2009 Master Gardener
England and Kent
05-13 July, 2009
05 July - Today we depart the United States on our international flight to England,
06 July - We arrive in London early and our motorcoach takes us to our hotel the Radisson Kenilworth, which will be our home for the next two nights. This day will be free to explore London as you wish and get ready for our night at Hampton Court Palace and the Hampton Court Gala. We will arrive at 6pm so that you will have time to browse the show grounds until the booths close at 9:30pm. You can then have dinner and prepare for the fireworks display. At the end of the show, we will make our way to our motorcoach, which will deliver us back to our hote.
07 July - This morning you can sleep in or do some early sightseeing. At __pm, we will board our motorcoach for the trip to Salisbury and the Cathedral. We will have a tour and then everyone will be free to discover their own favorite place. When we leave we will head to Stonehenge, where we will be having and out-of-hours tour. We will be able to walk among the great stones instead of seeing them from behind a barrier.
08 July - Today we must leave London and head to Kent. On our way, we will spend the morning at Wisley. After our tour, you will be free to explore the garden, have lunch at the restaurant, shop till you drop at the wonderful gift shop or any combination you wish. Our next stop today is at Vann Garden. When we leave we will head to Royal Tunbridge Wells and our hotel The Swann. We will be based here for five nights as we tour some of the great gardens of Kent.
09 July -
10 July - Today we head east to see Canterbury Cathedral, the site of Thomas Becket's murder and place of great pilgrimage. You will have time after our tour to visit areas of interest. Our garden today is Mt. Ephraim, home to the Mizmaze.
11 July - Today we will visit a garden; Scotney, a castle; Bodiam and we will finish the day with dinner on a train. Scotney and Bodiam are both National Trust properties and can be found on the same website.
12 July - We will be seeing two favorites today. Our first stop will be at Penshurst Place. Penshurst has been in the Sidney family since 1552. We will tour both the house and gardens here. Our second garden, Sissinghurst, is also a National Trust property and on everyone's to do list of gardens to visit.
13 July - Regretably, we must leave Kent and England today for our trip back home.