BY CLAY LARROY
There is nothing more
exciting than travelling. Whether you are going for a road trip to see
something new in your own state, or heading off to somewhere for the very first
time to visit a city you have always dreamed of, there are some travel basics that you should
know. Travel in the
off seasons from November to April, to avoid crowds,
save money and enjoy temperate weather. In those months, many families with
children cannot travel due to school commitments, making many tourist
attractions much less crowded. This may also result in lower costs for airfare
and hotels. When
you are ready to plan a vacation contact me!
There’s a simple
requirement for anyone thinking of a garden tour: do you love gardens? If so,
please read on. The cultivation of plants for food long predates history. The
earliest evidence for ornamental gardens, however, is seen in Egyptian tomb
paintings of the 1500s BC; they depict lotus ponds surrounded by rows of
acacias and palms. The other ancient gardening tradition is from Persia. Darius
the Great was said to have had a ‘paradise garden’ and the Hanging Gardens of
Babylon were renowned as a Wonder of the World. Persian influences extended to
post-Alexander’s Greece: around 350 BC there were gardens at the Academy of
Athens, and Theophrastus, who wrote on botany, was supposed to have inherited a
garden from Aristotle. The most influential ancient gardens in the western
world were Ptolemy’s gardens at Alexandria.
The gardening
tradition brought to Rome by Lucullus. Wall paintings in Pompeii attest to
elaborate development later, and the wealthiest of Romans built enormous
gardens, many of whose ruins are still to be seen, such as at Hadrian’s Villa
Byzantium and Moorish Spain kept garden traditions alive after the 4th century.
By this time a separate gardening tradition had arisen in China, which was
transmitted to Japan, where it developed into aristocratic miniature landscapes
centered on ponds and separately into the severe Zen gardens of temples.
In Europe, gardening
revived in Languedoc and the Ile-de-France in the 13th century, and in the
Italian villa gardens of the early Renaissance. French parterres developed at
the end of the 16th century and reached high development under Andre le Notre.
English landscape gardens opened a new perspective in the 18th century. The
19th century saw a welter of historical revivals and Romantic cottage-inspired
gardening, as well as the rise of flower gardens, which became dominant in home
gardening in the 20th century, which expanded into city planning.
The gardens of the
world
In every niche and
corner of the planet, there are gardens open for viewing. Many gardeners today
think the gardens of England and the United Kingdom are the best anywhere.
Indeed, some of the world’s oldest gardens remain on the British Isles and
gardening is an ancient art there. Nature provides the mild climate, rich soil,
and long, long summer days that bring forth the best in plants. UK plant lovers
arrange them with charm and expertise. The European Continent’s old world
gardens in Ireland, France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Belgium and Holland all
reflect the centuries old traditions of those nations.
The gardens of the
United States, Australia, Costa Rica and Japan likewise reflect the national
character and traditions of those nations. But keep in mind that when you go on
a garden tour, regardless of your destination, you are not likely to see
everything. The vast number of public and private gardens open for viewing in
England alone would take months to explore.
A Tour of Garden
Tours
Garden tours require
advance planning and the services of a first rate travel consultant. You first
need to decide what gardens you want to visit and determine the best time of
the year to visit (as well as when the gardens are open). Use a tour operator
with a reputation for delivering first rate programs. You can often choose a
tour offering independent travel in which the tour operator lays out an
itinerary and provides you with special access and a guide.
More common and
affordable are group tours where several individuals seeking to view the
gardens in an area travel together with a guide. Many tour providers are able
to gain access to special private gardens, having developed contacts over many
years. A tour operator will save the traveler time and effort by doing much of
the research and planning in advance. The tour operator will typically arrange
all transportation and accommodations, inns and restaurants. Their drivers know
the best routes to the gardens by heart, making travel more entertaining and
the logistics of moving from location to location easier to negotiate. Entry
fees and other costs will be aggregated by the tour operator, typically at a
rate discounted over what any individual would be able to accomplish on their
own for a similar itinerary.
REFERENCE SITES:
“Every body has a
unique path to travel.”
― Lailah Gifty Akita
― Lailah Gifty Akita
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