| Event type: | Outing |
| Date: | 23rd June 2025 |
| Duration: | 4 days |
| Until: | 26th June 2025 |
| Group: | Gardening |
| Organiser: |
Twenty-two members of the Gardening Group are going on a 4-day/3-night adventure to visit some of the lovely Gardens of North Wales. This coach trip includes visits to six different gardens- pictured above.
| Day | What are we doing today? |
|---|---|
| 1 | Depart by coach at 9:00am from Station Approach Road (across from Solihull Methodist Church) and travel to Powis Castle and Gardens (NT). Influenced by French and Italian styles, this amazing garden is cared for by the National Trust and has some of the most flamboyant and stylish herbaceous planting of any garden in the British Isles. In the afternoon, we continue North to the 4* Faenol Fawr Country House and Manor Hotel, our home for the next three nights. We will have time to explore the grounds and relax before our 3-course evening meal. |
| 2 | Today we see two very different gardens, both created by Sir Clough Williams-Ellis. After a full Welsh breakfast we travel to Plas Brondanw where we will have a guided tour of this Italian-style garden which is enclosed by clipped yew hedging punctuated by towering columns of Italian cypress. We later continue to nearby Portmeirion, the famous Italianate village - developed in a unique and wonderfully eccentric style. Again we will have a guided tour to admire the work carried out in recent years to improve the gardens, enhancing the beauty of the architecture. In the late afternoon, we return to our hotel where we can perhaps meet in the bar for a drink before our 3-course dinner is served. |
| 3 | Today we travel to Anglesey to visit the house and gardens at Plas Newydd (NT) which is set amidst breathtakingly beautiful scenery on the Menai Strait. The Head Gardener will show us around the gardens and Australasian arboretum. We can also explore the woodland walk taking us beside the Menai Strait. Our afternoon visit is to Plas Cadnant, where three different gardens have recently been discovered, including an unusual walled garden with curving walls and a pool, a secret valley garden with three waterfalls and a river, and an upper woodland garden with stone outcrops and the remains of a 19th century folly. A tour along with light refreshments is included here before we return to the hotel where dinner is served in the evening. |
| 4 | Following breakfast, we check out of the hotel and head for Bodnant Garden (NT) situated above the River Conwy spanning some 80 acres looking across the valley towards Snowdonia. We will also have time to visit the Bodnant Garden Centre - which sells many plant varieties only found at Bodnant and Bodnant Craft Centre - which sells work from many of the best designers and artists in North Wales. We then begin our journey back to Solihull where we expect to arrive in the early evening. |
Included in the £570 price
- Three nights’ dinner, bed and breakfast at 4* Faenol Fawr Country House and Manor Hotel
- Comfortable coaching throughout
- Visits to all gardens, garden centre and craft centre mentioned above
- Guided garden tours at Plas Brondanw, Portmeirion and Plas Cadnant
- Tips for coach driver and hotel staff
Not included
- Single supplement (£140)
- Lunches
Note: Entry to National Trust properties (Powis Castle, Plas Newydd and Bodnant) is free for National Trust members; non-members will pay a discounted group entry rate on the day (approximately £48 total)