Final arrangements have been made to reschedule Worcestershire group’s Irish garden tour to 2022 – after being twice hit by Covid-19.
Dates set for next year are June 22 – 27. After a few people backed out over worries about health, coronavirus in general and other reasons, a party of 38 is now set to enjoy visiting the 12 gardens on the schedule. That number includes all four people who were initially placed on the waiting list.
They will be staying at the four-star Glenview Hotel in Newtown Mount Kennedy in County Wicklow. Prices for the six-day holiday are £817 for a shared room and £1,057 for a single. Pick up points include Pershore and Worcester – and possibly at a service station along the M6.
The tour kicks off with a visit to Jimi Blake’s garden – where he has been rewriting the rules on combining plants for the last 20 years. That’s followed by a look at his sister June’s colour-packed location just a few miles round the corner.
Day One ends with a late afternoon look at Patthana, an almost secret garden in the small town of Kiltegan, owned by artist TJ Maher and partner Simon. TJ runs plant workshops on site and is working on garden improvements this year. They have an extensive collection of fine china, which they’ll use to serve us cake and drinks during our visit.
Three garden visits are lined up for the following three days too The tour party includes local members, plus other hardy planters from across the country from the south coast to the north of England. It was originally arranged as one of the 25th anniversary celebration events for the Worcestershire group in 2020.
The gardens - including Jimi Blake’s beautiful Huntingbrook and Powerscourt, voted the world’s third most beautiful garden - have all been chosen in consultation with the Dublin Garden Club, local garden owners and an HPS member who lives there six months of the year. They are a mix of large, medium and small, personal gardens.
The complete list of gardens is:
The tour has been arranged in conjunction with Floral Tours, whose representative will be travelling with us.