Gardens of the Hudson Valley 7945

Enjoy access to the airport Executive lounge before we depart from London to New York. On arrival, we will transfer to our hotel.

After breakfast, our first visit of the day is to Kykuit garden which was begun by the oil billionaire John D. Rockefeller and served as a Rockefeller family summer retreat from 1913 to 1991. Kykuit (pronounced ‘cake-8’) means ‘lookout’ in Dutch and it has fine views over the magnificent scenery of the Hudson Valley. Rockefeller commissioned Olmsted Brothers for the design but was not happy with their work and began laying out walks and doing his own planting. He then asked the landscape architect William Welles Bosworth to design formal gardens near the house and today the garden is a fine American example of the Mixed Style. A host of attractive features includes terraces, a semi-circular rose garden, fountains, a Japanese Garden and an Italian loggia. Here we enjoy the classic estate tour.This afternoon,  we visit Untermyer Gardens. In 1899 Samuel Untermyer purchased Greystone, the former estate of Samuel Tilden. In the forty-one years Untermyer owned Greystone, he transformed the gardens and greenhouses into some of the most celebrated gardens in America. Upon his death, the gardens were left until a core part were acquired by the City of Yonkers in 1946. The gardens are now managed by the Untermyer Gardens Conservancy, a non-profit making organisiation. The Indo-Persian Walled Garden is divided into quadrants by waterways and bordered by crenellated walls anchored by octagonal towers; the Vista was modelled on a similar series of descending stairs at the Villa D’Este in Italy and here they cascade towards the Hudson River. We have a private tour of the gardens included. Please note sturdy footwear should be worn.

This morning following breakfast, we visit Stonecrop. At just 12 acres, it might seem at first like a little gem, but it’s really a vault full of jewels. Surrounding a country manor house built in 1958 by Anne and Frank Cabot and now owned by a non-profit corporation, are thickets of blooms: Salvia uliginosa, Ruta graveolens, Tweedia caerulea and dozens more. Stonecrop changes dramatically as you walk from one area to the next. One minute you’re in a bamboo grove so thick you have to hold back the branches; the next, on a rocky ledge amid tiny alpine blossoms of brilliant red, purple and pink. Further highlights include the “inner sanctum” in a lattice design, filled with shrubs, grasses and roses, and a whimsical pavilion, covered in clematis. Look out for the obese burlap scarecrow that watches over the vegetable garden – nicknamed Gertrude Jekyll! A guided tour is included here.Our final visit of the day is to Locust Grove Estate first purchased in 1895 by William and Martha Young, they soon began adding onto the property, purchasing adjoining plots of land along the river and building carriage roads. This tradition of expanding the estate’s footprint has continued into present day, and now Locust Grove has nearly 200 acres of grounds and formal gardens, including a historically accurate cutting garden and a kitchen garden for fruits and vegetables. Here we enjoy a tour of the house and gardens.

This morning after breakfast we depart for our first visit of the day which is Vanderbilt Mansion where we have a guided tour included. One of several homes owned by the renowned Frederick William Vanderbilt, the 54-room mansion was constructed in the late 19th century and is an example of Beaux-Arts architecture style. Here we embark on a tour of the mansion exploring 18 rooms across three floors which are reflective of the American Renaissance style. Situated overlooking the Hudson River, the surrounding grounds include manicured lawns, formal gardens and woodlands.Next, we have a treat in store as we visit the Culinary Institute of America’s campus in Hyde Park, NY, the world’s premier culinary college where we will enjoy a tour followed but lunch in one of the restaurants onsite.After lunch, we visit Bellefield which was designed in 1912 by Beatrix Farrand, a renowned landscape architect who pioneered the concept of “garden rooms” with their own feel. Bellefield has three such garden rooms, which stretch from the house’s terrace to an arched doorway, with a velvety green lawn down the middle that narrows twice, elongating the space. In the walls along the way, Farrand placed two more arched oak doors, with black Arts and Crafts-style hardware. The mixed borders are a colour themed mass of lilies, phlox, cleome, snakeroot, monkshead in shades of pink, white, mauve and purple, with lighter shades of cream, grey and white as the garden narrows.

This morning we depart for our first visit at Blithewood Garden, a classic example of a walled Italianate Garden. Perched on a slopping bluff above the Hudson River, Blithewood Gardens sprawls over a 45-acre section of the Bard College campus with the awe-inspiring Catskills mountains as its backdrop. Here we enjoy a tour of the gardens.Later, we return to the hotel where the afternoon is at your leisure.

This morning following breakfast, we visit Innisfree Garden for a tour. This sprawling 165-acre garden designed by the landscape artist Lester Collins. The garden also received contributions from Lester’s teacher Walter Beck and the gardener / heiress Marion Burt-Beck. The garden combines mid-century modernist and romantic principle with traditional Chinese and Japan garden design and include rock, water, and wood features.We then visit Wildflower Island a two-acre island refuge home to more than 250 species of wildflowers, trees, ferns, and grasses. A visit in the summer offers the chance to enjoy the ever-changing kaleidoscope of colourful blooms and rich natural aromas. A tour is included.

After breakfast this morning we visit Lyndhurst a Gothic Revival home originally designed by the America architect Alexander Jackson Davis in 1838. Despite the house’s imposing size and looming towers, there is a real family home feel to the estate. The house is home to an extraordinary collection of both American and European artwork. During the mis 19th-century the Master Gardener Ferdinand Mangold revitalized the parklands bringing the latest trends from European royal estate to Lyndhurst. Mangold institutes many of the trees and features we see today. We can take some time to wander through the grounds and discover some of the sculptures and marble structures that have been meticulously restored in recent years. Here, we enjoy the Classic Mansion tour.Later, we return to the hotel where the afternoon is at your leisure.

Today we visit the gardens of Wave Hill in the Bronx which enjoys fabulous views over the River Hudson. In 1903 George W Perkins bought the estate and developed it to enhance its magnificent vistas, planting rare shrubs and trees to harmonize with the wider landscape. After a period of decline in the 1960s the garden was transformed into a vibrant horticultural experience, with a flower garden filled with many unusual plants at its heart. There is also a herb garden, an aquatic garden, dry and wild gardens, an alpine house and conservatory, but it is the view over the river that may provide the lasting memory of our time here in New York and the Hudson Valley.We will then head to the the New York Botanical Garden for a guided tour. Established in 1891, the 250-acre garden, the largest in any city in the USA, is a National Historic Landmark and comprises of 50 speciality gardens and collections which are home to over one million plants. We enjoy a guided tour which may include the Peggy Rockefeller Rose Garden, the Native Plant Garden, which celebrate the diversity of plant life to be found in northeast America, and the 30,000 distinguished trees some of which are over 200-year-old.We later transfer to the airport for our return overnight flight to London.

We arrive in London.