As the pollen settles on another year of G&T Tours around Dorset, Somerset and the Cotswolds, we reflect on a Summer spent with friends old and new, many returning for the second (even fourth!) time, visiting some of the most glorious gardens in the world.

 

Our fourth and final tour of the year was a Cotswold Foray, where Simon and Jason met their guests at Bruern Cottages, ranked among the most luxurious accommodations in a region not shy of luxury.

 

From the glorious gardens at Rockcliffe and Bruern Abbey, to a picnic in the shade of an ancient mulberry tree at Rousham, with all the delights of Chef Dave’s cooking, it was a truly unforgettable week.

Temperatures soared into the 30s/80s, but the gardens offered shade and cooling pools…and dinner was taken al fresco on the terrace.

 

Dave Cross, our indomitable chef, rocked up at Rousham with a picnic of salads, pies, strawberries, and cooling drinks, which we enjoyed on rugs spread beneath the mulberry tree. Monty Don thinks Rousham is his favourite garden in England, and it’s hard to disagree. Caroline Landless treated us to a tour of the house, which has been in the same family since the 1630s, and with its collections of Jacobean and 18th-century furniture, paintings and statuary, has hardly changed since. Even the loopholes in the front door, made to fire on Parliamentarian troops in the Civil War, are still there and functioning.

Rousham, the romantic dream garden

 

The gardens were laid out in the 1740s by William Kent, with follies, grottoes, a serpentine rill, a temple or two, and the most delicious brick walled garden, where we ate close to the dovecote. As the Rousham website explains:

Deep herbaceous borders spill over the paths, peaches, apricots, plums and pear trees are trained against the ancient brick walls, a pool with a fountain surrounded by roses and a path framed with espalier apples takes you to an archway leading you into the well-stocked kitchen garden and then a quaint arched gap in a box hedge leads you into a smaller garden with a circular dovecote and a Mulberry tree overlooking a box parterre full of roses.
Beyond the haha, in the park surrounding the garden is a rare herd of longhorn cattle.

It was hard to pick favourites among the gardens we visited – Asthall Manor, where the Mitfords grew up; Bruern Abbey, with its formal eye-catchers; the ‘garden rooms’ at Dean Manor, spiced by the enthusiasm of Jake, the young head gardener; Sezincote, Kiftsgate, Sudeley Castle…or Rockliffe, summoned into life on an elevated site by the care and gardening eye of Emma Keswick.

 

We’d like to think that Shannon, a guest who joined us (for the second time) from the US, summed it all up in her review:

Jason and Simon guide and accompany you during unbound drifting through plantscapes that are calming, enriching, and soul-filling. Seeing private and public gardens led by the head gardeners and, if fortunate, the garden owners themselves is an unforgettable experience. Whether you are a gardener yourself or not, this tour will give you so many ideas for changing the way you look at your own garden or a natural landscape. You don’t have to worry about cooking and cleaning, planning, driving, traffic, crowds, or access. The accommodations are beautiful, comfortable, and historic. The chef-made food is amazing. I highly recommend taking these incredible tours.