 4 star boutique city centre hotels
• 3 star historic village inns
• 6 three course dinners with drinks
• Full luggage handling [not on Eurostar]
• Local expert garden guide [where permitted]
• Full time Tour Leader who is the Tour Company Principal

The TOUR COST does NOT include:^ Top ^

• Hotel incidentals (eg. Mini-bars, telephone calls, laundry), airport and departure taxes, local transport in any city,
• Meals other than breakfast and the one restaurant dinner in each city - the first night in each new city, except London where it takes the form of a farewell dinner. On other nights, the Tour Leaders are available to accompany group members to local, authentic restaurants.

About the Springtime Gardens of Europe & UK Tour

Note well: Booking Conditions « Tours index ^ Top ^