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Gardens of the Scottish Borders
4-8 September 2011

The Scottish Borders, with their rolling hills and moorland, is blessed with many delightful gardens and our tour includes a selection of the best, along with a trip into East Lothian for just a few more!

The luxury 4* Macdonald Cardrona Hotel outside Peebles, set in a shallow valley of the River Tweed amidst peaceful countryside, has a backdrop of beautiful Borders hills on all sides.

From here we visit Floors Castle & Gardens, one of Scotland's grandest country houses and most impressive castle, with glorious views across open parkland towards the Cheviot Hills. Along with the Woodland and Riverside Walks, there is a delightful walled garden, one of the few examples of a traditional Victorian kitchen garden in Scotland, and contains a classic mix of glasshouses, herbaceous borders, fruit, vegetables and annuals, and a wellstocked nursery.

Abbotsford (pictured top) is also a Castle, or as Sir Walter Scott described it '… a kind of Conundrum Castle'. The delightful gardens were laid out by him in the 1820s and include woodlands, a walled garden with a handsome orangery and colourful herbaceous borders planted for late-summer effect.

Travelling on to East Lothian, we visit Inwood, a delightful one-acre woodland garden which sits snugly around the house. Grass paths lead out from the terrace, round island beds which are packed with shrubs and late summer planting. From here we spend time at the amazing Broadwoodside garden. A stunning contemporary garden, the formal layout is softened by well chosen planting and continues through the courtyards and out into the surrounding farmland with a canal, alley of beech hedging, orchard and hornbeam avenue.

To complete our tour, we journey on, in sight of the Firth of Forth, towards the coast to visit Tyninghame Walled Garden, one of the oldest walled gardens in Scotland. There are four acres of formal gardens within its high brick walls, with classical statues, pedestal urns and a fine Florentine fountain. There are excellent extensive borders of mixed planting, a knot garden, apple orchard, a large woodland area and a 90 metre long apple walk outside the walls, which was planted in 1891.

After a short journey from the hotel, we visit Portmore House and Garden, which suddenly comes into view after a long drive winding through woods, fields and little lochs. This Edwardian mansion has a water garden and woodland walks, but it is the walled garden that is particularly fine, with herbaceous borders planted in soft pastel colours, delightful greenhouses packed with tender plants and an enchanting Victorian Italianate grotto, cool and fern-filled.

From here we travel to The Royal Botanic Garden in Edinburgh, which is set on a hillside with panoramic views of the city and is one of the finest botanic gardens in the world. Within its 75 acres is a world-renowned rock garden, peat and woodland gardens and herbaceous border. There is also an arboretum, a Chinese hillside, with a wild-water ravine tumbling into a tranquil pond and glasshouses containing plants from temperate and tropical regions of the world.

En route we will call into Monteviot Gardens, with a series of different gardens including a river garden, oriental style water garden and woodland walks. On our return home we will visit Kailzie Gardens, a large domestic garden outside Peebles, which lies within a traditional estate on the River Tweed and surrounded by magnificent hills. The walled garden comprises herbaceous borders, a rose garden and unusual shrubs.

Cost per person: £525
Single room supplement: £52

Departure points: Saxilby, Lincoln.
We may pick-up from a limited number of other points if en route and easy for coach access.

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