Our last garden tour adventure, The Top to Bottom Tour, started in Edinburgh on Sept 22 and concluded in London, 15 days later, on Oct 6.
We gathered in Edinburgh at the lovely George Hotel on George Street in the salubrious West End (New Town) part of the city.
This gave us easy access to the Royal Mile, the Scottish National Gallery, some great shopping, and a street of marvellous pubs and restaurants.
In Edinburgh, we visited the botanical garden, the castle and had a terrific time at the Scottish Whisky Experience. This was a brilliant, superbly informative, modern media presentation that rivalled the best of any Disney World entertainment.
Out of Edinburgh, we headed north to see Stirling Castle and the Kelpies (magnificent giant horse-head sculptures with a mythic story to tell about keeping kids away from deep Loch waters) and on to Loch Lomond and the village of Luss, considered one of the prettiest villages in Scotland.
We were all surprised by the elegance and extraordinary beauty of Stirling Castle. It delivered more bang for the buck than Edinburgh Castle.
From Edinburgh, we nipped down the east coast into England, stopping at Holy Island and Lindisfarne before continuing on to visit Alnwick Garden before checking into our delightful hotel on the Quayside in Newcastle.
Outside our hotel was the impressive Gateshead Millennium Bridge, plus a fabulous riverside walk leading to all the other famous Newcastle bridges.
We were all blown away by the quality and sophistication of this area, as well as by the many wonderful sites around Newcastle.
Out of Newcastle, we popped down to Durham, stopping on the way to see the iconic Angel of the North installation, and then we continued on to wander around the quaint streets of Durham and visit the famous cathedral.
Before heading back to Newcastle, we dropped in to the Beamish Museum, which gave us an entertaining experience of life in northern England over the past century.
We got to ride old buses and trams, walk in homes from the 1940s and 1950s, and explore farms and buildings from the turn of the last century.
From Newcastle, we moved on to the Lake District, stopping on the way to walk Hadrian’s Wall and the old Roman fort at Birdoswald.
In Keswick, we enjoyed the peace and atmosphere of the Lake District before taking a delightful boat ride down Lake Windermere.
We stayed for the night in a lakeside mansion that reminded me of the setting of an Agatha Christie novel.
From the Lakes, we popped into the magnificent Levens Hall with its incredible 400-year-old topiaries and superb manor house.
From Levens, we moved on to Liverpool, where we checked into the smashing Hope Street Hotel next to the Philharmonic Hall with the superb Philharmonic and White Hart pubs on the same street and Ye Cracke, where John Lennon used to hang out with his art college friends in the days when the Beatles were just getting established.
We checked out all these places and did a fun tour of the city, visiting the Albert Dock, seeing the ferry across the Mersey, and visiting Penny Lane and other famous sites.
Liverpool was a lot of fun. Very friendly. We had both of the city’s superb cathedrals on our street, one at either end, so we were able to pop into both and enjoy the magnificent architecture.
From Liverpool, we visited the famous Roman city of Chester and strolled the central streets with their lovely Tudor buildings and cobbled streets.
Leaving Liverpool, we moved south, stopping first at Stratford-upon-Avon to see Shakespeare’s birthplace and the house and garden of Anne Hathaway before moving on to Oxford.
In Oxford, we got a little rain – the first of the tour – but we had fun exploring the city and Christ Church College as well as fabulous old pubs like the Turf Tavern, where we had a fun party night.
From Oxford, we dropped in to Blenheim Palace, the birthplace of Winston Churchill.
In London, our hotel was on the South Bank, which gave us excellent access to Westminster Bridge and the Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey, the London Eye and all the sights of the city seen from south of the river, including St. Paul’s Cathedral.
Our farewell party was held at a French restaurant. We parted company after walking under the Millennium Wheel at night and taking photos of the green-lit Westminster Bridge, where Big Ben looked magnificent with a full moon looking down.
This was the finale of our tours. It has been an exciting and magical series of tours from Italy to China, Japan, South Africa, and more.
We have accumulated an immense storehouse of memories and fabulous experiences, making many wonderful friends on the way.
