Teachers' Travel          HF Holidays            
Glorious Garden Tours

Gardens of Cornwall including the Eden Project

April 28 - May 5, 2012     

This tour is based in the quaint sea-side town of St Ives. We stay at the same hotel for seven nights and each day we travel by private mini-coach to visit the wonderful gardens of Cornwall. St Ives is a delightful town with a maze-like old fishing quarter and superb beach. The town is famous as an art centre with studios, shops and galleries.  Gardens flourish in Cornwall in the mild climate and humid atmosphere and in April the rhododendrons should be in full bloom and fields covered in bluebells. Many of the gardens are part of large historic estates with elegant old country houses. Cornwall is also home to the Eden Project, whose  "biomes" contain trees and flowers from all over the world creating a huge theatre of exotic plants. 
 
ITINERARY:

Sat: Arrive at St Ives in time for afternoon tea, an introduction to our leader for the week and an outline of the programme.

Sun:  Morning tour of St. Ives. We walk narrow cobbled streets leading from the fishing harbour and admire the masses of floral colour adorning quaint cottages. After lunch we visit Trebah Garden one of the finest gardens in England. It is best known for flowering rhododendrons, camellias, magnolias and azaleas.

Mon:  We start with a visit to the Lost Gardens of Heligan, Europe's largest restoration project. Among other exciting discoveries are rockeries, crystal grotto, Italian garden and the "jungle". After lunch we go to Trewithen which means “house of the trees” and the name describes this early Georgian house in its splendid setting of parkland.

Tues:  The Eden Project is a giant crater with “Biomes” housing exotic plants. One Biome is "Humid Tropics" containing plants and trees from rainforests of South America, West Africa and Islands in Asia. Another Biome is "Warm Temperate" and protects olive groves, citrus, tobacco and cotton plantations. The third Biome is planted with species unique to Cornwall. www.edenproject.com

Wed:  Day of leisure. There is an optional tour to St Michael’s Mount, a former Benedictine Priory and Castle which has beautiful gardens. Another option this day is a visit to the Tate Gallery located right in St Ives.

Thurs: Full day excursion to Penzance and Trengwainton Garden. Many of the sweet smelling rhodos came from seeds brought back from expeditions in the Himalayas.

Fri:  A one mile drive among tall rhododendrons - this is Pencarrow. There are 160 different species of conifers plus 700 rhododendron hybrids and more than 60 different camellias. The sunken Italian Garden is a prime feature. A 17th century cottage has been converted into tea rooms where you can sit and enjoy tea surrounded by magnificent peacocks. Our last stop is Lanhydrock Garden, 30 acres of gardens forming a horseshoe around the finest mansion in Cornwall.

Sat: Depart after breakfast

The above itinerary may be altered due to weather or blooming conditions at the time. Sometimes other gardens will be even more spectacular.

Where We Stay:
We stay for even nights in the quaint town of St Ives. Our hotel is Chy Morvah which is within an easy walk of the town centre and used exclusively for HF Holidays. The hotel has sea-views and set in an acre of sheltered lawns and gardens with a heated outdoor swimming pool, lounge, bar and conservatory. Rooms have tea/coffee maker, double or twin beds and private bathroom with hair-dryer. All are non-smoking. Three meals a day are included.

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