I'll probably be visiting UK next summer, with a small group of friends, all
very gardening-oriented Could you please suggest some very worthwhile
gardens to visit, in the radius of 250 kms from Ipswitch? We are interested
in public gardens or botanic gardens mostly. So far we have chosen 5
places - Sissinghurst, RHS garden in Wisley, Hyde Hall, Barnsdale, Beth
Chatto gardens. Anything else?

Regards, Barbara.

"Basia" wrote
I'll probably be visiting UK next summer, with a small group of friends,
all
very gardening-oriented Could you please suggest some very worthwhile
gardens to visit, in the radius of 250 kms from Ipswitch? We are
interested
in public gardens or botanic gardens mostly. So far we have chosen 5
places - Sissinghurst, RHS garden in Wisley, Hyde Hall, Barnsdale, Beth
Chatto gardens. Anything else?

If you are doing RHS Wisley with all the crowds you might like to try the
Saville Garden in the Great Park Windsor if only for a bit of peace and
quiet (tea room can get noisy with kids sometimes). They also have the best
Herbaceous Borders I know of and it's worth a visit just to see the roof of
the visitors centre.

--
Regards
Bob Hobden
just W. of London

On Oct 16, 3:15*pm, "Basia" wrote:
I'll probably be visiting UK next summer, with a small group of friends, all
very gardening-oriented Could you please suggest some very worthwhile
gardens to visit, in the radius of 250 kms from Ipswitch? We are interested
in public gardens or botanic gardens mostly. So far we have chosen 5
places - Sissinghurst, RHS garden in Wisley, Hyde Hall, Barnsdale, Beth
Chatto gardens. Anything else?

Don't miss Beth Chatto. but may I recommend, as you are in Ipswich to
have a look at their arboretum - I like it.

On Oct 16, 3:15*pm, "Basia" wrote:
I'll probably be visiting UK next summer, with a small group of friends, all
very gardening-oriented Could you please suggest some very worthwhile
gardens to visit, in the radius of 250 kms from Ipswitch? We are interested
in public gardens or botanic gardens mostly. So far we have chosen 5
places - Sissinghurst, RHS garden in Wisley, Hyde Hall, Barnsdale, Beth
Chatto gardens. Anything else?

Regards, Barbara.

Norwich is only 40 miles from Ipswich. Take a look at this, well
worth a visit if he is still open.

www.exoticgarden.com

Judith

In Norfolk there are several:

http://www.britainsfinest.co.uk/gard...county/Norfolk

"Basia" wrote in message ...
I'll probably be visiting UK next summer, with a small group of friends, all
very gardening-oriented Could you please suggest some very worthwhile
gardens to visit, in the radius of 250 kms from Ipswitch? We are interested
in public gardens or botanic gardens mostly. So far we have chosen 5
places - Sissinghurst, RHS garden in Wisley, Hyde Hall, Barnsdale, Beth
Chatto gardens. Anything else?

Regards, Barbara.


I went to this one in July and found it quite amazing:
It's in Norfolk

www.e-ruston-oldvicaragegardens.co.uk/
Looks good on Google Earth

Lot of work done since this review:

A feast of formal design, decorative exuberance and brilliant planting. Close to the sea but well protected by windbreaks, making it possible to grow remarkably tender plants. The separate gardens including Tropical Borders, Mediterranean Garden, Sunken Garden, Autumn Borders, Kitchen Garden, Desert Wash and Cornfield, vary strongly in mood. Sculptures, lavishly planted pots and finely detailed walls and gates play their decorative part. Included in best 50 gardens in Europe by the Independent newspaper in July 2003.


mark

"Basia" wrote in message
...
I'll probably be visiting UK next summer, with a small group of friends,
all
very gardening-oriented Could you please suggest some very worthwhile
gardens to visit, in the radius of 250 kms from Ipswitch? We are
interested
in public gardens or botanic gardens mostly. So far we have chosen 5
places - Sissinghurst, RHS garden in Wisley, Hyde Hall, Barnsdale, Beth
Chatto gardens. Anything else?

Barbara,

not sure which country you are coming from but a range of 250kms (about 155
miles) is not what I would initially think of as 'in and around Suffolk'. It
stretches quite a long way beyond the county boundary :-)
In and around would, I think, be more like 50km. Suffolk is not a large
county.
155 miles would take you, for example, to West Berkshire and nearly into
Wiltshire.
I assume you are planning to travel by car - going by train is a whole
different ball game.

[I live in Felixstowe, which is very close to Ipswich but nearer to the
sea.]

Is this distance an absolute, or are you using this as a measure of time
taken to travel?
Are you looking to go there and back in a day?
This would be about 3 hours travel each way depending on when and where you
were going.

For anything on the 'other side' of London from Ipswich e.g. Kent or Sussex
you will have to go round the M25, sometimes known as "the biggest car park
in Europe".
If you are trying to do the trip in a day then you will have to start very
early (possibly 05:30) to avoid the daily rush hour which ties up the M25
from about 07:00 to 09:30.
Plan on returning after 18:30 to 19:00 to avoid the evening rush hour.
Otherwise add at least an hour to your journey time each way.
Don't even consider travelling on Friday.

It might be useful to use Google Maps to get an idea where you can get to -
for example Nottingham is 141 miles from Ipswich with an estimated
travelling time of 2 hours 45 minutes.
The centre of England is easy to get to from Ipswich because of the A14
which takes you across towards Birmingham and joins the A1(M)/A1 then the M1
and the M6.
This can make places which seem further away much more accessible.
If you travel anywhere which is not connected by good fast roads then your
travel time could be a great deal longer (e.g. north of Norwich or a large
part of Lincolnshire).

I must say that doing 300 miles in a day on British roads and taking in one
or more gardens is hard core.

On the other hand if you are going out for more than one day then there are
places such as the Lost Gardens of Heligan and the Eden Project which could
justify a much longer journey.

Adrian Bloom's place in Bressingham is worth a visit.

Hope this helps you - you may well be already fully aware of the issues.

Cheers

Dave R

Dave thank you for this information. At the beginning sorry for my bad
English
I am one of those people who want to go on this trip, I already own a
few times in England and visited the public gardens. Some pictures on
my blog:
http://mmm.drl.pl/?cat=3 the text only in Polish.
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. I like the M25 at
least, I know this place, and congestion will not be pleasant. We
plan to one day for every garden, time travel may be 7 days. I thought
more about Cambridge, the city itself is beautiful but I do not know
where the gardens.
For sure we will visit Beth Chatto Gardens are wonderful. I wonder if
the garden Bloomów, I do not know whether it is worth to go there in
June.
And they want to see Sissinghurst, despite the crowds, I want to go
there again.

In Felixtowe I was in the spring, this charming town.

We're also looking to rent in Ipswich hotel accommodation for 3-4
people in a private house (hotels and B & B is expensive for us), like
renting a room for students studying English in other countries.

Cheers

Marta

On Oct 20, 2:18*pm, Marta wrote:
Dave thank you for this information. At the beginning sorry for my bad
English
I am one of those people who want to go on this trip, I already own a
few times in England and visited the public gardens. Some pictures on
my blog:
*http://mmm.drl.pl/?cat=3* *the text only in Polish.
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. I like the M25 at
least, I know this place, and congestion will not be pleasant. *We
plan to one day for every garden, time travel may be 7 days. I thought
more about Cambridge, the city itself is beautiful but I do not know
where the gardens.
For sure we will visit Beth Chatto Gardens are wonderful. I wonder if
the garden Bloomów, I do not know whether it is worth to go there in
June.
And they want to see Sissinghurst, despite the crowds, I want to go
there again.

In Felixtowe I was in the spring, this charming town.

We're also looking to rent in Ipswich hotel accommodation for 3-4
people in a private house (hotels and B & B is expensive for us), like
renting a room for students studying English in other countries.

Cheers

Marta

Marta, it depends when you are coming but Universities usually let
their student accommodation out of term time. If you are visiting
Norwich, try the University of East Anglia, telephone, from abroad,
0044 (0)1603 456161. I'm pretty sure other Universities have the same
thing. Cambridge is about 40 minutes on the train from Norwich. I'm
going to post this in another group as a poster lives in Cambridge and
he may well be able to help you.

Judith

"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!

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.

I assume you are going to Ipswich because you have friends there - there is
a lively Polish community in the Felixstowe and Ipswich area - because it is
not the place to go to if you want to explore the rest of England easily.
Somewhere more central such as Oxford would be a more logical base for
exploration.

If I really wanted to scare you I would suggest listening to the regular
traffic news on Radio 2 - http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/ - which might give
you an idea of the likely delays on our overcrowded roads.

For accomodation, you might try http://www.travelodge.co.uk/ because they
sometimes do really good deals (e.g. rooms for £19) especially if you book a
long time ahead.

Ipswich now has a new University so again if you are coming in the summer
there may be accomodation available there (although they are still building
the Halls of Residence).

Alternatively you might consider a holiday cottage (this term covers all
types of property, not just what we would usually call a cottage). This is
usually cheaper than B&B or an hotel. In this case Google is your friend, as
there are so many different properties available. I am, however, having
trouble locating anywhere in Ipswich. The holiday lets in this area tend to
be outside Ipswich in the countryside or in coastal towns. If you are coming
in summer then I would expect you to have to pay £500-£700 per week for a
property sleeping four. However this is still less than £200 each per week.

Again, you might consider a holiday caravan such as
http://www.ukcaravans4hire.com/to-let-userid187.html. You are more likely to
find a static caravan in Felixstowe than Ipswich. Again, Google is your
friend :-) This is likely to be much cheaper than a holiday cottage. Static
caravans are normally very good holiday accomodation. We have used them many
times in various parts of the country for holidays.

Hope this helps

David

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

Thank you all for your information.

We do not want to go 240 miles, this was an example. We have an
experienced driver, I do not know anyone else as a good driver. Two
weeks ago, overcame a route from Ipswich to Cardiff and returned the
same day. I do not want him very tired, so the distance can take up to
150-200 miles one way. He is not a gardener, it is not interested in
visiting the gardens. He likes to rest with a cup of tea and reading a
book.

Dave - Polish roads is a kind of survival

Every gardener has a different interest in gardening, we arranged a
plan so that we each had its own joy. Me interested in woodland
gardens, ferns and plants for shade.
I also love roses and perennials. Wisley, Botanic Garden in Cambridge,
Beth Chatto Gardens seem to be ideal for everyone.
Everyone will find there something interesting for yourself.

We are looking for more similar.

On 2009-10-21 13:06:47 +0100, Marta said:


Thank you all for your information.

We do not want to go 240 miles, this was an example. We have an
experienced driver, I do not know anyone else as a good driver. Two
weeks ago, overcame a route from Ipswich to Cardiff and returned the
same day. I do not want him very tired, so the distance can take up to
150-200 miles one way. He is not a gardener, it is not interested in
visiting the gardens. He likes to rest with a cup of tea and reading a
book.

Dave - Polish roads is a kind of survival

Every gardener has a different interest in gardening, we arranged a
plan so that we each had its own joy. Me interested in woodland
gardens, ferns and plants for shade.
I also love roses and perennials. Wisley, Botanic Garden in Cambridge,
Beth Chatto Gardens seem to be ideal for everyone.
Everyone will find there something interesting for yourself.

We are looking for more similar.

I don't think anyone's mentioned The Yellow Book yet. This is put out
by the National Gardens Scheme and schedules all the private gardens
open throughout the year and they're of a very high standard. Some
offer b&b accommodation, too. http://www.ngs.org.uk/
You can probably send for the book but the above url helps you to
search online. Here's the url for the Suffolk page.
http://www.ngs.org.uk/gardens/garden...?search=simple
--
Sacha