En route there will be a stop at RHS Hyde Hall.  This extremely popular and delightful garden, set on an Essex hilltop is full of colour and interest and has become a must for plants and garden lovers.  Many different aspects of horticulture are represented here and extensive information is provided.  There is a rain fed garden, a rose garden and herbaceous borders that are colour themed. Nearly 40 years of work has brought the garden from a windswept hill with just six mature trees, to the present day garden of 24 acres. The garden was dontated to the Royal Horticultural Society in 1993 to become RHS Hyde Hall. In 2003 and 2004 two new gardens were completed - the Garden for Wildlife and The “Queen Mother Garden” , the latter is a stunning area of mixed shrubs, trees and perennials combining existing garden areas with new plantings and hard tracks.  You may wish to purchase a light lunch on arrival before touring the gardens with your guide and Hillier host.  The Plant Centre has many special plants for sale, some of which carry the RHS Award of Garden Merit.  There is an excellent Gift Shop, Visitor Centre and Garden Library to visit.  Continue to Norwich after this visit and check in to your hotel in the early evening.

We will be based at the comfortable Holiday Inn on the outskirts of the cathedral City of Norwich where we will have welcome drinks before dinner.

We are delighted to be able to meet the owners and tour the The Old Vicarage at East Ruston where Alan Gray and Graham Robeson will host our private visit to the lovely garden that they designed without assistance.  Good free draining soil combined with a lower rainfall and milder winters than gardens further inland, have enabled Alan and Graham to grow a much wider range of half-hardy plants.  Rare plants are everywhere, set in gravel or in borders. The garden has an exotic atmosphere and has featured in many gardening magazines and television programmes. Two Norfolk churches and a lighthouse are visible from the garden and create focal points at the end of skilfully created vistas. Refreshments are included during your visit, after which you will depart for Felbrigg Hall (National Trust).

The immaculate gardens at Felbrigg Hall (Historic Garden Grade ll) consist of a ha-ha, which separates the park from the lawns of the house, specimen trees, shrubs and a large walled-kitchen garden.  Entry to the Jacobean house is also included.  At the end of the day you can enjoy a leisurely evening meal at the hotel.

The following day our morning is spent at the inspirational Bressingham Gardens, renowned worldwide for their horticultural excellence.  Privately owned by the Bloom family, Adrian Bloom and his father Alan have each created a six-acre garden, The Dell and Foggy Bottom.  A member of the Bloom family will hopefully conduct your tour. Together with three linking gardens there are now over 8,000 species and varieties on display. The garden centre has a wealth of plants to choose from. A light lunch, served in the café, will be included before continuing to Bradenham Hall near Thetford. 

Pensthorpe is home to two very special Gardens designed by Chelsea Gold Medal Winners Piet Oudolf and Julie Toll which together create a year round spectacle of interest and colour. 
The Millennium Garden at its peak is a cascade of beautiful and unusual perennials together with stately elegant grasses.  This now firmly established one acre garden is the result of Piet Oudolf's now legendary naturalistic prairie planting design style.  This combination brings swathes of colour from the perennials with striking grasses.  The Garden builds to its peak in mid August then slowly dies back in the autumn to golds, bronzes and silvers.  Piet Oudolf is widely recognized as one of the most influential garden designers of the last 20 years. 
Julie Toll's Wave Garden has year round structure, with meandering yew hedging and a Luzula stream weaving through.  This lakeside garden sits delightfully under the resident trees: oak, pine and silver birch and varying soil conditions, from a stunning boggy area to a glorious sunny bank.  During late winter thousands of spring bulbs start to emerge bringing a welcome start to the year with tulips, snowdrops and daffodils.  Highlights of geraniums and delicate hellebores bring light to carpets of woodruff and ferns.  We have a private visit to Pensthorpe followed by dinner in the restaurant.

There are still two more excellent gardens to visit before returning home.  Just outside Norwich is the Exotic Garden owned and gardened by Will Giles.  This half-acre garden on a south-facing hillside reaches its peak in late summer when the exotics such as cannas and brugmansiaa are in full bloom.  Tall trees and hedges create a sheltered microclimate and an unusual collection of plants such as gingers, bananas, aroids and succulents flourish.  Houseplants are cleverly used as bedding plants in the summer months and trees are under planted with codiaeums, guzmanias and tradescantias. Coffee/tea and biscuits are served

On our way home we visit The Beth Chatto Garden.  Famous for drought resistant plants, dramatic water and woodland gardens and unusual plants.  Beth Chatto, author and notable Gardener has landscaped and created these gardens over many years. In the last few years some of the earliest borders have been renewed and part of the Mediterranean garden has been given over to scree beds – a setting for the smaller plants in the form of five irregular islands.  This is your final opportunity to purchase plants – subject to room on the coach!  

Included in the price:

Visit to RHS Hyde Hall
Welcome drink and dinner on night one
Dinner on the second and third nights (second night at Pensthorpe)
Private visit to The Old Vicarage at East Ruston with refreshments
Visit to Felbrigg Hall and garden tour
Tour Bressingham’s Dell Garden and Foggy Bottom
Private Evening Tour of the Chelsea and Pier Oudolf Garden at Pensthorpe with supper served in the restaurant
Visit to the Exotic Garden with refreshments
Visit to the Beth Chatto Garden