Lake Maggiore March 20 to 26 2012
Garden makers have favoured Lago Maggiore, which extends from Italy into Switzerland, since the 16th century when the aristocratic Borromeo family began cultivating citrus fruit on Isola Madre in the middle of the Borromean Gulf. Maggiore, Italy’s second largest lake, radiates stored heat throughout the winter, consequently, any frost is rare, moderate and short-lived. The lakeside gardens are famed for their abundant floral displays and their astonishing range of temperate and subtropical species. In the distance, the snow-clad peaks of the Prealps provide a stunning frame to this incomparably
beautiful lake.
The majority of the gardens that we shall visit are less governed by axial design than the classic Italian gardens in and around Florence and Rome. We shall be impressed by plants grown for their own sake, in informal groups set in stunning surroundings; even the formal gardens are home to rare and exotic specimens. And we will not deny ourselves an experience of the ultimate formal garden – a visit to the extraordinary monument of Baroque design: Isola Bella!
We will stay for four nights in the friendly lakeside Hotel Pallanza, near a piazza adorned by Magnolia grandiflora specimens. On the fifth morning we will drive up the Piedmont shore into Switzerland to stay our last two nights in the Hotel Riposo, Ascona, at the northern tip of the lake. In Switzerland, we will visit gardens around Ascona, and also enjoy a tour to Lake Lugano to visit the late Sir Peter Smithers’ renowned garden.
Please click on the PDF icon below to download a two page brochure with full itinerary for this tour -
Please click on the PDF icon below for a booking form -
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The leader for this tour is Ivor Stokes. Ivor has recently retired from the post of Horticultural Director of the National Botanic Garden of Wales, he has more than 40 years experience of working with a range of ornamental plants. He is a member of the RHS RCM committee. Ivor will be assisted by an experienced Tour Manager, Edmund Lowson, who is Italian speaking and has accompanied many Ace tours in the Lake Maggiore region.
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The cost of the tour is £1,390 per person: to include accommodation in a twin room, return flights, breakfast, three dinners, all coach and ferry costs, all admissions, visits and gratuities, the services of local guides and
a tour manager throughout.
Own flight reduction £1,210 per person.
Not included: Travel insurance, single room supplement of £275 per person, remaining dinners and lunches.
For more information please contact
Judy Hallett - judy.hallett@googlemail.com
Telephone: 01981 570401
Address:
The Old Rectory
Thruxton
Herefordshire HR2 9AX
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