Ilnacullin  (photo copyright: Robin Whalley)

'Harold Peto was one of the leading garden designers of the Edwardian era.  A great admirer of the Italian Renaissance, he is most associated with the Classical Revival so fashionable in the first two decades of the twentieth century.  After a highly successful career as an architect, Peto became increasingly interested in garden design and was commissioned to build a number of gardens in England and the South of France.  Much admired by his contemporaries and Gertrude Jekyll in particular, he was recognised as one of the most successful designers of his generation, and his gardens -- works of formidable ingenuity, colour, and inspired architectural work -- are testament to his lasting influence.'  Robin Whalley, The Great Edwardian Gardens of Harold Peto (London: Aurum Press, 2007)

Based in southern England and the southwest of Ireland, this tour will be led by Robin Whalley, Britain's foremost authority on Harold Peto and his gardens.  It offers a rare opportunity to visit some of Peto's best and most renowned gardens, including his own remarkable hillside garden at Iford Manor, one England's finest 20th century gardens; the magical Ilnacullin garden on Garinish Island, which more than any other of Peto's projects demonstrates his genius for blending formal and natural gardening; and Buscot Park, arguably one of the finest water gardens of the 20th century.  Other highlights include the delightful terrace gardens at Wayford Manor, the magnificent pergola at West Dean, and Heale House's serene riverside garden.  All of the gardens we will visit were designed between the turn of the twentieth century and the outbreak of World War I.   Some of them have been well preserved or beautifully restored, others have lost parts of their original design, while still others, like Easton Lodge, have suffered from neglect and the passage of time, and are undergoing restoration   Taken together they represent a wonderful, if fragile legacy of one of Britain's most influential garden designers.

This is not just a tour -- it is a short course on the work and methodology of  Harold Peto.  Robin Whalley will give informal lectures each evening on the gardens we will see the following day and will be on hand during our visits to offer further analysis and to answer questions.  Participants will come away from this tour with a thorough understanding of the work of  this remarkable garden designer.  Accommodation will be in first class hotels, with all breakfasts and dinners included.

Land Tour Price:
7 Nights --  $3795.00 (£1870.00)
Single supplement: $710.00 (£350.00)
Meals included: all Breakfasts (B), 7 Dinners (D)
Limited to: 18 members

Optional Extension: Sign up for this tour and the Arts and Crafts Gardens of Southern England and South Wales tour and receive a $500.00 discount off the combined price of both tours. 

This tour will be led by Robin Whalley, a specialist on Victorian and Edwardian gardens and the leading authority on Harold Peto and his gardens.   Robin was awarded a fellowship from Harvard University to study at Dunbarton Oaks, Washington, DC in 1994, was a consultant at the National Botanic Gardens of Wales, and is currently a part-time lecturer at Cardiff and Bristol Universities.  He is the author of Knot Gardens and Parterres and, most recently, The Great Edwardian Garden of Harold Peto, a highly acclaimed  book which features most of the gardens that we will visit on this tour.   Robin also contributes regularly to many publications, including Hortus, The Garden, and Gardens Illustrated
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Tour Manager: Jeff Sainsbury


ITINERARY

4 June (Wednesday) -- Depart
Board the plane for your overnight flight to London.

Buscot Park  (photo copyright: Robin Whalley)

6 June (Friday) -- Buscot Park, Hartham Park, and Bath
This morning we leave Oxford and travel to Lord Faringdon's 18th century walled estate at Buscot Park, where Peto created an exquisite water garden between 1904 and 1913.  Peto's brief was to link the house to a large lake, and this he achieved by means of a long canal, edged in stone and flanked by grass and clipped box hedges, which at various points opens into ornamental pools or narrows into rills as it descends the gentle slope.  Fountains, cascades, and a balustraded bridge add to the wonderful Italianate confection, as does a classical temple, which terminates the vista on the far side of the lake.  Buscot is one of Peto's most acclaimed projects and remains essentially unchanged almost 100 years after its completion.  In the afternoon we visit Hartham Park to see one of Peto's lesser known gardens.  Peto started work here around 1903, redesigning a raised terrace walk and creating an enclosed water garden, the key elements of which were a T-shaped canal (now filled in) and a Renaissance-inspired stone pavilion.  Today the long walk is still in situ, as are the Warwick Vase and the balustrading and semicircular stone seat that Peto used to terminate the vista.   The Pavilion also remains, albeit under separate ownership.  We continue to our hotel in the Georgian city of Bath.  (B,D)

Iford Manor (photo copyright: Jeff Sainsbury)

8 June (Sunday) -- Iford Manor and Cork
This morning we make the short journey to Harold Peto's former home and garden at Iford Manor, which enjoys an idyllic rural setting, clinging to the side of the Frome river valley and overlooking unspoilt countryside.  Peto bought Iford in 1899 and immediately set about creating a wonderfully romantic hillside garden, with intimate outdoor rooms, stunning garden buildings, and broad stone steps leading up to a Great Terrace embellished with classical statuary and architectural fragments brought back from his trips abroad.  That the garden is in such wonderful condition today is due to the current owners, John and Elizabeth Cartright Hignett, who since acquiring the property have faithfully restored Iford in accordance with Peto's magnificent vision.  We continue to Bristol Airport for our afternoon flight to Cork in the scenic southwest of Ireland.(B,D)

9 June (Monday) -- Ilnacullin and Fota Gardens
Today's excursion takes us to Ilnacullin, the magical garden on Garinish island that Peto created in the years leading up to World War I for his friend Annan Bryce, a wealthy merchant.  Arriving at the island today, it is hard to imagine that when Peto first set foot here this was rocky terrain with no trees and little vegetation.  But with the help of an army of workers who brought topsoil from the mainland, Peto transformed the 37-acre site into a beautifully laid out island paradise with lush planting and exquisite Italianate formal areas, most notably the famous and much photographed sunken garden, featuring a casita and a rectangular reflecting pool.   The journey to the island is a delight in itself, as we pass through some of Ireland's loveliest scenery and take a short boat trip across Bantry Bay.  We return to the Cork area and visit the garden at Fota, home to a fine collection of tender and exotic plants.  Fota is the garden that most inspired Annan Bryce to make his own garden, and he and Peto were frequent visitors here.  (B,D)

11 June (Wednesday) -- West Dean Gardens and Sedgwick Park
Today we travel to West Dean gardens, the centerpiece of which is a stunning stone columned pergola with timber beams that Peto designed in 1911 for William James, a wealthy American whom Peto had known since their schooldays at Harrow.  Now beautifully restored following storm damage in the 1980s, the magnificent structure, extending 300-feet across the top of sweeping lawns, is swathed in roses, clematis, and honeysuckle and underplanted with perennials, a majestic sight in early summer.  Later, we visit the Edwardian gardens at Sedgwick Park.  Although there is no documentary proof of his involvement in the garden, it is known that Peto worked on the design of the house, and the gardens, laid out  in the early years of the 20th century, contain many features typical of his work: sweeping stone terraces, balustrades, a delightful sunken Italianate pool, and dense yew hedging.  We return to Box Hill and gather later for a farewell dinner.  (B,D)