Detailed Daily Itinerary

Day 0
Fly from your hometown, on the airline of your choice to Dublin, Ireland

Day 1
Arrive in Ireland and transfer to our well-located, historical, 4-star Dublin Hotel
We'll have an informal orientation meeting this early evening, so we can get acquainted.  Overnight/Dublin

Day 2
After breakfast we'll coach to Powerscourt, the" Versailles of Ireland", a mansion and one of the most lavish gardens in Europe.  After a lunch opportunity, we're off to Mount Usher, an 1860's Robinsonian garden, the home to over 5000 plant species. We'll have dinner together in Dublin tonight.     Overnight/Dublin (B,D)

Day 3
After breakfast it's on to unique Larchhill Arcadian Gardens, the only "Ferme Ornee" in Europe-- an ornamental 18th C. farm and landscaped garden, as well as its 10 follies, such as the Shell Tower and the Gibralter Fortress...  Then we'll travel west to Clonmacnoise, the most important monastic site in Ireland, the site of fantastic high crosses and round towers, and visited by the Pope in 1979. Later we're off for the 45-minute Bord na Mona Bog Rail Tour that will take us through the Blackwater section of the famous Bog of Allen where we'll learn about its special flora, which has remained unchanged for thousands of years. We'll travel to Galway for dinner and lodging at our centrally-located, 4-star, historical hotel.  O/N Galway (B,D)

Day 4
After a sumptuous breakfast, we're off to Lorna MacMahon's private, tour de force garden, Ardcarraig, that hugs the shores of Lough Corrib with it's formal herb garden, pond and primulas, and bog and field garden. On the road to Clifden, in the wild Connemara, we'll lunch and travel to the picture-postcard perfect Kylemore Abbey and Garden where we'll learn the tragic story of Mitchell Henry and his neo-gothic tribute to his wife, Margaret. We'll see the lovely restored walled garden with it's tall cordylines, phormiums, palms, pampas, and tree ferns. Then it's back to Galway through the beautiful and lonely, Lough Inagh Valley, one of the most beautiful drives in Ireland.  It's been another wonderful day!  We've left tonite for you to discover one of the great restaurants or musical pubs in "The City of Tribes"    Overnight/Galway (B)

Day 5
After breakfast we'll motorcoach to the fascinating natural area of limestone hills known asf The Burren, where our special guide will interpret its unique natural features and flora for us. Then we're off to see one of the most impressive geologic wonders of Ireland, the 600-foot-high Cliffs of Moher, where, looking west, the next thing Irish is the city of Boston. We'll lunch near Lahinch, take the ferry across the Shannon River and stop to visit the prize-winning, diminutive, one-acre Boyce's Garden. We'll see their famous topiary garden and greenhouse. Then we're off to dinner and overnight at our centrally-located, 4-star hotel.

O/N  Killarney (B,D)

Day 6
Finishing breakfast, we'll visit the closeby 18th C.Muckross House and Gardens, set among the woods and lakes of Killarney, with it's famous rockery and sunken garden. We'll then coach around the beautiful

Ring of Kerry and stop for a special High Tea at venerable Parknasilla, with it's great ambience and gardens. Finishing our journey around the Ring of Kerry, we'll return to our great Killarney hotel (B,L)

Day 7
After our breakfast we'll travel to the magical, 17th C. woodland garden, Derreen; home to the largest Cryptomeria japonica in the world, as well as their world-famous tree ferns, Dicksonia antarctica. We can thank the warming influence of the Gulf Stream for their abundance. We'll lunch at a nearby old pub, and take a short, gentle 20-min boat ride to Ilnacullin, a world-class garden set in a spectacular setting. We'll marvel at the many prolific exotic specimens from all over the world, made possible by the moderating Gulf Stream. And, we'll have time to enjoy the historic Martello Tower, standing as a sentinel, hoping to prevent invasion during the Napoleonic Wars. We'll enjoy seeing the sun-basking seals on our short return boat trip, then coach back near Cork City where we'll have dinner and overnight in our lovely, 4-star hotel. O/N near Cork (B, D)

Day 8
"If you planted a nail here, in three weeks you'd have a crowbar" says Mrs. Christine Fehily of the two-acre garden called Amergen, that's she created over the last two decades. We'll walk through a sea of bluebells as we enjoy her cleverly designed, small, private garden. We'll have lunch near Blarney Castle and Gardens

where we'll also have a visit, and then off to Fota Arboretum and Gardens, with it's unique fernery, Orangerie, Italian garden, lake, walled garden, monocot beds, and 160 varieties of Irish–bred daffodils. But Fota is nothing if not a tree-lovers garden with it's rare and exotic specimens; Canary Island Date Palms, Camphor tree, and Magnolia grandifloras.  Tonight, as a special treat we'll have dinner together at a wonderful little restaurant we know in Kinsale, the Gourmet Capital of Ireland.  Then, back to our hotel.

What a day this has been!       Overnight/Cork (B, D)

Day 9
Let's finish our breakfast and we're off to enjoy a personally- guided visit to Brian Cross' famous garden at Lakemount with it's impressionistic perennial beds.  You'll understand why it's little wonder that Brian's garden is featured in all of the gardening magazines throughout the world. We'll plan to lunch enroute.  On the way to Waterford, if time allows, we'll visit the spectacularly situated, 12th C., Lismore Castle and Gardens, once owned by Sir Walter Raleigh, with one of the oldest walled gardens in Ireland. We'll walk the c. 1620 covered bridge to the unusual accordion-shaped greenhouses and see the many sculptures that are scattered throughout this fascinating garden. We'll visit the world-famous Waterford Crystal Factory, where we can view the artisans work their magic in glass. We'll enjoy dinner and overnight near Waterford at our special, 18th C., restored mansion/hotel.            Overnite/ near Waterford (B,D)

Day 10
After a special breakfast we'll coach to the huge garden of Ambrose Congreve at Mount Congreve. It's been created by Mr. Congreve over the last eight decades of his life with the help of his twenty-five full-time gardeners; more than the Queen of England employs at any of her palaces! Extensive greenhouses greet us with an abundance of rare fuchsias, orchids, bromeliads, cyclamen, begonias, clivia, datura, streptocarpus, regal pelargoniums, hibiscus, and other exotic plants too numerous to mention. Reputed to be the world's largest plant collection, he has 3500 species of rhododendron, 650 of camellia, 350 cultivars of Japanese maple, tree peonies, and the list goes on! The garden is filled with fine stonework, the handiwork of one man's labor for over 40 years. This garden is a true Irish treasure. On our way back to Dublin we'll visit the National Stud Farms with its racehorses, mares and foals, and take a guided tour of the lovely Japanese Garden, pausing to appreciate its symbolism and meaning. Then we're off to Dublin and dinner and overnight at our 4-star, historic hotel. O/N Dublin  (B,D)

Day 11
After breakfast in Dublin we'll take a short ride to visit the National Botanic Gardens of Ireland at Glasnevin, founded in 1795, with it's wonderful glass houses and giant water lilies from the Amazon. Lastly, we'll visit the well-known, private city garden of gardening television host, Helen Dillon, one of the best in all of Ireland. We'll return to our hotel where we'll have some free time this afternoon to shop, sleep, organize, or just recollect our thoughts of these most beautiful of Ireland's gardens. We've seen nearly 20 different gardens, and visited over a dozen separate sites for the non-gardener.   Wow!

Tonight we'll celebrate with an Irish evening of dinner, trad music and dancing. Back to our hotel for a celebratory dinner and overnight in Dublin.  (B,D)

Day 12
After breakfast, you'll get back to the Dublin Airport for your return home, or…
you may choose to optionally extend your stay and see more of this 1000-year-old Viking City.

                                                                                       Rev. 11/13/05

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