Great Gardens & Country Estates of England

With Jason Reeves of the UT Garden Jackson and Troy Marden of Nashville Public Television’s Volunteer Gardener.

August 23 – September 2, 2017

Join Jason Reeves of the UT Garden Jackson and Troy Marden of NPT's Volunteer Gardener on this 9-night excursion to some of the most beautiful gardens England has to offer.

The Abbey House Garden

Beginning in Oxford we will work our way down through the Cotswolds and eventually around to East Sussex. Along the way, we will visit an astounding array of private and public gardens including Chatsworth House, Blenheim Palace, Rodmarton Manor, Througham Court, Great Dixter and Sissinghurst, to name but a few.

CLICK HERE to download the full itinerary

We will also be leading a short, 3-day, optional pre-tour to Yorkshire for this trip and we invite you all to consider joining us on it. That itinerary can be accessed if you CLICK HERE

Great Dixter

About Your Hosts

   Jason is the research horticulturist at the University of Tennessee Gardens located at the West Tennessee Research and Education Center in Jackson.  Jason’s colorful plant combinations & unique garden art, made by recycling everyday objects, draws several thousand people to the center’s annual lawn and garden show, Summer Celebration. He also enjoys speaking on all sorts of plant related topics, giving more than 25 talks a year. His past experiences include work at the Missouri Botanical Garden, Longwood Gardens in PA & in private gardens in New Zealand. In 2008 he began leading domestic and international garden tours & in 2010 he became a contributing editor to Fine Gardening magazine. Besides working in his own garden he enjoys throwing pottery and collecting antique watering cans, flower frogs, grinding stones and any old rusty garden related tools. Visit the WTREC web site at http://west.tennessee.edu/ornamentals to see some of his handy work.

Troy has spent 30 years designing gardens from his home state of Kansas to Florida, mostly in the Nashville, Tennessee area that he has called home for the past 24 years. For 17 seasons, he has co-hosted Nashville Public Television's hit gardening show, Volunteer Gardener, and his photography and writing have appeared in numerous gardening magazines, including Garden Design, Fine Gardening, Horticulture, and many others.  He has authored two gardening books, Plant This Instead! and The Southern Gardener's Handbook and contributed to several others either as an author or an editor. Troy's past work experiences include Callaway Gardens, Longwood Gardens and the job that brought him to Nashville in 1993, Cheekwood Botanical Garden and Museum of Art. He is in high demand as a speaker and has traveled from coast to coast and to Canada speaking at a variety of garden-related events, from local Master Gardeners groups to international symposiums. In 1997, he made his first trip overseas and was officially bitten by the travel bug. Now, he invites like-minded travelers from around the country to join him as he explores gardens, art, food, and culture both at home and abroad through Troy B. Marden Travel. To keep up with where he's going next and the opportunity to join him, follow his travel blog at http://troybmardentravel.blogspot.com/