A Summer Gardens Tour of idyllic English country gardens with a stop over for a traditional lunch in a typical pub.

Summer Gardens Tour

9:30am – Pick up from Oxford Tourist Office

10:00 Arrive at Shotover House
A house and garden made in 1718 for a friend of two famous empiricists, John Locke and Robert Boyle. The design is French-influenced, with a straight canal. But it has the earliest example of a Gothic revival folly and an octagonal temple designed by William Kent in the 1730s.

12:00 The Perch Inn for a traditional British lunch
The Perch is one of Oxford’s oldest pubs. Situated near the Isis (Oxford’s stretch of the Thames) and Port Meadow, a historic common stretching from Jericho to Wolvercote.
In the summer, our garden is the envy of the whole city, and our 17th century plaster-rubble building with its traditional thatched roof will charm even the most seasoned pub-goers.
They have a magnificent and ever-changing selection of ales, ciders, and perrys.

2:00 Arrive at Buscot Park
An eighteenth century house (1780) with a twentieth century garden. The garden is a prime example of the Italian mode of the Arts and Crafts style, designed by Harold Peto in 1912. It has a canal which steps down the slope through the woods, edged by hedges, urns and statues. The kitchen garden is now planted with flowers, to a design by Peter Coats, with hornbeam tunnels.

4:30 Enjoy a cream tea in the Tea Room
A colourful tearoom decorated in the 1990’s with murals by Ellen-Ann Hopkins

5:30 – Drive back to Oxford