Horses, Houses and Gardens in East Anglia

We begin at the National Stud in Newmarket, a town synonymous with horse racing, which is a showcase for British Thoroughbred breeding.  In addition, we also have the option to watch the horses ride out on ‘the Gallops’ before our focus changes somewhat. 

Helmingham Hall has a classic parterre, a stunning walled kitchen garden, a knot garden created in 1982 and a deer park set around a Tudor moated hall.  The formal gardens surrounding the Elizabethan manor house, Wyken Hall, are crammed with topiary, herbs, roses, box and fruit trees.  Chippenham Park is a large country house with substantial gardens, lakes and parkland dating back to the 17th century.  Gayton Hall has a 20-acre water garden with lawns, woodland, lakes and streams, traditional waterside borders and magnificent rambling roses.  Former residence of Sir Robert Walpole, Houghton Hall, has magnificent early 18th-century interiors by William Kent, an Italian garden, and a restored 5-acre kitchen garden set out in a series of ornamental gardens.  Surrounded by parkland, the fine Lexham Hall has a formal garden with terraces, a traditional kitchen garden and a three-acre woodland garden.  Last but not least, the grand Holkham Hall, designed by Kent, has exquisite interiors including the opulent Marble Hall and state rooms, and a sweeping landscaped deer park – a fitting conclusion to a fascinating journey.

Day 1: Monday, 11th June

Newmarket

Early afternoon meet Antonia Lloyd Owen at Cambridge railway station.  Transfer by private coach to Newmarket.  Or arrive at the Jockey Club Rooms in Newmarket and parking under own arrangements.  Check in at the Jockey Club Rooms which have been at the heart of British horseracing for over 250 years and where two nights are spent.  As a private members club few people have ever had the privilege of stepping inside its ‘hallowed’ walls and seeing the magnificent interiors, which house a unparalleled collection of British sporting art and racing memorabilia.

Leave by coach to visit the National Stud, the showcase for British Thoroughbred breeding.  Its facilities include accommodation for eight stallions and up to 200 mares in nine separate yards.  Return to the Jockey Club Rooms.  Pre-dinner drinks in the Morning Room and tour of the art collection followed by dinner in the dining room.

Day 2: Tuesday, 12th June

Newmarket

Depart by coach for a guided visit of ‘the Gallops’ (optional).  Return for breakfast at the Jockey Club Rooms.  Leave by coach to visit Helmingham Hall Gardens with Lady Tollemache.  The Tollemache family built the spectacular moated Hall at the beginning of the 16th century and it is surrounded by a beautiful Red deer park.  The Grade 1 Listed Gardens include a classic parterre flanked by hybrid musk roses, a stunning walled kitchen garden with exquisite herbaceous borders and beds of vegetables, a herd and knot garden and a rose garden.

Lunch at The Leaping Hare, Wyken Hall.  Visit the gardens of Wyken Hall by kind arrangement with Sir Kenneth and Lady Carlisle.  The formal gardens which surround the Elizabethan manor house are crammed with yew hedges, topiary, herbs, roses, box and fruit trees with meandering peacocks, guinea fowl and chickens.  Return to the Jockey Club Rooms for dinner.

Day 3: Wednesday, 13th June

Newmarket / Burnham Market

Leave by coach (with luggage) to visit Chippenham Park gardens by kind arrangement with Mr and Mrs Eustace Crawley (subject to confirmation).  Chippenham Park is a Grade II listed private country house dating back to the 17th century, set in 300 acres of private parkland with substantial gardens, lakes, woodland walks.

Lunch at Gayton Hall in Kings Lynn by kind arrangement with Earl and Countess Romney.  Visit Gayton Hall water gardens which are 20 acres in size, with over 2 miles of paths, lawns, woodland, lakes, streams and bridges.  The gardens contain many unusual trees and shrubs, traditional and waterside borders, and magnificent rambling roses.  Continue to the Hoste Arms Hotel where two nights are spent.  The seventeenth-century coaching inn is situated on the village green in Burnham Market and has a cosy front bar, a panelled dining room, light-filled conservatory and pretty walled garden.  Dinner at the hotel.

Day 4: Thursday, 14th June

Burnham Market

Leave by coach to visit privately Houghton Hall and Gardens by kind arrangement with the Marquess of Cholmondeley.  The Hall was the residence of Great Britain’s first Prime Minister, Sir Robert Walpole and has magnificent interiors designed by William Kent in the early 18th century.  Houghton Hall is surrounded by a magnificent deer park and the 5-acre walled garden has recently been restored by Lord Cholmondeley as a memorial to his grandmother.  An area for productive kitchen garden has been retained and the large part of the garden has been laid out as a series of ‘ornamental gardens’ in various styles.

Lunch at The Crown, East Rudham.  Continue to visit privately Lexham Hall gardens by kind arrangement with Mr and Mrs Neil Foster, followed by tea.  The grounds of the Hall comprise 18th- and 19th-century parkland and a lake which was restored in the late-20th century.  The gardens themselves have a formal layout with terracing, yew hedges, roses and mixed borders.  There is also a walled kitchen garden and a 3-acre woodland garden featuring a range of azaleas and rhododendrons.  Return to the hotel before setting off by coach for dinner at the Michelin Star restaurant at Morston Hall Hotel.

Day 5: Friday, 15th June

Burnham Market / Cambridge

Leave by coach (with luggage) to visit privately Holkham Hall by kind arrangement with Viscount Coke.  The Palladian style Hall was designed by Thomas Kent and was built between 1734 and 1764 by Thomas Coke, the first Earl of Leicester.  The sweeping Park that surrounds the Hall is home to a large herd of Fallow deer and a small herd of Red deer.  Continue to visit the 6½ acres of walled gardens which are in the process of being restored, according to the original design by Samuel Wyatt in the late 1700s, in eight sections, known as ‘rooms’, with walls acting as windbreaks and reflecting the sun to create a gentle microclimate.

Lunch in the Hotel Victoria, Holkham Village.  Continue to Kings Lynn to take the train to Cambridge and onwards to London (under own arrangements).