We are excited to announce that we are hosting this trip to the Sir Harold Hillier Gardens in Hampshire, one of the UK’s most renowned and respected collections of trees and shrubs. As an added bonus, we will be treated to a tour of the gardens from one of the UK’s foremost horticulturists, Roy Lancaster CBE.

The Gardens were established in 1953 by Sir Harold Hillier, who aimed to bring together the most comprehensive collection of trees, shrubs and hardy plants he could. In 1977 Sir Harold left the garden under the sole trusteeship of Hampshire County Council, and in 1997 it was included by English Heritage on the Heritage Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest. The 180-acre site contains more than 42000 trees and shrubs from around 12,000 taxa. Our visit will coincide with the best displays in the ‘Valley of Fire’ where maples, liquidamber, cherry trees, sumacs and lindera should be at their best, setting the garden ablaze in shades of yellow red and orange.

Former Curator of the Gardens and lifetime GMG member, Roy Lancaster, should need little introduction. His accolades have included presenting on Gardener’s World, being part of the Gardeners' Question Time panel and, as well as his extensive freelance writing, Roy is one of the few horticulturists to hold both the Veitch Memorial Medal and the Victoria Medal of Honour. This unique opportunity to be shown around his ‘home turf’ by this legend of horticulture is an event not to be missed.

This visit, which is free, is for members only and places for the visit are limited to 30. Demand for this event is expected to be high so, to make sure you don’t miss out on this unique opportunity, please contact Mandy to reserve your place.

This visit is now fully booked, but there is a reserve list in place if you would like to add your name to it.