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England

Chelsea Flower Show and Gardens: A British Tradition

Program No. 22576RJ
Inspiration blooms when you join us for the Royal Horticultural Society Chelsea Flower Show and explore some of England’s best-loved gardens with experts!
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Start
Homes & Gardens
Length
13 days
Rating (4.88)
Activity Level
Starts at
5,149
Flights start at
1,200

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Itinerary
While we make every effort to ensure the accuracy of our published materials, programs are typically advertised more than a year prior to their start date. Read More.
While we make every effort to ensure the accuracy of our published materials, programs are typically advertised more than a year prior to their start date. As a result, some program activities, schedules, accommodations, personnel, and other logistics occasionally change due to local conditions or circumstances. Should a major change occur, we will make every effort to alert you. For less significant changes, we will update you during orientation. Thank you for your understanding.
Duration
12 days
11 nights
What's Included
25 meals ( 10B, 5L, 10D )
2 expert-led lectures
13 expert-led field trips
An experienced Group Leader
10 nights of accommodations
Taxes and customary gratuity
Road Scholar Assurance Plan
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Activity Note
Hotel check in from 3:00 p.m.
Morning:
If you arrive before rooms are available, you may leave your luggage with the concierge and relax in the hotel.
Lunch:
At the hotel.
Afternoon:
Arrivals continue. After you check in and get your room, take some time to freshen up and relax before our Orientation session. Orientation: The Group Leader will greet everyone with a warm welcome and lead introductions. We will review the up-to-date program schedule and any changes, discuss roles and responsibilities, logistics, safety guidelines, emergency procedures, and answer any questions you may have. This program is staffed with both a Group Leader, who will accompany us throughout the program and deal primarily with logistics, and a Study Leader who will lecture, conduct field trips and serve as an information resource on program-related topics. Kevin Tooher is our Study Leader for this program. Free time is reserved for your personal independent exploration. Please note that program activities, schedules, and personnel may need to change due to local circumstances. In the event of changes, we will alert you as quickly as possible. Thank you for your understanding.
Dinner:
At the hotel.
Evening:
At leisure. Continue getting to know your fellow Road Scholars, settle in, and get a good night’s rest for the day ahead.
Activity Note
Garden: hardened paths, slopes with some ramps. Steps at a number of points may be difficult. Rye is very hilly.
Breakfast:
In the hotel.
Morning:
This morning we will have a lecture entitled "A Brief History of English Gardens" before we go by motorcoach to in the picturesque town of Rye. Charming and picturesque with steep cobblestoned streets, half-timbered cottages, elegant town houses, and even a Norman church, Rye was the 18th-century smuggling capital of England! As we walk with Kevin Tooher, learn about its murky past of smugglers and highwaymen.
Lunch:
This meal has been excluded from the program cost and is on your own to enjoy what you like.
Afternoon:
We will travel by motorcoach to Great Dixter, the family home of gardener and gardening writer Christopher Lloyd (1921-2006), who made it famous. The Tudor house is surrounded by a famous arts and crafts garden. The gardens are profuse with, often, contrasting colours and a wild area. In Lloyd’s own words: “Most of the garden design was by Lutyens; it always seems fluid, never stodgy…I have no segregated colour schemes. In fact, I take it as a challenge to combine every sort of colour effectively…if I think a yellow candelabrum of mullein will look good rising from the middle of a quilt of pink phlox, I’ll put it there – or let it put itself there. Many plants in this garden are self-sown and they often provide me with excellent ideas. But I do also have some of my own!” We also stop en route to Great Dixter in the picturesque town of Rye. Charming and picturesque with steep cobblestoned streets, half-timbered cottages, elegant town houses, and even a Norman church, Rye was the 18th-century smuggling capital of England! As we walk with Kevin Tooher, learn about its murky past of smugglers and highwaymen. We’ll then return to Ashford.
Dinner:
At the hotel.
Evening:
At leisure.
Activity Note
Walking and standing up to 2 hours with some uneven terrain.
Breakfast:
In the hotel.
Morning:
Our full-day field trip features a special opening exclusively for our Road Scholar group of the Dean's Canonical gardens and Chapter in the precincts of Canterbury Cathedral. Discover the secret areas of this World Heritage Site. Venture into one of the earliest Gothic buildings in England and pay homage at the shrine of Thomas Becket, who was murdered in the Cathedral in 1170.
Lunch:
You will be given a lunch allowance to allow you to explore the many varied eateries in Canterbury.
Afternoon:
Continue your exploration of Canterbury Cathedral, with the remainder of the afternoon free to explore Canterbury on your own.
Dinner:
At a local restaurant.
Evening:
At leisure.
Activity Note
Walking and standing up to 2 hours
Breakfast:
In the hotel.
Morning:
We’ll depart by motorcoach for a field trip to Lullingstone Castle, the ancestral home of Tom Hart Dyke. It is the UK's first “World Garden” and has been featured on BBC TV. Designed and cultivated by Tom himself, plants from around the globe are arranged by their respective countries of origination. We will meet Tom and hear him describe his vision and work as a modern day plant hunter. The idea for this “World Garden” developed when Tom and a companion were kidnapped by guerrillas while searching for rare orchids in the Darién Gap between Colombia and Panama. They were held captive for nine months, often threatened with death. To keep his sanity, Tom began imagining a garden designed to display plants he had collected in his travels, to be laid out in the shape of a world map. A local expert will also lead us around the manor house that dates back to 1497.
Lunch:
At a local restaurant or pub.
Afternoon:
The field trip continues to Igtham Mote. A National Trust property, Ightham Mote is a manor house and gardens. The property is dates from c1320. Surrounded by gardens with an orchard, water features, lakes and woodland walks.
Dinner:
In the hotel.
Evening:
At leisure.
Activity Note
Sissinghurst has 450 acres. Explorations may be from a 1-mile walk passing two lakes to a more adventurous 3-mile walk taking in all of the estate.
Breakfast:
In the hotel.
Morning:
Lecture on coach: "The Aristocracy, Sexual Intrigue and Gardening - the Story of Sissinghurst" on route to Sissinghurst Gardens.
Lunch:
In Sissinghurst, on your own to enjoy what you like at the café.
Afternoon:
This afternoon we visit the hamlet of Comp near Seven Oaks to visit the seven acre garden of Great Comp. Home to an Italian Garden, romantic ruins, enchanting woodland walks.
Dinner:
In the hotel.
Evening:
At leisure. Prepare for check out and transfer in the morning.
Activity Note
The motorcoach trip to Chelthenham is about 175 miles, approximately 3.5 hours.
Breakfast:
In the hotel.
Morning:
We will check out of the hotel, board our motorcoach, and head out to Cheltenham, stopping at RHS Wisley along the way. Wisley is the flagship garden of the Royal Horticultural Society and one of the best loved in Britain. Its more than 230 acres offer a beautifully cultivated blend of practical and innovative techniques as well as one of the largest plant collections in the world. It includes decorative gardens, arboretums, and interesting “model gardens” offered as a guideline on what home gardeners can expect to achieve on their own land. Another highlight is the Glasshouse, 40 feet (12 meters) high and the size of 10 tennis courts. We will explore some of the highlights with our Study Leader.
Lunch:
On your own to enjoy what you like at the various eateries at Wisley.
Afternoon:
We will have time for independent exploration until mid-afternoon, when we will continue on our way to Cheltenham. There will then be time to freshen up and relax after checking in at the hotel.
Dinner:
At the hotel.
Evening:
At leisure. You may wish to stroll around the Imperial Gardens outside hotel.
Breakfast:
In the hotel.
Morning:
We’ll board the motorcoach and set out on a full-day exploration of the Cotswolds, beginning at Cotswolds Farm Garden. The beautiful Arts & Crafts garden overlooks a quiet valley on descending levels with terraces designed by Norman Jewson in the 1930s. Enclosed by Cotswold stone walls and yew hedges, the garden has all year-round interest. The top terrace, nearest the house is laid out with geometric beds with a rectangular lily pond in the centre. The beds are planted with colourful low growing herbaceous plants: dahlias, salvia, penstemon, nepeta, fuchsia and roses. Steps lead down to the more informal shrub garden with roses, delphiniums, magnolia, hellebores and several feature trees. We will then proceed to Kiftsgate.
Lunch:
At a local restaurant.
Afternoon:
We’ll spend the afternoon exploring Kiftsgate Court Gardens, a spectacular set of outdoor rooms created by three generations of women gardeners: Heather Muir, Diany Binny, and Anne Chambers. Throughout almost a century, each has made individual, highly personal contributions that have made Kiftsgate world renowned. It has been named the Historic Houses Association garden of the year, featured in England’s Thousand Best Houses. Departing Kiftsgate we will have a brief field trip to explore picturesque Chipping Camden — renowned as the “jewel of the Cotswolds” — we’ll pass through the surrounding landscape of undulating valleys, quiet rivers and idyllic villages. Noted for its elegant High Street dating back to the 14th Century, Chipping Campden is lined with traditional Cotswold honey-coloured limestone buildings housing some delightful specialist shops and inns
Dinner:
In the hotel.
Evening:
At leisure.
Activity Note
Painswick Garden is set in a valley, access is not ideal. A suggested restricted route is available.
Breakfast:
In the hotel.
Morning:
This morning we will journey by motorcoach to the beautiful Cotswold town of Painswick, where we will have an opportunity to admire the honey stone architecture before stepping back in time at the flamboyant Painswick Rococo Garden. The only complete Rococo garden surviving in Britain, it was originally laid out in the 1740s, designed as a pleasure garden and place for garden parties, almost like a theatrical set. By the 1970s, it had become terribly overgrown but renewed interest on the part of garden historians led to its restoration. We will return to Chelthenham at the conclusion of our field trip.
Lunch:
On your own to enjoy what you like in Cheltenham.
Afternoon:
Free Time. Take this opportunity for personal independent exploration to see and do what interests you most. Please refer to the list of Free Time Opportunities. The Group Leader will be happy to offer suggestions.
Dinner:
In the hotel.
Evening:
At leisure. Prepare for early check out and transfer to London in the morning.
Activity Note
The motorcoach trip to Rousham Gardens is about 45 miles.
Breakfast:
In the hotel.
Morning:
After checking out of the hotel, we’ll board our motorcoach for the journey to Rousham Gardens, just north of Oxford. The gardens are the purest example of an Augustan landscape garden, designed by William Kent. Walk amongst the statues paying homage to Imperial games and wander into the woods. Venture through a glade leading to a Temple overlooking the River Cherwell.
Lunch:
At Rousham Gardens, we’ll have a packed lunch.
Afternoon:
Next, we’ll make the short journey to Oxford where we will be dropped off at the central Martyr's Memorial with some time for personal independent exploration. The Group Leader will point out some of the main areas and sites to see in this “City of Dreaming Spires.” We will rendezvous at a predetermined spot for a mid-afternoon resumption of our transfer to London, estimated time of arrival approximately 5:30 p.m.
Dinner:
In the hotel.
Evening:
At leisure.
Activity Note
All marquees are accessible, and all gardens and floral exhibits can be viewed from ground level. Where possible, gardens are adjacent to trackway. Areas around the gardens are often busy.
Breakfast:
Early breakfast at the hotel.
Morning:
Our horticultural adventure culminates in a field trip by motorcoach to the world famous RHS Chelsea Flower Show. Except for gaps during the two world wars, it has been held on the grounds of the Royal Hospital Chelsea every year since 1913. It remains Britain's most prestigious flower show, closely associated with the Royal Family. We’ll depart early to avoid the crowds with plenty of time to explore and be inspired by the show’s dazzling displays. There are various talks, demonstrations, and exhibits you may attend and explore to your heart's content including artisan gardens, fresh gardens, and show gardens.
Lunch:
On your own to enjoy what you like at the Flower Show. The Village Fête offers a variety of hot and cold food with covered and open air seating.
Afternoon:
We will rendezvous at a predetermined spot and depart late afternoon, returning to the hotel.
Dinner:
In the hotel, enjoy our farewell dinner and share your favorite experiences with new Road Scholar friends.
Evening:
At leisure. Prepare for check out and departure in the morning.
Activity Note
Hotel check out by 11:00 a.m. See your program’s travel details regarding transfers. If you are an independent traveler (POP status), see “Ground Transportation from Last Location.”
Breakfast:
In the hotel depending on departure times. This concludes our program. If you are returning home, safe travels. If you are staying on independently, have a wonderful time. If you are transferring to another Road Scholar program, detailed instructions are included in your Information Packet for that program. We hope you enjoy Road Scholar learning adventures and look forward to having you on rewarding programs in the future. Please join our Facebook page and share photos of your program. Visit us at www.facebook.com/rsadventures. Best wishes for all your journeys!
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Please Note: This program has itinerary variations on certain dates.
May 11, 2026 - May 22, 2026 (Ashford, Kent to London, England)
May 11, 2026 - May 22, 2026 (Ashford, Kent to London, England)
May 19, 2026 - May 31, 2026 (London, England to London, England)
May 11 - May 22, 2026 Itinerary Differences: Arrival London, Kent, 5 nights; Cheltenham, 3 nights; London, 2 nights, departure.





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