Holidays for the garden enthusiast

Great Garden Getaways / Garden Holidays & Prices / Booking Forms / Contact Us / What your Holiday Includes / Newsletter / Gallery

Madeira Memoirs

From Great Garden Getaways' trip to Madeira, and the Madeira Flower Festival, Funchal, in April 2009. Memoirs written by Robin Disney.

Off the main thoroughfare, in the usually quiet Colegio Square, a very different part of the Flower Festival takes place. The 'Wall of Hope' is laid by children placing their own flowers 'with the objective of building a big flower wall symbolising the hope for a better and more peaceful world'.

At 10 o’clock on a warm sunny morning we watched the Children's Parade. Children in colourful dress lined up, then walked forward, and each one placed a flower. Speakers playing lovely recordings of a children's choir singing. The sun kept blazing through feathery fluffs of cloud, the lightest breeze stirred balloons and bunting, making such a lovely scene.

Flanking each side of the old square were beautiful period buildings, some Portuguese/Baroque style, all bedecked with red and pink geraniums.

The parade finished, the sound of children's singing stopped, then at 10.45 a distant canon boomed. A huge flock of pigeons were released into the air, accompanied by the ethereal acoustic guitar music of John Williams.

Onto the stage came a children's choir, dressed in uniforms of red and white, singing a medley of jaunty songs. Three girls dressed in costumes of yellow flowers stepped up onto a dais, heralding the formal part of the proceedings, with impassioned speeches to complete this special occasion.

Memoirs recorded by Robin Disney at the Madeira Flower Festival, Funchal, April 2009.

Join us next year for the Madeira flower festival, with our Madeira garden holiday departing 12th April 2010. We also have another trip departing earlier in the year, on 25th January 2010. Find out more about our 2010 Madeira garden holidays.