Chelsea Flower Show

D1 Wednesday, 12 May

Hever Castle & Great Comp

Tim will collect you from the Sheraton Heathrow Hotel at 10:00 and, once we’re all ready to go, we’ll set off for Kent to visit Hever Castle. Famously, the childhood home of Anne Boleyn, King Henry VIII’s second wife, Hever was bought in 1903 by William Waldorf Astor, one of America’s richest men. Astor restored the castle and created the gardens we see today, including the Italian Garden, which was designed to display his collection of Italian sculptures, and the lake, which took some 800 men two years to dig out!

We’ll leave Hever mid-afternoon to visit nearby Great Comp, a beautiful garden, the combined vision of Roderick and Joy Cameron, who bought the premises in the 1950s and, after a cup of tea and a piece of cake in the Old Dairy Tearoom, we’ll make our way to Chilston Park Hotel, our home for the next three nights, where we’ll be late afternoon, in good time to check in and relax before drinks and dinner at the hotel.

Today's driving is about 85 miles/135 km

D2 Thursday, 13 May

Great Dixter & Pashley Manor

We start the day with a pleasant drive across the Kentish landscape into neighbouring Sussex to visit Great Dixter, the famous garden created by the late Christopher Lloyd. Now in a charitable trust and in the hands of Head Gardener, Fergus Garrett, the garden goes from strength to strength. With luck, we will get permission to arrive an hour before the official opening time and have some precious time alone in the garden – we’ll see.

From Dixter it’s not far to Pashley Manor, where we’ll have lunch and the early afternoon exploring this handsome garden, surrounding and perfectly matching, the most delightful house – a mid-sixteenth-century half-timbered house on one side and an elegant Georgian house on the other.

Late in the afternoon, we’ll drive into Rye for a stroll around the cobbled streets of this wonderful medieval, hill-top town, enjoy a drink at the Mermaid Inn (rebuilt 1420!) and have dinner at The Plough Inn, on our way home to Chilston Park.

Today's driving is about 100 miles/160 km

D3 Friday, 14 May

Goodnestone Park & Doddington Place

Our day starts on the North Downs to take in the views across the Kent landscape from above The Devil’s Kneading Trough, a natural bowl-shaped dry valley, before a morning visit to Goodnestone Park. Once the home of Edward Austen, Jane Austen's brother, Goodnestone is a romantic garden with much to admire, not least a superb collection of trees, a triple-bay walled garden, an admirable situation and an exceedingly good café!

We’ll have lunch at Goodnestone before driving north, following the route of the Pilgrims’ Way, the historical route taken by pilgrims from Winchester to the shrine of Thomas Becket at Canterbury, to visit Doddington Place. Home of the Oldfield family for over a century, Markham Nesfield, the son of the better-known garden designer, William Nesfield, laid out part of the garden in 1873. But it was a Mrs Jeffreys who was responsible for much of the architectural detail and layout of the gardens we see today.

We return to Chilston Park for dinner.

Today's driving is about 85 miles/135 km

D4 Saturday, 15 May

Sissinghurst Castle & Scotney Castle

We start the day at Sissinghurst Castle Gardens, unashamedly one of Britain's best-loved gardens and one of the chief highlights of the tour. Created in the 1930s by husband-and-wife team Harold Nicholson and Vita Sackville-West, the gardens have stood the test of time and, quite rightly, they are famous the world over.

We leave Sissinghurst for an early afternoon visit to nearby Scotney Castle, a medieval moated castle and Victorian country house set within a superb example of a Picturesque garden, famous for its open parkland and ancient woodland, its walled kitchen garden and its collections of spectacular magnolias, rhododendrons and azaleas.

From Scotney Castle, we depart Kent for Richmond and The Petersham Hotel, our home for the next four nights, arriving in good time to check in, before dinner locally at A Cena, a superb Italian restaurant, and one of our long-standing favourites.

Today's driving is about 100 miles/160 km

D5 Sunday, 16 May

Hampton Court Palace

Our day begins with a short drive through south-west London to Hampton Court Palace, the fabulous Tudor palace built by Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, Archbishop of York and the chief minister of Henry VIII. Work began in 1514, but Wolsey fell from favour and gave the palace to Henry in a bid to save his neck. Henry enlarged it to accommodate his retinue of courtiers, and it became one of his most favoured residences. In the early 1690s, in an attempt to rival the Palace of Versailles, William III commissioned Christopher Wren to rebuild and expand the palace, but in doing so, they destroyed much of the Tudor palace.

We have most of the day at Hampton Court Palace before returning to Richmond on the river, by Thames River Boat. The river between Hampton Court and Richmond is a particularly fine stretch of the Thames, and it is, in any case, a thoroughly pleasurable way of whiling away an hour or two on a mid-May afternoon.

Dinner at The Petersham.

Today's driving is about 6 miles/10 km

D6 Monday, 17 May

Ham House & Kew Gardens

We start the day with a walk across Petersham Meadows, for a brief visit to Petersham Nurseries, and continue along the Thames Path to Ham House, to visit the house and its garden, one of only a few 17th-century gardens to survive (its 17th-century character having been painfully reinstated during a 1970s reconstruction).

Late morning, we’ll drive from Ham House to the other side of Richmond, for lunch and the rest of the day at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, a veritable treasure trove of world-renowned treats, including its famous Temperate House, Kew Palace and the 18-metre high treetop walk!

Shortly before the gardens close, at 6 o'clock, we will meet at the main gates and walk into Kew village for supper.

Today's driving is about 10 miles/16 km

D7 Tuesday, 18 May

Chelsea Flower Show

Today’s the day, a whole day at the world-famous RHS Chelsea Flower Show.

Tuesday is the first day of the two Members' Only Days, two days reserved exclusively for members, like you, of the Royal Horticultural Society.

The day starts with an early morning drive to the main gates, where we are dropped off just before the gates open at 8 o'clock. We have all day at Chelsea and, although we will discuss it nearer the time, experience tells us to leave at about 4 o'clock – avoiding the late afternoon rush and, in any case, eight hours on our feet is enough for most people.

We return, exhilarated, to The Petersham for an end-of-tour private dinner in The Cellars.

Today's driving is about 20 miles/30 km

D8 Wednesday, 19 May

RHS Garden, Wisley

Our final visit, somewhat fittingly, is to the gardens at RHS Garden, Wisley, the Headquarters of the Royal Horticultural Society and a Mecca for gardeners everywhere.

We will spend all morning and the early part of the afternoon exploring these internationally renowned gardens before, in mid-afternoon, we return to the Sheraton Heathrow Hotel, where we’ll arrive in time for evening flights and where the tour ends.

Today's driving is about 50 miles/80 km