Europe's Springtime Gardens
Europe's and England's Gardens in the Springtime

Detailed Tour Itinerary

Monday, May 4th:  

Join our Singapore flight for Europe this evening.

Tuesday, May 5th:  

On arrival in Amsterdam we are transferred to our city centre hotel, our home for three nights. We rest from the flight and meet our fellow travelers for a Welcome Drink and Dinner. Tonight's Dinner [D] is included in the tour cost.

Wednesday, May 6th:  

Every day on our Great Trains of Europe Tours starts with a full Buffet Breakfast [B] Amsterdam is a beautiful city of canals and this morning a canal cruise features in our city sightseeing tour. This afternoon we venture into the countryside (who will be first to see a windmill?) to the pretty village of Limmen. This is the home of the small, historic Hortus Bulborum, established in 1928, but with tulips dating from 1595, as a gene pool for the Dutch bulb industry.

There are 3,500 different tulip, hyacinth and daffodil species. The preservation of heirloom bulbs is a major project in the Hortus Bulborum. Many of them have no commercial value for modern mass production; the aim, rather, is to keep these cultivars for future generations. We return to our Amsterdam hotel this evening.

Thursday, May 7th:  

We spend a full day today absorbing the majestic beauty of one of the world's finest bulbfields, the Keukenhof Garden. Its 80 acres of winding paths, gurgling streams and placid ponds offer an exuberant feast for the eyes. There are tulips, daffodils, hyacinths and other flowering bulbs, flowering shrubs, ancient trees, indoor exhibitions, flower parades, and no fewer than seven themed gardens. Little wonder we need all day to visit the Keukenhof! There are restaurants and tea shops in the garden. Home to our Amsterdam hotel tonight.

Friday, May 8th:  

We begin our love affair with the Great Trains of Europe today. Our luggage is transported on ahead as we take our reserved First Class seats in the sleek Thalys train bound for Paris. After Brussels, on the high speed track we reach speeds in excess of 300 kph. We are in Paris for a late lunch in the Latin Quarter near our Left Bank hotel, our home for four nights. This afternoon there is a city sightseeing tour as we get our bearings in the City of Lights. Dinner tonight in a restaurant overlooking the floodlit Eiffel Tower.

Saturday, May 9th:  

A quiet morning to stroll in the Luxembourg Gardens near our hotel, or to visit a museum or two. Like to shake hands with Mona Lisa at the Louvre, 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 and over 600 water jets. Can garden lovers bring themselves to have snails for dinner?

Sunday, May 10th:  ^ Top ^

A quiet morning in the shops or the museums. After lunch we visit Giverney, Monet's home for more than 40 years.

There are two parts to Monet's garden: a flower garden called Clos Normand in front of the house and a Japanese inspired water garden on the other side of the road. The two parts of Monet's garden contrast and complement one another. Claude Monet did not like organized nor constrained gardens. In the Clos Normand he married flowers according to their colours and left them to grow rather freely. In the water garden is the famous Japanese bridge covered with wisterias, other smaller bridges, weeping willows, a bamboo wood and above all the famous nympheas (water lilies). Back to our Paris hotel tonight.

Monday, May 11th:  

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 with grottoes on one side and a cascade on the other.

Once the noblest garden in all France, Fontainbleau was made for a king, Francois I, who wished to rival the great courts of Italy. Though the old knots and statuary have gone, enough of the 1528-1547 layout survives to give one a sense of how gardens were arranged in sixteenth century France. Le Nôtre designed a large parterre, between 1661 and 1664, on the site of the former Grand Jardin. The 1200 metre-long canal also remains. The Jardin Anglais, made between 1811 and 1812 continues to fascinate.

Tuesday, May 12th:  

Farewell Paris this morning. We transfer to Paris' Gare du Nord Railway Station to join the 300 kph Eurostar under the English Channel. Given the Customs restrictions we must travel with our luggage today. In London we transfer to British Rail and, following the route of the Flying Scotsman arrive in the afternoon in the mediaeval city of York. After a short walking tour of York - the Minster and the Shambles - we transfer to our inn, the White Swan, in the quaint village of Pickering in the North York Moors. A pub dinner tonight.

Wednesday, May 13th:  

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”. After time for a country pub lunch we visit the village of Goathland, the setting for the television series “Heartbeat”. Afternoon tea with Claude Jeremiah Greengrass? In Goathland we join the historic North York Steam Railway back to Pickering and our inn.

Thursday, May 14th:  

There is a morning visit to Harewood House. In 1758, as the proportions and foundations of the house were being laid out, the shape of the surrounding landscape was being determined by the designer Lancelot 'Capability' Brown. This is classic Capabilty Brown - subtly altered hills and valleys, naturalistic plantings of trees and the characteristic serpentine lakes - forming an idyllic rural setting.

We move on to the spa and garden town of Harrogate. Take a leisurely cream tea and stroll around the many public gardens for which Harrogate is famous. Keep an eye out for Agatha Christie: this is where she spent her well publicized disappearance in 1926. Home to the White Swan this evening.

Friday, May 15th:  ^ Top ^

We journey this morning through the Yorkshire Dales, the setting of James Heriot's “All Creatures Great and Small” novels and television series. Two of the prettiest villages, Reeth and Leyburn, both have Market days today. We cross from Yorkshire into Cumbria and the Lakes District, and check into our hotel in a prime position on the edge of Lake Ullswater, our home for 3 nights.

Saturday, May 16th:  

We take a magical train 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, before returning to our lakeside hotel tonight.

Sunday, May 17th:  

Two beautiful lakes District gardens today - we visit Beatrix Potter's garden, Hill Top - watch out for the fierce bad rabbit - and the gardens of Sizergh Castle a significant National Trust property. The castle was originally built in the 14th century, and the garden was created from the 18th century through to the 1920s. Today there are ponds, borders, lawns and an avenue of flowering cherries. The Lakeland scenery which inspired Wordsworth and Coleridge is the backdrop for our leisurely pub lunch.

Monday, May 18th:  

Heading south today, we arrive in 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.

Tuesday, May 19th:  

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. Cream teas and pub lunches.

Wednesday, May 20th:  

Two of the Cotswolds' best known gardens are those at Sudeley Castle and the Hidcote Manor Gardens. We enjoy both today. Whether you love the simple beauty of the English country garden, the Cotswold countryside, or places rich in history, Sudeley exhibits them all in fabulous fashion, making her gardens among the very best in England.

One of the most inventive and influential gardens of the 20th century is the National Trust's Hidcote Manor Garden. Its structure of 'outdoor rooms', linked by vistas and furnished with all sorts of topiary, recalls both the English garden style and the European connections of its 1930s creator Major Lawrence Johnston.

A quiet afternoon back in our 'home' village of Bourton-on-the-Water.

Thursday, May 21st:  ^ Top ^

We take the train to London today through more of the Cotswolds rolling hills and past the dreaming spires of Oxford, as our luggage is taken on ahead to await our arrival in our hotel. After check-in there is an orientation tour of London's sights from a double-decker bus. The Oxford Street shops are only a bus ride away from the hotel. A West End Show tonight?

Friday, May 22nd:  

A full day today at the Chelsea Flower Show, arguably, the world's greatest and best known.

Saturday, May 23rd:  

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 little compartments filled with colourful floral displays. A farewell dinner tonight in the award winning restaurant in our London hotel.

Sunday, May 24th:   

Our tour ends this morning. There is a transfer to the airport for the homeward flight. You may extend your stay Europe for up to six months, flying home from any city served by Singapore Airlines (this may increase the airfare).

Tuesday, May 26th:    

Arrive home this morning.

Costs:

Option 1. $AUD 11,950 per person Twin Share. Land Content only (i.e. join the tour in Amsterdam and leave the tour in London)

Or:

Option 2. $AUD 13,950 per person Twin Share. Including return economy class airfares to Europe from Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne or Perth.

Single Room supplement $AUD 2000.

Enquire about Business or First Class airfare upgrades (Remember, if you don't fly First Class, your grandchildren will).

Note: There are no Optional Excursions offered on the Springtime Gardens Tour.

Combined Tours Discount: Combine the Traditional “Grand Tour” and this “Springtime Gardens Tour” and save 10% on the land content cost of the second tour.

What's included?^ Top ^

All Great Trains of Europe Tours include:

• All stops 3 nights minimum
• Quality, centrally located hotels
• First Class travel on Europe's Great Trains
• Luggage transported on ahead
• Escorted by Australian historian / tour guide
• Guided orientation / sightseeing tours in all cities

The Springtime Gardens Tour, departing May 4th 2009 also includes:

• Return economy airfare - but NOT taxes - from your Australian international airport to Europe, with airport transfers if arriving and departing on group dates. Inquire about the cost of earlier departure or later return. Not included if you have opted for “land content only”.
• Twin share accommodation with buffet breakfast in centrally located First Class (European 4 star) hotels with private facilities and air-conditioning in Amsterdam, Paris and London, and in quality, traditional, village inns with private facilities in rural England.
• First Class rail travel in reserved seats on many of Europe's and England's great trains - Thalys, English Channel Eurostar, and Britrail 125. Second Class seats on North York Moors Railway and the section traveled on the Settle - Carlisle Railway.
• Entrances to all gardens described in the itinerary, most with expert guides.
• Sightseeing / orientation tour of each overnight city or village.
• Transport by luxury coach on visits to gardens (without rail access) from Amsterdam, Paris and London, and in rural England.
• Restaurant dinner (3 courses plus wine or beer) on the first night in each new city or village, except London, where the included dinner is our farewell dinner on the last night
• Luggage handling between cities (except on English Channel Eurostar, where Customs require that passengers travel with luggage).

The TOUR COST does NOT include:

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

Note well: Booking Conditions « Tours index ^ Top ^