Let me tell you about the exciting 17 day France-England tour May 9 – 25, 2019 that I am launching today. (As of July 3, this tour is sold out, but we still have a waiting list)
You’ll be impressed by the shape, content, pacing and overall diversity of this one-of-a-kind tour, which starts in Paris in May (when is there a better time to be in Paris than in spring) and concludes in London with the inimitable Chelsea Flower Show, an event that always makes London bubble with joy.
We start in Paris, end in London. What happens in between?
Well, we have a first-class itinerary for you, full of fabulous gardens, outstanding destinations, historic sites, scenic towns and villages and all sorts of exciting highlights as we move from Paris to the Loire Valley and then to England and the eastern counties via the Chunnel Express.
There is really too much to tell you about in great detail, but let me give you as comprehensive an overview as I can.
This tour features quality time in Paris and the Loire Valley, one of the most beautiful regions of France as well as time exploring the charming eastern counties of England – Essex, Suffolk, Norfolk and Cambridge, a combined region better known in Britain as East Anglia.
Here we’ll visit the quaint wool towns of Suffolk, Norfolk’s enchanting Broads region with its peaceful network of rivers and lakes, and “the royal coast” where the Queen has her country estate and gardens at Sandringham.
But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.
Your adventure begins in Paris, city of light, arguably one of the prettiest, most elegant and architecturally blessed cities in the world and one of the most timeless and sophisticated with fabulous shops, bakeries, restaurants, art galleries and museums.
From our base on the Right Bank, we’ll visit Chateau de Malmaison, the 19th century home of Napoleon and Josephine, where Josephine devoted herself to collecting pretty much every known rose in existence in her bid to create a stunningly beautiful, world-class rose garden.
We’ll also visit Monet’s famous garden at Giverny with its iconic water lily pond and exquisitely planted flower borders. I’ve been there before, but it is a timeless place, one that never loses its grip on the imagination, one that never grows old.
In fact, I feel confident in saying that you can never spend too much time in Paris. Which is why we have made sure you’ll have plenty of time to shop to your heart’s content as well as to visit your favourite art gallery or museum or historic monument with still enough time to walk the delightful neighbourhoods of Saint-Germain-des-Pres or Montmartre.
If all this sounds too energetic, you could always just hang out in a cafe in the Latin Quarter, perhaps opposite Notre Dame, and enjoy the passing parade of life. Very pleasant.
We will, however, be taking you around Paris to make sure you get to see the city from top to bottom with special stops at key places.
From Paris, we’ll skip down to the Loire Valley where we will set up our base in the historic and beautiful town of Amboise right on the river.
From here, I want to take you to some extraordinarily beautiful gardens and chateaus: Chenonceau, Chatonniere, Villandry as well as the immensely creative and exciting International Garden Show at Chaumont sur Loire and then on to the lovely Les Jardins de Roquelin.
We don’t want to rush. The itinerary has been carefully timed to ensure the most leisurely and relaxing pace. The French countryside is no place to be in a hurry; we really want you to savour the moments and let your soul soak in the ambience.
We also want you to experience the best of the flavours and specialties of the region with time to taste the heavenly wines and cheeses of the Chavignol area, including amazing Sancerre and other top wines.
There is so much to tell you about the gardens we’ll visit. Villandry will make you gasp at its artistic perfection. Chatonniere will thrill you with the beauty of its rose walks, fairytale chateau and leaf-shaped flower garden.
From Loire, we’ll head back to Paris for one last night of delights before boarding the Eurostar train to scoot under the English Channel to London.
Our plan is to immediately head to Colchester to visit Beth Chatto’s popular garden – one of the most beautiful, innovative and celebrated contemporary gardens in England.
We’ll then settle into our digs in Bury St. Edmunds in Suffolk. This will be our base from where we’ll explore the quaint, historic wool towns of Suffolk – Lavenham, Long Melford, Hadleigh.
Leaving Bury St. Edmunds, we will visit two top gardens, 15th century Helmingham Hall with its “Grade 1” listed gardens and then on to East Ruston Old Vicarage on the Norfolk Coast, a spectacular garden that even many garden experts don’t know about.
This is the day we will also have our first contact with the historic town of Norwich. Elm Hill is one of its most famous streets with houses dating back to Tudor times.
This will set us up very nicely for our fun visit to the Norfolk Broads, an area famous for relaxing boating holidays and country pubs.
Who doesn’t like messing about on the river. We will explore the Broads by boat from Wroxham and afterwards have a relaxing pub lunch.
From Wroxham, we’ll visit Bressingham Gardens outside Diss, a 17-acre garden haven complex made famous by Blooms of Bressingham, a company that has supplied the world with fabulous perennials and other plants for years.
From Norwich, we’ll move east to Fakenham to see Pensthorpe Natural Park, an inspiring landscape featuring a series of lovely gardens as well as waterscapes and peaceful sanctuaries of various wildlife.
We’ll stop for lunch at Sheringham by the sea before moving on to visit the Queen’s estate at Sandringham where, among other things, we’ll see Sir Geoffrey Jellicoe’s handiwork – what has been described as “the finest of all royal gardens” with its boxwood parterres and lime walks.
From Sandringham, we’ll nip across to the Isle of Ely, getting another perspective on The Fens, one of the oldest and most historic regions of England, home to early Anglo-Saxons.
We’ll continue on to the world-famous university town of Cambridge where you will be able to explore the city and see all the key sites as well as sink your teeth into your umpteenth cream tea.
Our final destination is, of course, London, which needs no introduction as one the greatest cities in the world.
Here, I am hoping you will want to see the Chelsea Flower Show. It is always a pleasure, a show of excellence and creativity and of high elegance.
If you have never been to Chelsea – something I believe everyone should do once in their life – you need to know that the whole of London gets into the spirit of flower power and the joyfulness of garden-making. Chelsea is always fantastic and this is a chance not to miss. We have full-day tickets.
This means you get to enter the show the moment it opens in the morning and get to enjoy wandering around before the main crowds arrive, which usually happens around 10:30.
If you stay with us for the Chelsea portion, we are also making time for you to explore London and delve deeper (if you have not already explored it before) into the treasures of the city.
Now, the beauty of this tour is this: If you want more time in Paris, you simply go a few days earlier, and if you want more time in London, you stay a few days longer. Either way, you’re guaranteed to come home with the most fantastic memories and stories of your adventure.
BOOK NOW:
Your next step is to reserve your place on the tour by calling Lyle Truden at Flight Centre in Vancouver: Office: 604-684-7951. Email: lyle.truden@flightcentre.ca
Tour price: Double occupancy: $7,499 per person; single occupancy: $9,480. MAY 9 – 23 (not including Chelsea/London extension).
Tour price with Chelsea add on: Double occupancy: $8,270; single occupancy: $10,235. MAY 9 – 25 (Includes Chelsea and London extension).
CLICK HERE to see a complete day-by-day itinerary.
Well done, looks like a fabulous trip. Patricia
Comments are closed.