After breakfast drive to the lovely market town of Chipping Campden to visit its attractive High Street, see the Jacobean Market Hall, built in 1627, and the impressive 17th-century Church of St. James, one of the great ‘wool’ churches of the Cotswolds, built with money from the flourishing medieval wool trade. Proceed a few miles to Hidcote Manor, one of England’s greatest gardens and a real Arts and Crafts masterpiece.
The gardens are a series of outdoor “rooms,” with various characters and themes, achieved by the use of box hedges, hornbeam and yew, and stone walls. Here you will find old roses, unusual plants and trees from around the world. Afterwards we are guests of the owner for lunch at neighboring Kiftsgate Court Gardens, a series of interconnecting gardens each with a distinct character. Work on the gardens was begun in 1920 by Heather Muir, who was greatly helped and inspired by her lifelong friend Major Lawrence Johnston, the creator of Hidcote. The gardens continued to be developed by Mrs. Muir’s daughter and then her granddaughter who is the current owner of the home. Stroll the upper gardens surrounding the house, which are planted to produce harmonious colour schemes. The sheltered lower gardens provide a home for plants from warmer climes and recreate the atmosphere of the Mediterranean. Return to Broadway later in the afternoon and dine tonight at leisure
Accommodations: Ellenborough Park Hotel (Breakfast and Lunch)