Italy, France, and England

This tour was designed to really get to know Italian gardens. We started with a 2 days in Dubai before heading to Rome, Naples, Pompeii, Sorrento, Isle of Capri, Florence, Venice, Verona and the Italian Lakes. Many memorable gardens including Villa de’Este, Landriana garden, Villa Ruffelo, Villa San Michelle, Isola Bella, Boboli gardens (and a sudden thunderstorm and deluge) and the Vatican gardens. Italy is a place so full of history and culture that we enjoyed every city. Tour guide was the wonderful Giuseppe with a great driver Giancarlo taking care of our group of 25.  After leaving Italy we head to the French Riviera for several days in Menton and to see some spectacular county and 2 highly memorable gardens – Les Collette’s and Villa Euphrussi de Roschilde. Next on the agenda was 6 nights in London to visit gardens and cultural highlights including Windsor Castle, Wisley gardens, Kew Gardens and the Chelsea Flower Show.

Canada and Alaska

This tour really had four components. A week in and around Vancouver and Vancouver Island, a week exploring the Rocky Mountains, a week cruising to Alaska and 4 days exploring Toronto and Niagara falls as an option after Alaska. The gardens of Butchart and Minter were breathtaking. Public and private gardens in Victoria and Vancouver of the highest standard and enjoyed by our group of 26. Everyone says the Rocky Mountains are spectacular and they are right! The cruise to Alaska was a highlight for many with bears, Salmon and Glaciers (not to mention gourmet food) in abundance. Our national guide in Canada was Serena Campbell who together with our tour operator, Cosmos, did a great job with very positive feedback from all travellers.

China

After the success of our 2008 autumn tour to China we decided to visit again at this time of the year. We used a different operator (CITS) who coordinated a range of local operators to provide a smooth and well run tour. We managed to include a number of new (to us anyway) cities and sights with the itinerary being Beijing, Luoyang, Xian (via new very fast train), Chengdu, Juizhaigou national park, Nanjing, Hangzhou, Suzhou and Shanghai. The high altitude national park was beautiful if somewhat challenging (much less oxygen) and the gardens throughout of a high standard. The group of 18 got along well and enjoyed the tour with a final day highlight being a visit to the World expo in Shanghai including a VIP tour of the Australian Pavilion thanks to Mr Peter Sams (my little brother) who was the pavilion director. The gardens in China rely on the 4 elements of rock, water, pavilions and plants to provide a serene and often symbolic garden style that appeals to gardeners everywhere.