CHS TOURS

GARDENS OF HAUTE-NORMANDIE
September 23 – 27 2018
From Varengeville to Giverny

Our special 50th anniversary tour is also our 30th major excursion, so it is fitting that we re-visit Normandy. When Joy Neal organised our first Normandy trip in 1994, she started a tradition that has taken us from nearby Anglesey to the Italian Lakes via Madeira and many gardens in between – which we diligently wrote up in Spadework, mixing criticism with awe and delight. Boxwood Tours has arranged for us to re-visit a number of gardens that have been handed on to the next generation, including Le Vasterival where we met Princess Greta Sturdza, Les Moutiers, where we were charmed by Mme Mallet, plus a new garden made by her grandson. We shall have lunch in Monet’s garden, Giverny – and all our Dieppe hotel rooms have a sea view.

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Departing from Aberystwyth in a John Jones Coach, we travel to Dieppe where bilingual garden writer and French resident Kirsty Fergusson will join us as our guide. A wealth of remarkable gardens thread their way from Varengeville to Giverny, from the sea to the River Seine: country gardens set amidst old cider orchards, lush rolling pastures, and mixed woodland, mostly owned by passionate gardeners with excellent plant collections. Many of the gardens are private, where we will meet the garden owners and head gardeners. We stay in the four-star Hotel la Présidence, a bright modern hotel in the old part of Dieppe between the castle and the medieval gatehouse, close to the port from where it is a short stroll to a bustling centre.

Bois des Moutiers CHS Normandy 1995