SECRET GARDEN TOUR
A journey through manor houses and cottage gardens, set against the inspiring landscapes of West Dorset and Somerset.
Monday 1st June - Sunday 7th June 2026
In a recent interview for G&T with The Financial Times, Jason spoke of the ‘enfolding secrecy’ of the region, ‘an extension of the very idea of a garden, a paradise, a refuge in a turbulent world.’ Dorset remains one of England’s hidden corners, and is the only county without a motorway.
We added our Secret Garden Tour in 2025, by popular request, when we realised how many Dorset, Somerset and Devon gardens we still needed to see, themselves hidden behind mellow walls, the grand and the small, gardens declamatory and gardens intimate, at a perfect moment in the year. It is a gardener’s garden tour, with a focus on design and plantsmanship. Now it is a fixture of our June calendar, and we invite you to come along with us.
The price of the tour includes your 6 night stay at The Old Rectory, Symondsbury, as well as delicious teas and dinners prepared by Caroline and Clare, with help from Dorset’s best cake baker, Haley. As usual we will be lunching at a variety of our favourite restaurants in this beautiful corner of south-west England. It’s all included.
Tuesday June 2nd
This morning we head to a garden located in one of the most beautiful landscapes in the West Country, Devon’s Blackdown Hills.
The stunning garden, surrounding medieval South Wood Farm, was first conceived by Professor Clive Potter, with the designer Arne Maynard helping him bring the garden together into a cohesive design. The result, in its owner’s words, is ‘a garden that slowly melts into the landscape’, in perfect harmony with its surrounding landscape and the medieval building at its centre.
We will enjoy a splendid picnic lunch, prepared for us by our cooks Caroline and Claire, in the grounds at South Wood.
After lunch, a chance to explore the thirteen acre gardens at Burrow Farm, gradually created by John and Mary Benger since they came to the dairy farm in 1959, taking advantage of sweeping country views, an abandoned clay pit and their interest in unusual trees and shrubs.
Wednesday June 3rd
This morning we have a unique invitation to visit Jake Hobson’s exquisite and thoughtful Japanese garden, hidden in a Shaftesbury residential street. Afterwards, Jake will lead us to the HQ of achingly fashionable but fabulously practical Niwaki tools, established by Jake right here in Dorset. We can explore their range of sharp, shiny stuff from Japan. From hori hori to secateurs, they have tools for every conceivable garden job, all beautifully made by Japanese craftsmen.
After lunch at Holm, with a menu driven by the seasons, the environment and its locality in the beautiful Somerset countryside, we visit East Lambrook Manor, a grade 1 Listed cottage garden created by the famous writer and horticulturalist, Margery Fish, between 1939 to 1969. Mrs. Fish created a romantic masterpiece. The planting appears naturalistic but, is in fact, a study in beautiful colour and texture combinations. She wrote eight books and numerous articles about her garden experiences, popularising gardening for many in a post war world.
The garden is relatively small but densely planted with a wide variety of plants that bring year-round interest.
After tea at the Manor, we’re thrilled to have Dorset’s renowned flower painter, Flora Roberts, give us a masterclass in botanical illustration. Inspired by historic textiles and paintings, Flora’s work features in murals, wallpaper and interior textiles, and is always informed by sensitive observation of the flowers in her own garden.
Thursday June 4th
Dorset has a tradition of tiny, informal and productive cottage gardens, whose simple beauty inspired the Edwardian painter Helen Allingham. In just ⅓ of an acre at Corner Cottage, Sue and Colin Dyer maintain a perfect example, with their beautiful kitchen garden, and a small orchard, surrounded by deep flower and shrub borders.
Our morning visit extends to a mellow old brick-walled garden hidden deep in the Bride Valley. Here the largely perennial borders are arranged in ‘rooms’, laid out in a lovely tumble of naturalised planting down the south-facing slope, together with potager vegetable areas and a large lavender border. The sheltered garden is famous for a profusion of scented roses along the edge of the River Bride, a gin-clear stream which glides through the garden.
For lunch, we will head to the restaurant in the grounds of Parnham, one of England’s significant Elizabethan treasure houses. Parnham was tragically torched by its previous owner in a fit of jealous madness, and now stands as a magnificent ruin amid a deer park and stunning grounds, laid out in the 17th century by Britain’s first classical architect, Inigo Jones. Current owners James and Sophie Perkins will tell us about the history of this magnificent historic house, and their plans to restore this national treasure.
Friday June 5th
Buffy Sacher planned her garden on the slopes of the hillfort at South Eggardon to incorporate its sacred springs and the magnificent 2000 year old yew tree, 24’ round at its narrowest point.
With far-reaching views out over the Asker valley, threaded by chalk streams running to a landscaped lake, this is a stunning garden that takes full advantage of its ancient setting.
Lunch is at the award-winning Brassica in the peaceful little town of Beaminster.
Saturday June 6th
This morning we have an invitation to visit Little Benville, a thrilling contemporary garden with design features by Harris Bugg Studio, winners of the Gold and Best in Show at Chelsea in 2023, the go-to new kids on the horticultural block.
Set in a historic landscape – mentioned in Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the d’Urbevilles – Little Benville boasts magnificent herbaceous borders, woodland planting, a walled vegetable and cutting garden, cloud pruned topiary, a ha-ha, ornamental and productive trees and a moat which is a listed Ancient Monument.
Lunch is at the 16th century Acorn Inn, in the stunning and filmic village of Evershot.
In the afternoon we have an invitation to visit Wall, the remote and romantic home of artist Annie Roberts and her husband, Johnnie. This is the latest in a succession of beautiful gardens Annie has made, with her signature Rosa Rugosa hedging and deep herbaceous borders.
We return to Symondsbury for a valedictory dinner.
