Embroidered Knot Gardens with workshops led by Owen Davies
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• Visit to Sudeley Castle to view beautiful Knot Gardens
• 2 day workshop with Owen Davies, author of ‘Embroidered Knot Gardens’
• Visit to Kiftsgate Court Gardens, Chipping Campden
• Visit to Witney Antiques to view embroideries and enjoy talk on the History of English Embroidery
• Visit to Hidcote Manor Garden
• Visit to Chavenage – magnificent Elizabethan house in Gloucestershire
• Visit to Tetbury, Gloucestershire
• Visit to Harvington Hall
Day 1
Arrive at the hotel, situated high above the Cotswold town of Broadway. Once you have checked in, afternoon tea and cake will be available for all our guests. Settle into your rooms and before our welcome dinner in the hotel, you will have the chance to wander around this charming village. During dinner, we will acquaint everyone with the itinerary for the week and get to know each other.
Day 2
After a hearty English breakfast in the hotel’s beamed dining room, we will spend the day in the beautiful Cotswolds discovering gardens and properties dating back to the Elizabethan times. Private guided tours and exclusive visits are the theme for today. We will have a special tour of Harvington Hall – a moated, mediavel and Elizabethan manor house. Here we will see the finest series of priest hides in the country, a knot garden which is recreated in a tapestry in the house. In the afternoon we will visit Hidcote Manor Garden –one of the most delightful gardens in England, created by the great horticulturalist, Major Lawrence Johnston. We will then return to our hotel and have a relaxing dinner in the hotel’s Brasserie.
Day 3
Today we leave our hotel after breakfast and visit Kiftsgate Court Gardens where we will have a private tour of the gardens – situated on the edge of the Cotswold escarpment with views towards the Malvern Hills. These gardens are previous winners of Christie’s Garden of the Year and have many unusual plants including tree peonies, abutilons and old fashioned roses. We will then travel to a town, not far from Oxford where we will visit an antique shop specialising in textiles – we will see fine examples from the 16th century to the present day and the owner will give us a private talk on the history of embroidery and its place in society of the time. Dinner will be taken together this evening in a charming Cotswold restaurant.
Day 4
Today we venture to Sudeley Castle – the inspiration for our tour. We will be met here by Owen Davies, our tutor. Owen has based his two day workshop on the Elizabethan Knot Garden here at Sudeley – which has been described as ‘The Most Romantic Castle in England’ The award winning gardens are a delight and bold areas of planting surround the 15th century Tithe Barn, contrast with the intricate detail of the stunning Knot Garden. Dinner this evening will be in a local Cotswold village.
Day 5
Owen Davies will join us after breakfast for the first day of our two day workshop. He has put together a project based on the Knot Garden at Sudeley Castle. If you have ever wanted to stitch your very own piece of history, now is your opportunity. Owen will guide you through a small embroidered garden. Working on fine canvas all students will have a hand drawn canvas with full instructions and materials. The three dimensional garden will include topiary trees, flower beds and knot hedging. The project will not, however, be completed in the two days but all the elements will be taught to enable the enthusiast to complete the project at home. Techniques taught in the two day workshop include canvas stitiches, ribbon embroidery, stumpwork and long and short shading. A wonderful opportunity to work on this unique piece of work – designed especially for this tour. We will have a light lunch during the day – enabling us to do as much stitching as we possible. Dinner this evening will be in the Brasserie, known as the Barn Owl, in our hotel.
Day 6
Today we will continue with our workshop under the guidance of Owen Davies and more practice in the techniques of yesterday’s workshop and some further techniques to enable us to complete this wonderful piece of embroidery. Dinner this evening will be at a very special venue (weather permitting) This is going to be kept as a surprise as it is all dependent on the British weather!
Day 7
This morning we have a real treat in store. We will be visiting the private home of the Lowsley-Williams family at Chavenage. A wonderful Elizabethan house of mellow grey Cotswold stone which has been in the same family for several centuries. We will have a personal guided tour of the house by one of the owners and see tapestries, fine furniture, pictures and many relics of the Cromwellian period. The house has been used as a location for several films and television productions – the most recent being a ‘double’ for Candleford Manor in the BBC costume drama ‘Lark Rise to Candleford’. We will leave this beautiful house and drive the short distance to Tetbury – the well known and most important cloth market towns of south Gloucestershire. Its main streets radiate from the impressive market square, dominated by the 17th century Market House. This delightful town will give us the opportunity of venturing into all the local shops, museums and galleries and relaxing on our last afternoon. We will then return to the hotel where we will all dine together in the hotel’s dining room and relive some of the wonderful experiences of our week together.
Day 8
The final morning of our tour and after breakfast in the hotel, we will all depart for home and look forward to completing the Embroidered Knot Garden that has been inspired by Owen’s tuition and the reality of the gardens we have seen in this special part of England.
Included:
· First class hotel accommodation
· 16 meals – 7 breakfasts, 2 lunches and 7 dinners Wine with dinner
· Transportation in luxury coach
· Local guides
· Admission charges to all venues
· Tuition and all materials for workshops
· All tips for hotel and restaurants (where part of the tour)
· Services of a Tour Director throughout
· Information folder for all participants
Not included:
All items of a personal nature, ie bar bills, telephone calls, laundry, insurance, meals other than those included in the itinerary and any gratuities other than those stated above, are not included.
