Guided Garden Tour at Alnmouth

For all holidays:

Day 1: Arrival day.

Your room will be available from 2.30pm onwards. Please join us for tea between 4pm and 5pm to meet the leader and your fellow guests.

Before dinner there will be a brief introduction to the holiday programme.

30 June 2012, with Alan Appleton

Day 2: Our first stop will be Cragside, a great Victorian estate of nearly 1,000 acres. This was the creation of the great industrialist and inventor Lord William Armstrong, and was the first house in the world to be lit by hydro-electricity. Next we visit Herterton House. The owners took over this land in 1976 and have created four distinct garden areas.

Day 3: Belsay Hall, Castle and Gardens will be our first stop today. The stone for the house was quarried on-site, and the remaining ravines were transformed into a stunning Grade I Quarry Garden. In the afternoon we visit Wallington. This has impressive gardens surrounding the house, although the main attraction is a beautiful walled garden situated away from the house.

Day 4: For many people the visit to the wonderful Alnwick Garden will be the highlight of the week. The centrepiece is the vast Grand Cascade, the largest water feature of its kind in the country. Our final visit will be to Howick Hall. This garden is one for plant lovers, and a beautiful pond and bog garden area has been created since the 1980s.

Day 5: Depart after breakfast.

15 September 2012, with Harry Mycock

Day 2: In the morning we visit Cragside Gardens. This is a Victorian gem within a beautiful setting. Features include extensive rock gardens, formal and productive gardens. In the afternoon we will visit an interesting garden created in the latter part of the 20^th century.

Day 3: Belsay Hall Garden is a garden historian's feast. Today we see 350 years of landscape and fashion changes that have created parkland, quarried ravine gardens, formal gardens, meadow gardens and sunken gardens - something for everyone. In the afternoon we travel to Wallington where we will see a tranquil landscape plus outstanding walled gardens and conservatory.   

Day 4: Surrounding Harry Potter's Hogwarts of Alnwick Castle is the beautiful Alnwick Garden. Here you will see a stunning garden created just over a decade ago. This ambitious site is maturing well with great landscape and water features as well as the famous poison garden. In the afternoon we visit Howick Hall, once home of Earl Grey. Regarded as a plantsperson’s garden with year-round interest featuring ponds and bog garden, this will be our final garden treat.

Day 5: Depart after breakfast.