David WE Roberts wrote:

"Marta" wrote in message
...

snip
We need not be limited to Suffolk, we want to rent a car. We have a
driver for the trip to Cardiff and Manchester in one day is not a
problem, he knows the British roads very well. However, I would not
like that it was more than just a 150 - 200 miles.
snip

Marta,

Ipswich to Cardiff is about 240 miles and will take at least four hours
(5 hours if there are any traffic problems).
Respect if you go there and back in a day and visit some gardens :-)
However journeys of this duration may be normal in Poland.
For me, one way is quite enough!

It is doable if there are two drivers to share the driving, but it is a
punishing schedule if done for more than one day with an easy day in
between. I speak from experience. I have done the opposite journey in a
day with half a days business and dinner in the old days before there
was an H&S embargo on 200miles driving on company business per day.

Manchester is a similar distance and also a similar time - but you are
going through even more areas which are likely to have traffic problems.

Apart from Tatton Park I can't really think of any gardens to worthwhile
to visit near Manchester. Kew in London and the Botanical Gardens in
Cambridge are both worthwhile and a lot easier to get to from Suffolk.
Ness Gardens at Liverpool are impressive at the right time of year
(Azaleas etc). But that is further than Manchester.

Regards,
Martin Brown