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March 17th, 2009

Temple Guiting Manor designed by Jinny Blom 

With spring around the corner – and in the air (New Yorkers are rejoicing at the prospect of 60-degree weather forecasts) – garden lovers are dusting the dirt off their shovels and trowels and sharpening their clippers.  Warm weather aside, here’s another reason for excitement: The Royal Oak Foundation’s annual British Garden Tour.

This year’s tour (June 14-19 ) is entitled “New” Gardens of the English Cotswolds and is for the serious green thumbs out there.  Afficionados will have priveleged access to the finest gardens in the area while being led by Britain’s horicultural elite including renowned designers Arne Maynard (a Chelsea Gold Medalist), Dan Pearson, and Jinny Blom.  In total the group will experience 17 intimate inspections of these mostly private gardens.  Not only can they tour the gardens, guests will also lunch with the owners and designers in their exclusive spaces.

A few of the gardens to note:

  • Daylesford House – A real treat, this garden is rarely open to the public.  Owners Lady Bamford and her husband have restored and recreated the formal gardens of the late 18th century, including a new two-acre walled garden by Lady Mary Keen and a “secret garden” by Mr. Golby.
  • Abbotswood – Originally designed by Edwin Lutyens, considered one of the greatest British architects, the 20-acre, private site is planted in the style of Gertrude Jekyll, the late icon of the Arts & Crafts style of design.
  • Temple Guiting Manor – Jinny Blom will tour her landscape restoration that won the 2006 Pinnacle Award by The Prince of Wales at one of the finest of the small Cotswold Tudor Houses.
  • “Mystery Garden” – The tour’s final destination, this garden has been featured in the British House & Garden, which described it as “the most idyllic garden.” Designed by Todd Longstaffe-Gowan, who will join the group – can you guess where this is?

Dinners and accommodation are at Lords of the Manor, a 17th-century former rectory with a Michelin Starred restaurant.  The cost for the tour is $8,100 per person for double occupancy.  Both include a $2,500 donation benefitting National Trust Gardens.

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