Chelsea Flower Show 2010
Highlights of the British Isles
July 05 - July 19, 2009

A tour that offers Historical, Cultural, and Scenic beauty as well as inspirational gardens, plus a Mecca for gardeners - The Chelsea Flower Show

Escorted by Marjorie Mason of
Mason House Gardens in Uxbridge
Click here to view Marjorie's Bio.

Group Coordinator Lorna Bates

May 23-Sunday - Day 1
The group will gather at Gat-wick airport at 9:00am and Marjorie will introduce us to the driver of our Luxury Touring Coach, Elwyn Jones . Our first historical visit will be to Westerham in Kent for a visit to Chartwell, the home of Winston Churchill. Within this garden, he built a unique wall with his own hands, also you may visit his art studio and home. Here we can stretch our legs and take a breath of fresh English air before checking into the hotel. Welcome Dinner at the hotel.D

May 24-Monday-Day 2
Our first touring day will take us through the Sussex and Kent countryside, to Essex, where we will visit Beth Chatto’s Garden. Her books have become well loved classics and you may like to pick-up a signed copy of the Gravel Garden. From an overgrown wasteland with poor gravel soil and boggy hollows, this garden was started in 1960 and has been transformed into an informal garden harmonizing with the surrounding countryside. This is an excellent exam-ple of Xeriscaping and was the inspiration for Marjorie to transform her own sand dune into a beautiful garden. Following lunch we proceed to Hever Castle, the child-hood home of Anne Boleyn 2nd unfortunate wife of Henry VIII. BD

May 25-Tuesday-Day 3
Chelsea Flower Show opening day for members only plus Marjorie’s Group!. This is a full day visit to the annual show and allows personal time to attend your areas of special interest. The BBC and local papers promote the specialty gardens widely and bestow the honours on this day, which is usually attended by a member of the Royal Family. BD

May 26-Wednesday-Day 4
RHS Wisley-This visit to Wisley is a must!. We shall be there at opening time for a truly memorable garden experience and opportunity to explore the newly constructed glasshouse . Matthew Wilson, who is in charge of creative development of all RHS gardens, will be the speaker in February at the Toronto Botanical Garden. After lunch, we will have a longish trip to South Wales for a 2 night stay in the Carmarthan area. Dinner at Hotel. BD

May 27-Thursday-Day 5
The Welsh National Botanic Gardens. The spectacular dome is the largest single span glasshouse in the world, poised on the Welsh landscape like a giant raindrop. Here it protects and conserves some of the most endangered plants on the planet. The Double Walled Garden Collection tells the story of the evolution of flowering plants. The Apothe-caries Garden Collection features herbal plants from around the world and the Wallace Garden Collection consists of natural plant mutations. You may remember that the curator was a speaker at the TBG in May of last year. A short drive will bring us to the newly restored gardens at Aberglasney. In Septem-ber 2009 we were delighted to welcome Graham Rankin from the Aberglasney Restoration Trust to the lecture series at TBG. We return to our Hotel for dinner this evening. BD

May 28-Friday-Day 6
A Scenic drive northward over the green hills, dotted with sheep and their lambs plus the added seascapes of Wales bring us to the mountains of Snowdonia. Snowdon is the highest peak in England and the area offers mountains, valleys and waterfalls. We will pass Carnaervon Castle enroute to Crug Farm plants where we will meet Bleddyn and Sue Wynn-Jones, noted modern day plant hunters. Hotel in Angle-sey near ferry for Ireland next day. BD

May 29-Saturday-Day 7
The most modern fast ferry service will take us to Dublin this morning. These ferries offer several restaurants and souvenir shops on board for you to enjoy. On arrival we will visit The Garden Exhi-bition Centre, Kilquade where 20 separate creative gar-den designs are so well presented that we are inspired to recreate them in our own gardens. We check-in to our centrally located hotel in Dublin for 2 nights. BD

May 30-Sunday-Day 8
Highlight of this day is Helen Dillon’s garden for our morning coffee and private visit with Helen, who will be speaking at the Toronto Botani-cal Garden in September 2010. This will be followed by our historical sightseeing tour of Dublin’s fair city and include Trinity University and the historic Book of Kells. The Guinness Brewery who celebrated their 250th Anniversary in 2009 will be included in the tour today. Great photo stops are Molly Malone’s statue or the Ha’penny bridge over the River Liffey . This eve-ning you are free to explore this exciting city at leisure or consider a theatre or pub visit. B

May 31-Monday-Day 09
During our drive north to Bel-fast, visits to Rowallane and Mount Stewart House and garden are planned, prior to our sightseeing tour of Belfast. We have again selected a centrally located hotel here. Dinner at the Hotel this evening. BD

Jun 01-Tuesday-Day 10
The Giants Causeway is the north shore scenic tourist route, which we will follow to explore these scenic marvels of nature. A visit to Bushmills Distillery will complete our day before returning to Belfast with an evening free to explore the city. B

June 02-Wednesday-Day 11
The fast ferry will take us this morning to Stranraer, Scotland where we tour through the Galloway forest and historical Dumfries, the resting place of Robbie Burns. We will arrive later in the day at Stirling Highland Hotel located near the Historic Stirling Castle. This is one of the largest and most important castles, both historically and architec-turally in Scotland. Dinner at hotel. BD

June 03-Thursday-Day 12
Today we will explore Royal Deeside in the Highlands and visit Crathes Cas-tle and gardens. They are divided into 8 themed areas by Irish yew hedges that date from 1702. The avenues of lime trees may be even older. We continue our tour of Royal Deeside to Balmoral Castle, visiting Crathie Church, attended by the Royal family when in resi-dence. We now pass through the village of Braemar where the famous Highland Games are held as we return south. We will make a short stop to admire the stunning views from Glen Shee (photo stop) You may opt to use this day to visit Edinburgh independently or explore Stirling castle. Dinner on your own. B

June 04-Friday-Day 13
We have planned a short tour-ing day in anticipation of our final night dinner party this evening. The village of Pitlochry, a winner of Britain in Bloom awards, is also where we will visit the home of The Plant Finder’s garden which cele-brates Scottish botanists and plant collectors. Here also we will visit the Edradour Distillery, the smallest distillery in Scotland. The final night Farewell dinner at our hotel will be a celebration with new friends and old as we recount the adventures along the way in prose and song. BD

June 05 – Saturday - Day  14 - Airport transfer to Glasgow, if required.

Land Tour Cost -3989.00 CAD
(per person double occupancy)

Included:
Luxury Touring Coach and driver /Entrance to all Historic Sites and Gardens/Chelsea Flower Show member day ticket’s (must be booked early) /3 and 4 star Hotels –non smoking rooms/(Limited Single rooms on request)
Breakfast Daily –and most evening 3 course meals with 3 choices of entrée/Porterage-1 piece luggage per person

Not Included: Charter Air-Limited group space available/Group RBC Travel Insurance is available and recommended

Items of a personal nature /RHS Membership
Pre and Post tour opportunities-We will be happy to extend your stay in Scotland or elsewhere in the UK or Europe. Please indicate your personal additional travel requirements and we will be happy to advise.

Valid Canadian Passport (Valid 6 months be-yond tour dates now required.)

Flight Information-Group direct Charter flights available. May 22 to Gatwick and return from Glasgow on June 05.

Contact: Erica for bookings at:

Wesley’s Travel
3940 Brock St N Unit C4
Whitby, ON L1R 3E1
(905) 432-8411
Marjorie Mason our escort 
905-649-3532
mmason@bellnet.ca

Lorna Bates our Group Coordinator
905 432 8411
Lorna@cwtajax.com

TERMS AND CONDITIONS

Payment schedule and cancellation policy: $500 per person non refundable deposit due at time of reservation./Final payment due May 1, 2010.

CHEQUE is the preferred form of payment. All payments made by credit cards will incur a 2.5% surcharge.
Documentation: Valid Canadian Passport
General information: Please note prices are based on current exchange rates. Any adjustment to pricing will be at the discretion of Wesley’s Travel.
Tour limited to 20 participants.
Responsibility clause for this tour:
Wesley’s Travel has made arrangements with hotels, transportation services and other independent parties beyond its direct control to provide you with the travel services offered. We cannot be responsible for the acts or omissions of these parties, or anyone other than the Wesleys Travel’s own employees. Wesley’s Travel will not be liable for any loss or damage, injury or death that occurs as a result of Government actions, terrorism, acts of God, late arrivals, missed connections and other factors beyond our direct control