Twenty miles south from Cheltenham we arrive to visit, Rodmarton Manor, an English Arts and Crafts house designed by Ernest Barnsley and built for the Biddulph family from 1909 (over a period of twenty years). The 8-acre garden contains immaculately clipped tapestry hedges, a series of garden rooms; walls and hedges of holly, box, beech and yew, form the sides of the rooms. Continue to the small town of Tetbury renowned in the county for its antique shops. After lunch independently continue a few miles south to Highgrove, the private home of HRH King Charles III and Queen Camilla. These gardens have been created by King Charles over 30 years and are widely regarded as some of the most innovative in the UK. A wild flower meadow now boasts over 30 different varieties of native plants including ox-eye daisies, yellow rattle, common spotted orchid, meadow crane’s bill and ragged robin, creating a rich tapestry of colour and diversity. The gardens are also home to part of the national collection of Beech trees and large leaved Hostas; there is also a formal garden and a walled kitchen garden.
(Please note: Visits to Highgrove are limited and dependent on the King’s diary. Dates are released in early spring. Therefore, it is not possible to guarantee a visit before this time).
Dinner at leisure.
Accommodations: The Queen’s Hotel (Breakfast)