‘Marvels of Monmouthshire’ takes in the lovely scenery of this part of the world and a selection of special gardens, chosen by Sisley Garden Tours to be in their full summer glory. Many of the gardens have been featured in The English Garden magazine.
The base is Abergavenny’s award-winning Angel Hotel, so you can expect good food and first-class service, as well as the company of fascinating garden owners and head gardeners.
Wyndcliffe Court’s Arts & Crafts garden. Photo: Sisley Garden Tours
We meet in the early afternoon at The Angel Hotel in Abergavenny, our four-star base for the tour. Located in the middle of this pretty market town, the former coaching inn has a stylish restaurant, comfortable rooms and a cosy bar, all elegantly furnished with works by local artists hanging on the walls.
Our first visit is to Highfield Farm, the regional winner of the ‘Wales & Borders’ category, in The English Garden’s Nation’s Favourite Gardens competition, run in conjunction with the National Garden Scheme and Sisley. Here, self-confessed ‘plantaholics’, Jenny and Roger Lloyd have filled their three-acre garden with an exuberant display of perennials.
We take in three of the finest Arts & Crafts gardens in Britain. We’ll also be joined by Helena Gerrish, who is a leading authority on the work of Avray Tipping. Tipping, who was the architectural editor of Country Life in the 1920s, developed these gardens over a period of 40 years.
We start with morning coffee and a tour of Helena’s own garden, High Glanau Manor. One of only a handful of gardens to have opened for the National Garden Scheme since its inception in 1927, the gardens at High Glanau have been restored to their original Arts & Crafts glory. We will also be able to see the
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