The English & Welsh Marches

Welcome to the Marches…

Join us for this eight-day journey through some of the prettiest, most rural countryside in England and Wales, a journey as much through time as through one of the quietest corners of Britain.

The English-Welsh border, the Marches, call it what you will, it is a landscape of rolling countryside, secluded valleys and wooded hillsides. A land of lush pasture in a thousand shades of green.

It’s rural, deeply rural.

We visit 14 gardens, enjoy two private visits at two prestigious gardens and have access to the houses at some of the gardens we visit. We see a mixture of gardens, in size and style; some are well known, others are less so.

We stay at two wonderful, comfortable and independent hotels, and dine out at a couple of award-winning restaurants. We will sleep and eat well!

D1 Thursday, 16 July

The Laskett Gardens

Tim will meet you at the Sheraton Heathrow Hotel, immediately north of Terminal 5, Heathrow Airport, at 9.30 am. We’ll then drive west for lunch at Burford Garden Co, possibly the most fabulous garden centre in Britain.

From Burford we continue west to Herefordshire, to visit The Laskett Gardens, the gardens created by Sir Roy Strong and his late wife, Julia.

Sir Roy is an art historian, museum curator, writer, broadcaster and became a gardener when, in 1974, he and Julia started their garden, a garden we have long wanted to visit.

It’s then an hour to our hotel, The Riverside, our home for the next four nights, where we plan to be by late afternoon, allowing plenty of time to relax before drinks and dinner.

Today's driving is about 150 miles/240 km

D2 Friday, 17 July

Berrington Hall & Brobury House

We start the day at Berrington Hall, a country retreat created in the late 18th century for Thomas Harley, a London banker and wealthy businessman. He commissioned Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown to lay out the park and Brown’s son-in-law, Henry Holland, to design the house. The estate passed through two other families, coming to the nation, like so many others, in lieu of death duties after the Second World War.

Our next visit is to Brobury House, for lunch and the afternoon exploring its wonderful 8-acre garden.

We end our day in the tiny hamlet of Kilpeck, for a brief visit to the Church of St Mary & St David and for dinner at the Kilpeck Inn.

Today's driving is about 80 miles/130 km

D3 Saturday, 18 July

Hergest Croft & Hereford

The day starts on Offa's Dyke, an earthwork roughly following the English-Welsh border, generally believed to have been built by Offa, the Anglo-Saxon king of Mercia from 757 to 796.

We’ll explore a couple of sections of the dyke, before we visit Hergest Croft. Now in the care of the fifth generation of the Banks family, Hergest Croft covers 70 acres and contains one of the best private collections of plants, shrubs and trees in the UK. It is a stunning garden.

From Hergest we drive into Hereford, to visit its 11th-century Cathedral, its Chained Library and the Mappa Mundi, a magnificent 14th-century map of the then known world.

We will dine at The Bookshop, a short walk from the cathedral, before returning to our hotel.

Today's driving is about 70 miles/110 km

D4 Sunday, 19 July

Hampton Gardens & Westonbury Mill

Our day begins at Hampton Gardens, the gardens of Hampton Court Castle, a castellated country house dating from 1427. The gardens include an organically managed kitchen garden, as well as a maze, a Dutch garden, and a very impressive 150-year-old wisteria arch.

We’ll leave Hampton Court for lunch and the early afternoon at nearby Westonbury Mill Water Gardens, a 5-acre water garden on Curl Brook and criss-crossed by paths and bridges. It is a mass of colourful, moisture-loving plants all set against a backdrop of mature trees and shrubs.

We’ll return early to The Riverside for a relaxing last evening in the Herefordshire countryside.

Today's total driving is about 40 miles/65 km

D5 Monday, 20 July

Dingles Nursery & Powis Castle

We leave Herefordshire for Shropshire, stopping briefly in the pretty village of Clun before visiting Dingle Nurseries & Garden, the acclaimed RHS partner garden and lifetime work of Barbara and Roy Joseph. It is especially well known for its colour-themed and unusual planting.

And then to nearby Powis Castle, a 13th-century medieval fortress, modernised for the Herbert family in the late 16th century. The gardens, stretching out beneath the castle, are one of the finest in Britain.

Returning to England, we head for Goldstone Hall, our home for the next three nights, where we plan to arrive in the late afternoon, in good time to relax before drinks and dinner.

Today's driving is about 100 miles/160 km

D6 Tuesday, 21 July

Hodnet Hall & Wollerton Old Hall

We start the day with a guided tour of the gardens at Goldstone Hall, before two further private visits, firstly to Hodnet Hall, the family home of the Heber-Percys. The garden, laid out in the 1920s, is beautifully planted and is full of magnificent trees surrounding the sweeping lawns and a chain of ornamental pools running through the garden. It is a veritable haven for wildlife.

We’ll enjoy a picnic lunch at Hodnet before our second private visit to the acclaimed gardens at Wollerton Old Hall, the 16th-century childhood home of owner Lesley Jenkins. The 4-acre garden surrounds the hall and is planted in the English Garden tradition, with strong echoes of the Arts and Crafts movement, though with a degree of formality demanded by a property of such great age. It is bursting with design ideas.

Dinner at The Bear Inn in Hodnet.

Today’s driving is about 25 miles/40 km

D7 Wednesday, 22 July

Erddig Hall & Chirk Castle

We return to Wales to visit Erddig Hall and its restored 18th-century garden, a restoration informed by the garden plans of John Meller, the wealthy lawyer who bought Erddig in 1714. The house also boasts a fascinating collection of portraits and poems, painted and written by the Yorke family, the servants’ employees. It is most unusual.

And then to nearby Chirk Castle, an imposing 13th-century marcher castle, built to suppress the Welsh. The gardens date to 1653, when Sir Thomas Myddelton laid out the formal garden, and were altered and remodelled until the Second World War, when the gardens were neglected. Thankfully, Lady Margaret Myddelton revived them and created the colourful planting scheme we see today.

We return to Goldstone Hall for a relaxing evening and an end-of-tour dinner.

Today's driving is about 90 miles/145 km

D8 Thursday, 23 July

Coton Manor & Heathrow

After an absence of some years, we returned to Coton Manor last year, and we so enjoyed it, we’re returning again. It is a highly acclaimed and well-liked garden and, like Hodnet, it was laid out in the 1920s by the owner’s grandparents. The 17th-century manor house is the focus of the ten-acre garden which surrounds it, and the garden makes the best use of its natural setting and attractive views.

They have a very decent cafe where we’ll have lunch before returning to the Sheraton Heathrow Hotel, where the tour ends and where we plan to be in time for evening flights home.

If you are staying in the UK and don't wish to return to London or Heathrow, please let us know your onward travel plans, so that we may assist you in getting to your next destination

Today’s driving is about 180 miles/290 km