EVENTS PROGRAMME FOR 2003

We begin our visits in May with a visit to Winkworth Arboretum and Loseley Park in Surrey, they are both reknowned for their displays of Spring flowers.

In June we are off to Blenheim Palace Flower Show, a first for us but an annual event that is becoming more popular each year - the setting is sublime! So book early for this trip.

Great Dixter and Sissinghurst in Kent have returned to our schedule in July by popular request. Christopher Lloyd improves and enhances his garden every year. If you like colours and special gardens then we thoroghly recommend this visit, especially if you have not been there before.

In August we visiti Groombridge Place Gardens and Batemans in East Sussex. These are both interesting an unusual gardens, and the herbaceous borders should be at their best this month.

Finally in September, we plan to go to Hinton Ampner and Houghton Lodge in Hampshire. These two give very different styles of gardens and growing techniques, which should provide plenty of interest to keen gardeners.

Wednesday 14th May 2003

Winkworth Arboretum and Loseley Park

Non-National Trust Members £26.50 National Trust Members £22.50
Depart 09.00hrs Angmering 09.30hrs Runcton
Winkworth is a joy in spring and early summer, with bluebells, azaleas and rhododendrons. 2 lakes, lots of wildlife and a delightful ambiance makes this a very special place. Loseley Park is possibly best know for its almost celestial ice cream! The gardens are catching up fast, however, and the five gardens, based on a design by Gertrude Jekyl, provide a charming foil for the fine Elizabethan house which is also open to the public.

Thursday 19th April 2003

Blenheim Palace Flower Show

£30. Depart 07.30 Angmering 08.00 This flower show is the latest and fastest-growing on the "flower show circuit". Lots of opportunities to consult the experts and to take home a prize plant! The extensive gardens attached to the Palace had their own TV programme a year or so ago. The glorious parkland is still as it was laid out by Lancelot "Capability" Brown. Blenheim Palace itself is full of interest. Built for the first Duke of Malborough by Sir John Vanborough, it was the birthplace of Sir Winston Churchill.

Tuesday 15th July 2003

Great Dixter and Sissinghurst

Non-National Trust Members £31.00 National Trust Members £25.00
Depart 07.30hrs Runcton 08.00hrs Angmering
These are two of the great gardens of South East England. Great Dixter is owned by Christopher Lloyd and has featured regularly on TV programmes, combining a classical Englisg Garden with new and exiting ideas in design and colour. Sissinghurts was laid out in the 1930s by Vita Sackville-West and her husband Harold Nicholson. They introduced the new concept of a garden divided into 'rooms'. The White garden has become famous the world over and must be one of the mosy imitated ideas today.

Tuesday 22nd August 2003

Groombridge Place Gardens and Batemans

Non-National Trust Members £29.00 National Trust Members £24.00
Depart 08.30hrs Runcton 09.00hrs Angmering
Groombridge Place Gardens a 17^th century treasure trove, vibrant colour and imaginative planting provides interest throughout the seasons. The white rose garden features 20 different varieties and the Secret Garden provides deep shade and cooling waters. Batemans is best known as the long-time home of Rudyard Kipling, but the gardens are delightful, with a walled garden, herbaceous borders and a spectacular watergarden that Kipling installed, using his Nobel prize money. The watermill is fascinating while the house should not be missed.

Wednesday 10th September 2003

Hinton Ampner and Houghton Lodge

Non-National Trust Members £28.00 National Trust Members £23.50
Depart 08.30hrs Angmering 09.00hrs Runcton
One of the best 20^th century gardens in this area. It was designed by Ralph Dutton, It is a very tranquil garden, with restful colour schemes, unlike some "up to date" efforts. There is a wealth of scented plants, wonderful countryside and unexpected vistas to provide a refreshing day out. For those of you interested in new ways of growing things, Houghton Lodge is a must, specializing as it does in the science of Hydroponics - using water as the growing medium. But don't worry - the "ordinary" garden is delightful too, set in the Hampshire countryside. If the house looks familiar, it was "Betsy Trotwood's Cottage" in a recent production of David Copperfield.

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