Tour Code

Depart London

Return London

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NIGHTSTOP

DAY ONE

DAY TWO

Ightham Mote, Knole, Scotney Castle

Ightham Mote, deservedly one of the most popular small gardens in the region. Here you can explore 650 years of history in one of the most complete examples of a mediaeval moated manor house.

Next, to Knole. This is one of England's great 'treasure houses'. Home of the Lords Sackville since 1603, the property has much to offer including Royal Stuart furnishings and a fine art collection of English masters. Knole was the birthplace of Vita Sackville-West (whose own garden creation we'll see later) and was used by Virginia Woolf as the setting for her novel 'Orlando'. A visit here is like stepping back in time.

The garden is set on the side of a valley at 500 feet but is sheltered by the magnificent woods of the Sussex Weald.

Finally to Scotney Castle which has been termed England's most romantic garden with Victorian terraces covered in a riot of coloured shrubs overlooking a 14th century moated castle.

Sevenoaks

DAY THREE

Hever Castle, Sissinghurst

We travel the short distance to the fabulous Sissinghurst Castle. Vita Sackville-West's world famous garden is another that requires no introduction to garden enthusiasts. You'll have plenty of time to explore this intimate and intricate garden and to visit those parts of her home open to the public.

Hever Castle is the jewel in our day. Hever is many people's idea of what a 'real' castle should look like, from its gateway and courtyard to its surrounding moat. It is the most fairy-tale like. Though dating back to 1270, and being the family home of one of Henry VIII's ill-fated wives (Anne Boleyn), it also has a relatively contemporary feel provided by the Astors who took over and restored the castle in the early part of last century.  With a 30-acre garden including a unique Italian garden filled with roses and statues, there's plenty to admire here.

We also need to leave some flexibility for 'serendipity' today as we'll no doubt find some attraction en route that is unplanned but which we simply must stop for. Well, it wouldn't be a Back-Roads tour if that didn't happen!

Bodiam, Great Dixter, local informal gardens and your choice!

On a Back-Roads Touring Co. tour we like to leave room for adaptation; adaptation to the weather, the local conditions, and most importantly, adaptation to the desires of tour participants. Thus, on today’s programme we’ll leave space for you, in consultation with the guide to decide on at least one visit. This region is blessed with homes and gardens; Penshurst Place, Leonardslee, Merriments Gardens “one of the best show gardens in England” (RHS Garden Finder) and Emmetts, to name but a few that have wonderful qualities.  This morning the choice will be yours (subject, of course, to democratic agreement!).

Another iconic garden and house is that of Great Dixter. This is the largest half-timbered house in England but it's the garden that really grabs the attention with it topiary, wild meadows and famed Long Border. It is one that cannot be missed.

We've an opportunity of a slight change of pace and period for today's final visits. You'll have the choice of seeing the magnificently preserved 15th century Bodiam Castle, the Abbey connected with the famed 1066 Battle of Hastings or, perhaps, Kipling's house, Bateman's. Dinner is not included tonight to allow some flexibility for attending London theatre.

Ham House, Osterley House, Syon House and Kew

Our London day concentrates on some of the gardens and stately homes that run along the banks of the Thames to the west of the city like a string of pearls.

We'll begin our day in the Royal Botanic Gardens of Kew, just a stone's throw away from our accommodation.

A short distance away, close to Marble Hill House and under the watchful eye of Richmond Hill, sits Ham House. This magnificent 16th century pile boasts one of the last formal Dutch gardens. One method of reaching the house, by rowed ferry across the Thames adds a special dimension to the visit!

Finally, while Robert Adams' ‘Osterly Park’, Gunnesbury House, the municipal gardens of Walpole House in Ealing are all gardens in the vicinity deserving of attention, supreme amongst them however, is Syon House with its Royal Tudor connections and National Trust arboretum.

Dinner tonight will be taken in an historic Thames riverside pub.

The World famous CHELSEA FLOWER SHOW is our central feature of the day. There’s an afternoon option to visit Chiswick House for those who don’t want the whole day at Chelsea. Chiswick is a pleasant garden and ‘party’ home created by Lord Burlington and architect Inigo Jones at Chiswick. This public, neighbourhood space delights all visitors with its informality and its well tended and colourful flower beds.

Dinner is not included on the tour this evening to give flexibility to those who wish to stay as long as is possible at the Chelsea Flower Show.

The Rothchilds' Waddesdon Manor, hidden villages of the Chiltern Hills and Cliveden.

Today we visit a region of the UK that can truly be described as 'unrecognised'. Perhaps we could even use the phrase, 'the UK's hidden secret' without it being just the tired old cliche. The Chiltern Hills are a supreme delight.

In this smallish area of gentle hills and sudden valleys, we find impossibly pretty villages. Some might be recognisable from popular films and BBC TV shows but it's a surprise to find they are real not just sets. Amongst the gems to discover are the 'Marharishi's Well', an Indian Prince's garden gift, the Astors' magnificent country gardens at Cliveden, and the Rothschilds' sumptuous, Loire chateau-like, Waddesdon Manor.

Add to this some stunning private gardens, picturesque parish churchyards, a memorable retail 'garden centre' and a 1000 year old pub for lunch (not included in cost), and you have an exquisite and unique day.

Dinner is not included this evening to allow flexibility for those wanting to attend theatre, walk besides the nearby Thames, or perhaps enjoy Chiswick, this very English of neighbourhoods.

Note: if you are taking the seven Day Option,  you are dropped at a central London hotel of your choice at the end of the day, or at our base hotel if you wish to book that one.

Painshill Park, Polesden Lacy and Hinton Ampner

Our first visit of the day is to Painshill Park. Created between 1738 and 1773 by the Hon Charles Hamilton, a painter, plantsman and brilliantly gifted and imaginative designer, it is a unique award winning restoration of England's Georgian Heritage. Within its 160 acres its Hamilton landscapes are a work of art that influenced the future of England's countryside and culture. The Hamilton Landscapes have been authentically restored to their original pre-eminence winning the Europa Nostra Medal for exemplary restoration. 'Painshill Park is a jewel of English culture, a source of peace and inspiration, the work of an English gentleman in all its quiet charm'. Not a bad review!

Polesden Lacey, our next stop, represents the Regency period (1820s) in our historical panorama. Sumptuous? Certainly sumptuous enough to have attracted King George VI and wife Elizabeth (our beloved and much missed Queen Mother) to spend part of their honeymoon here. In addition to the magnificent interior, there's the lovely walled rose garden to walk through.

Finally, we'll look at Hinton Ampner. This is one of the great gardens of the 20th-century. It is a masterpiece of design by Ralph Dutton, 8th and last Lord Sherborne, uniting a formal layout with varied and informal plantings in pastel shades. It boasts a 12-acre garden of year-round interest with scented plants and magnificent vistas over parkland and rolling Hampshire countryside. Alternative gardens offered today are Hatchlands and Clandon.

New Forest to Isle of Wight and Queen Victoria's Osborne House

The Isle of Wight sits a short ferry crossing from the Hampshire mainland and offers us a unique day out with some fabulous sightseeing opportunities. The jewel in today's crown is Osborne House. This was where Queen Victoria chose to spend her summers. The house and gardens are national treasures. Here, inside, you'll see how Queen Victoria lived (and also sneak a look 'beneath stairs' to see how her staff worked and lived). In the wonderful 50 acre gardens that sweep to the Swiss Cottage and its garden, you'll walk amongst magnolias, Lebanon cedar, azaleas and other in-season blooms. There's also a perfect Victorian walled kitchen garden.

A second visit for the day takes us to Ventnor Botanic Garden  “devoted to exotic plants”, many, if not most, from the southern hemisphere. 

We'll spend the rest of our day soaking up the atmosphere of this lovely little corner of the British Isles and exploring its coastline and resort towns. If we've time, and the inclination amongst group members, we might also see Morton House.

Kingston Lacy, Exbury Garden, and Mottisfont

We've several magnificent properties on today's visit schedule. There's no better way of describing the first, Kingston Lacy, than the National Trust's own description; ' Home of the Bankes family for more than 300 years, this striking 17th-century house was radically altered in the 19th century by Sir Charles Barry. The house is noted for its lavish interiors, including William Bankes's dramatic Spanish Room, with its gilded leather walls. The family's collection of art is outstanding, with paintings by Rubens, Van Dyck, Titian and Brueghel as well as the largest private collection of Egyptian artefacts in the UK. This wonderfully eclectic experience continues outside. Take a stroll across the beautiful formal lawns towards the restored Japanese tea garden. There are several waymarked walks through the surrounding parkland, with its fine herd of North Devon cattle, and the 3,440-hectare (8,500-acre) estate – dominated by the botanically rich Iron Age hill fort of Badbury Rings, home to fourteen varieties of orchid'.

Next, to Exbury Gardens. This spectacular 200-acre woodland garden is world-famous for the Rothschild collection of rhododendrons, azaleas and camellias, rare trees and plants, and is a real riot of colour!

Mottisfont, our final stop of the day, is a garden noted for its colourful herbaceous borders, grassy terraces planted with fruit trees and its sea views. The 16th- and 17th-century manor house, which is tenanted, lies at the heart of the Mottistone Estate, which offers delightful walks between the Downs and the coast.

The order of our garden visits will be determined by your guide, as will the time allocated to each depending on the weather and location of overnight accommodation.

Stonehenge, Wilton House, Winchester

First to Wilton House, truly one of the country's treasure houses. Here, amidst nearly 500 years of history, you will experience living history at its very best as you wander through its magnificent rooms, marvel at its architecture, soak in its fine paintings or be swept off your feet by its spectacular gardens.

Next on today’s formal programme is the magnificent cathedral city of Winchester. The cathedral grounds are a delight and a walk beside the gentle river and its adjoining meadows reminds us that nature needs little help in giving us her own natural gardens.

Our journey back into London may offer a final opportunity for stopping at the gardens of Selborne. Surely, no garden tour can be complete without at least the brief ‘tipping of the hat’ towards one of the great early gardeners and naturalists, Gilbert White.  

(an alternative afternoon may be offered by your guide that would see you substitute Winchester for Salisbury, perhaps visiting and leave you with an opportunity of seeing nearby Stonehenge. This alternative could only be taken with full group agreement).

You are dropped in London at your central hotel of choice, or at our recommended base.

Accommodation and dinner not included tonight.

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Please note: while we will do our utmost to include all of the properties mentioned as central visits, we reserve the right to change an attraction should it become impossible to deliver a planned visit due to changes in opening days or times that we could not have been aware of at the time of loading this tour to our website. 

Arrival and departure airport transfers are NOT included on our short 3 and 4-day tours unless it is specifically stated as being so on your booking confirmation. Airport transfers are, however, normally provided free of cost when you book onto a combination of three or more tours, and on special departures tours of ten days or more, or on customised (tailor-made) tour programmes.

All tours depart from our centrally located base. You are responsible for being at the departure point by the time designated in the itinerary. If you are not booking into our base hotel, you can book a transfer to this from where ever you are staying or we can collect you from any centrally located hotel where you are staying and deliver you to our base hotel at a cost £15.00. Transfers from accommodations further than 20 minutes drive away cost from £25.00.

Where transfers are included (on tours 10 days and over) they are only available on the day preceding and following the start/finish day of the tour from/to the nearest airport to the departure/arrival city. You are able to have one transfer at the beginning and end of the tour. This transfer is to the tour departure hotel or to a hotel of your choice from your airport of arrival in the city from which your tour begins. You are responsible for notifying us of your arrival information no later than six weeks prior to arrival date or you do not qualify for a free airport transfer. Transfers are not provided from rail stations and you have to make your way independently to the departure hotel. If your initial transfer is not to the tour hotel (but to one that you've booked independently prior to the tour starting) then you are obliged to make your own way to our tour hotel on the morning of departure. However, should you not have had an initial airport transfer, then you can be transferred, free of charge from the hotel you're using prior to the tour to the tour hotel. Similarly, at the completion of the tour, you may take either a return transfer to the airport or a transfer from the tour hotel to another one in which you might be staying for an extended time.

All tours commence from a major city.  Accommodation in the departure city, prior and post tour is NOT included and must be reserved separately.

Accommodation is in three-star or equivalent lodgings. All rooms are with private facilities (bathrooms), unless specifically informed at the time of booking your tour.   

Accommodations include country inns, manor houses, cosy farmhouses and quaint family owned B+B's whilst on tour (see Booking Conditions for exceptions).  Where not available, properties of similar standards are used. 

PLEASE NOTE:  the vast majority of the accommodations we use do not have traditional-style porterage (neither do they have lifts/elevators).  Your guide, however, will normally be able to assist with your baggage.  BUT please do note that if you bring along bags that are heavier than the normal standard airline permissable weight and size, European Health and Safety regulations apply.  Under these circumstances, guides will be within their rights should they be reluctant to carry that bag.

All transportation aboard our comfortable 6 to 16 seat mini-coaches and the services of a driver/guide throughout.

Cooked breakfast daily* whilst on tour and minimum two-course dinners every night**.  See detailed tour itinerary for full meal inclusions. There is inevitably a budget for dinners but it is normally more than sufficient to cover a free choice of the menu. However, should the group dine in places where the costs of the meals are substantailly higher than the budget allows, particpants will have an option of adding to the budget on an ad hoc basis if wanting higher priced menu items.

*In tour arrival cities - London, Paris, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Nice, Rome and Dublin, continental breakfast is sometime served.  All tours on the European mainland include continental breakfast. 

**On all  tours over four nights where individual short tours are combined, the dinner between tours not included (unless specifically stated as such in the tour itinerary) to allow tour participants some independence and flexibility.   Dinners are never included in arrival and departure cities unless specifically stated in the tour itinerary.

All sightseeing and entrance fees to sights mentioned as possible visits in the itinerary, or when accompanied by driver/guide, up to a budget specified by the guide. Tour participants may be asked to pay an entrance fee fro attractions and sights they may have specifically requested that be visited and are not normally included on a tour itinerary.  All taxes.  All tips and gratuities (except to guide/companion) to outside suppliers but you're free to supplement if the service warrants such.

No Cancellation Guarantee - once a deposit has been made, we promise that we will only cancel the tour in extreme circumstances (eg. where local or organisational circumstances make it impossible for us to deliver our tour). Historically we have never cancelled a tour simply because we have low numbers. If you have invested your travel dreams with us, we will do our best to honour them! In the current economic/political climate, however, it must be understood that we have to reserve the legal right to cancel where the number of tour participants may make a tour uneconomic to run and doing so may effect our corporate health. Where we have accepted your booking, and it later becomes apparent that you might be the only person(s) on that tour, Back-Roads Touring Co. Ltd will notify you of such and give you the opportunity of changing to another departure, or for you to cancel your tour without cost.

Air Fares to Europe.  Air travel must be booked independently and the flight details given to us. It is your, or your travel agents, responsbility to let us have this information in a timely manner.

Transfers to and from arrival/departure airports unless specifically reserved or promised as part of an overall tour reservation. These must be booked independently. It is your responsibility to ensure that you are at the departure hotel at the appointed time.

Driver/Guide gratuity is at your discretion.

Lunches, social drinks, items of a personal nature and entrance fees when not accompanied by our Driver/Guide.

Occasional optional evening theatre/festival visits.

Incidental expenses, such as telephone bills, newspapers and room service incurred at accommodations is the responsibility of the individual client.   All expenses are settled prior to leaving the accommodation.

Laundry costs and any shipping charges for the return of purchases made on tour, or for the return of property lost on tour.