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Paul Zimmerman UK Rose Tour 2023

We are privileged to have Paul Zimmerman, owner of Paul Zimmerman roses and exclusive Rose Consultant to the 8,000 acres of Biltmore Estate, lead this special tour. Join Paul for a celebration of the rose, this 8-day tour will be filled with beautiful sights and scents as you travel from garden to garden seeing some of the finest rose collections that England has to offer. Any true rose enthusiast will be in awe of Paul's carefully chosen selection of premium plantings that showcase the rose's unending beauty.

Your Tour Includes

  • 7 night’s bed and breakfast at the 4-star University Arms and Cotswold House Hotel and Spa
  • 1 night room only at the Sofitel Heathrow Hotel
  • 6 evening meals and 5 lunches and 1 afternoon tea
  • Guided visits to sites listed in the programme
  • Services of your tour leader and Host
  • All entrance fees, taxes and gratuities for coach drivers and waiters
  • Private coach travel and excursions
Experts
Paul Zimmerman

Paul Zimmerman

Paul Zimmerman is the owner of Paul Zimmerman Roses, a company dedicated to Budding the Rose Grower In All Of Us. He is also an Independent Consultant to Jackson & Perkins as well as their Head of their Landscape & Design Division and exclusive Rose Consultant to Biltmore Estate as well as director of their International Rose Trials,

He has written articles for Fine Gardening, Organic Gardening, American Nurseryman and other gardening magazines. He hosted the blog “Roses Are Plants, Too” on Fine Gardening Magazine’s website for numerous years. He lectures internationally and has also served as an International juror for numerous Rose Trials. He is the author of the book “Everyday Roses’ published by Taunton Press.

While living in Los Angeles, California Paul founded and ran “Hundred Acre Woods Rosescapeing”, a company specializing in the care, design and installation of rose gardens; particularly Antique, Shrub and David Austin Roses.  

After moving to South Carolina he started Ashdown Roses Ltd a rose nursery offering A World of Garden Roses, which he closed in 2009 to focus on rose growing education.

Among some of his other accomplishments are founding a You Tube Channel on rose care with to date some 4 million views, creator and host of the Blueprint (formerly Craftsy) class “A Gardener’s Guide to Growing Roses”, was hired by the New York Botanical Garden to review their care protocols and was hired by the Chinese Government to present a two day seminar on the American Rose Industry and American Rose Gardens to a delegation of rose experts from China. He is now also leading garden tours in Europe.

It is this hands on experience with roses in a general garden setting that Paul draws on for his Talks, You Tube Videos, Articles, Tours, and Workshops.

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Itinerary

Travel independently to Cambridge to meet at the University Arms Hotel at 2pm for an introduction to the tour with your host, Paul Zimmerman and tour manager, Kirsty Fergusson. We then walk to the Cambridge Botanic Gardens, where we discover the plantings designed by Graham Thomas devoted to the development of the rose. We return on foot to the hotel with time to settle in before dining together in the hotel restaurant, Parker’s Tavern.

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Cambridge Botanic Gardens

Departure after breakfast by luxury coach to Peter Beales Roses, an hour’s drive from Cambridge. Enjoy a full day here, visiting the rose gardens, taking part in a hands-on workshop, and following lunch in the nursery’s own café and a behind-the-scenes tour in propagation sheds, participate in a Q&A session over tea. Return to Cambridge and dine together at our hotel.

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Peter Beales' profuse pink rambler

Following breakfast we travel by luxury coach to the Cotswolds, breaking our journey at Kiftsgate, where owner Anne Chambers will guide us through the superb gardens and tell us about the three generations of women who have made Kiftsgate a destination for rosarians all over the world. We remain in the same village to visit Hidcote, where we enjoy an independent lunch in the excellent National Trust restaurant within the gardens. There will be a short introduction to Hidcote and its creator, Lawrence Johnson, and then you are free to explore the immaculate gardens independently. We continue to the Cotswold House Hotel in the charming market town Chipping Campden, with plenty of time to settle in before dinner

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Kiftsgate

We drive the short distance to Morton Hall for a guided tour of the gardens followed by lunch with owners, René, and Anne Olivieri. A fine collection of old and English roses are blended harmoniously with stunning displays of perennials around the splendid Georgian house. We continue to Broughton Castle, a moated medieval manor house home to the Fiennes family since the 15th century. The formal gardens are enlivened with roses at every turn. We return to Chipping Campden to dine together at our hotel

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Broughton Castle

Moor Wood Farm gardens contain the national collection of rambler roses. The Robinson family who live here are passionate about the environment and believe this is reflected their dedication to the roses, wildflowers and wildlife found throughout the garden and across the farm. We lunch at a local pub, before continuing to Springfield House, in the heart of one of the Cotswolds’ prettiest villages, Broadway. Owners will meet us to talk about their rose garden, which they first planted in the Seventies. After some free time to explore the village, we meet for dinner together.

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Hanging planters in Cirencester

We travel west to Ludlow, where we are privileged to spend the morning with Michael Marriott, for many years chief propagator at David Austin Roses, in his own rose-filled garden. Over coffee, there will be the opportunity to engage with Michael in a Q&A session before we travel the short distance to the historic town of Ludlow for an independent lunch and some free time to explore the shops and of this ancient market town. Our next destination is Coughton Court, where Magnus and Imogen Throckmorton await us to guide us through the beautiful walled garden where roses predominate, before inviting us to dinner in the magnificent, panelled dining room.

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Coughton Court

A relaxed start to the day, with the opportunity to visit the Ernest Wilson Memorial Garden, containing several species roses from China collected by Wilson, just a short step away from our hotel. We lunch at Sudeley Castle and enjoy a stroll through its famous rose garden before returning to take afternoon tea at the hotel. The evening is free for those who wish to visit Stratford-upon-Avon independently this evening and take in a Shakespeare play at the theatre.

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The Knot Garden of Sudeley Castle

Leaving our hotel, we travel to Oxford, visiting first the Botanic gardens We then travel by boat along the River Cherwell to the point at which it meets the Thames, for lunch at The Head of the River, a well-known traditional pub. Stroll back through the city centre, taking in its historic sights to meet our coach and return home.

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Oxford Botanic Gardens

Accommodation

You will be staying at the 4-star University Arms in Cambridge for 2 nights, the 4-star Cotswold House Hotel in Chipping Camden for 5 nights.