Travel Stories: English Gardens Tour (8)

June 25, 2018 Susan

(This is the 8th in a series of blog posts about the 2018 English Gardens Tour I led.)

On Monday, May 21st, we had a long, busy day but oh, what fun we had! We began with a visit to the iconic Great Dixter (pictured at left). The we wandered through the village of Rye, mainly for the purpose of having lunch. We finished off our day at Gravetye Manor and Gardens.

If you saw my garden column about Great Dixter yesterday, you already know about that part of our day. But you can find additional photos of the garden lower in this post. I thoroughly enjoyed our time at the garden. My fellow travelers did, too… judging from the sparkle in their eyes every time I encountered them in the garden!

Our visit to the village of Rye

Visiting the village of Rye was great fun. Prior to leaving on the trip, I learned Great Dixter’s lunch counter would be closed during our time there. Fortunately, our tour escort arranged for us to see a little of Rye. Then everyone split up into small groups to get some lunch there.

What a charming little town it was! As usual, I was wishing for more time to see the area. We did get a feel for the surroundings and everyone found an enjoyable place to eat. My husband, Bill, and I ate at “Simon the Pieman” which was a delightful cafe/bakery.

After lunch, we all returned to our coach so we could head back to our hotel. We all wanted to freshen up for our evening’s festivities at Gravetye Manor. It included a self-guided tour of the beautiful gardens there and dinner in the Manor restaurant. What a highlight of our English Gardens Tour!

Gravetye Manor for dinner and a tour of the gardens

Gravetye Manor was originally the home of the landscape gardener, William Robinson, from 1884-1935. If you haven’t heard of him before, you will probably want to know more. Why? He wrote the bestselling garden book ever printed in England. That book is “the English Flower Garden.”

There are 35 acres of gardens which are considered to be one of England’s most important historic gardens. I was especially excited to see the kitchen gardens. That’s because I knew we’d be enjoying produce from it for our dinner in the restaurant.

The gardens were created in 1885 by Robinson. His approach to gardening was to celebrate nature rather than try to control it. Robinson was born in Ireland. He had a huge impact on the world of horticulture in the U.K. He is referred to as “the Irishman who taught the English how to garden.” I love that!

There are eight full-time gardeners who maintain them, with Tom Coward being the head gardener. We saw the flower garden and the kitchen garden. It is surrounded by walls and laid out in an oval pattern. We also visited the meadows, the orchards, and the croquet lawn.

Following our exploration of the gardens, we reassembled at the Manor for an aperitif, followed by a fantastic dinner. The restaurant was recently awarded a Michelin star which gives you an idea of the caliber of our meal. There were about six courses, all in reasonable proportions and beautifully presented.

After dinner, we headed back to the hotel for a pleasant night’s sleep after that busy day.

Here are some photos from our time at Great Dixter: