Hi kinloch,

i live in cornwall where a number of gardens which are famous for their rhododendrons are situated: Trelissik, Lanhydrock, Glendurgan, Trengwainton [all National Trust] Trebah, Lost Gardens of Heligan, Trewidden, Trewithen, Carhaeys Castle -

are those the ones you were thinking of?

obviously we've never done a tour of the sort you describe, but i had a look on the net, and there are a number of firms that offer the sort of thing that you are talknig about - these ones particularly appealed to me, but I've no idea what they are like:

http://www.cornwallgardentours.co.uk/garden-tours.html

and these:

http://www.cornwalltour.com/GT2.htm

and these:

http://www.tourcornwall.com/

One of the reasons I go to the UK every year is for the gardens. If you aren't averse to driving I've found the only sure fire means of getting just what you want is to hire a car and drive yourself. You are then also able to visit "the places in between". The ultimate custom tour.

Please clarify - are you specifically talking about a trip to Scotland, or just to Rhoddy gardens somewhere in the UK?

jj - i read it as if the OP had seen Scotland and wanted to go somewhere different, but reading it again, it fits your reading as well.

perhaps the OP will come back and tell us!

I have heard that Boxwood Tours run good garden visits in the UK and abroad.

www.boxwoodtours.co.uk

Hi Everyone, Thanks for being so quick to reply. I have a soft spot for Scotland and want to go back there again although I am sure there are great gardens other places part of my mission is to go back ...as they say "there's none so scots as the scots abroad". K

great - that's what I thought.

Checkout this site http://www.classic-scotland.com/special-interest-tours/scottish-garden-tours.html

Whatever tour you take, make sure it includes Crarae Gardens. The most amazing rhododendrons display I've ever seen.

The Botanic gardens in central Edinburgh has them - But then so does about every wide spot in the road, especially all over the west coast. .

Two more recs:-

Brodick Castle on the Isle of Arran
Culzean Catle in Ayrshire.

Crarae, Ardtornish, Arduaine, Ardchattan- frankly, just about anywhere on this list

http://www.gardens-of-argyll.co.uk/

I suspect Arduaine is the best of that lot.

Culzean in Ayrshire; Abriachan in Inverness-shire. Attadale.

In Argyll in the spring just about every hillside is covered with rhododendrons in bloom and azaleas too. Quite spectacular. The cultivated gardens are almost an anticlimax as a result. Go west young woman.

Oops, just made another of my assumptions, that you are a woman. How would I know?

Hello Mme, You are correct about the woman but no longer young!! Thank you for all the suggestions. I did decide to book a tour with a tour group. I am travelling with Adderley and I will review them after the trip. The trip covers a lot of the gardens I wanted to visit. I have one day after the trip is over. I will be staying on the west coast of Loch Lommond. Crarae, Benmore and Glenarm could be done I think if I had my own car or was able to hire a car and driver. I am wondering if I should see these gardens or possibly go on a hiking trail. I am a strong and active hiker and the idea of seeing the rhodos in wild as you suggested is intriguing. I have done a couple of searches but can't track down a list of trails. Do you have any to suggest? All my website searches end up with commercial sites and I don't want to hire a hiking company. Thanks for you very helpful input. Allyson

One way to find trails is to use www.streetmap.co.uk, the UK map site. For instance, I entered Loch Lomond in the search field (spelling counts) and was asked to specify, Argyll & Bute? Click on a choice and immediately you'll see a trail marked by purplish diamonds, the West Highland Way. You can choose a larger map, a larger or smaller scale where it says zoom, move the map by dragging it where you want to see more. Zooming out you'll eventually lose the trails, zooming in and you'll get ever more detail. These are the UK's OS (Ordnance Survey) maps and you can print them from this site or order them where UK maps are sold which I recommend once you know which you'll need. Or buy them when you're there. Google "west highland way" and you get websites like this one http://www.west-highland-way.co.uk/home.asp

I just used that as an example since you mentioned Loch Lomond. Look at maps of any location in the UK and you'll find paths marked. The long distance paths like this one will have field guides available for the walks, probably both for the entire route and shorter sections and circular walks. There is no end to the information available for walkers so you can plan ahead or wait until you're there to find suitable hikes for your purposes. The best place on the planet for this kind of activity because of the well marked trails, maps and resources of all kinds for walkers.

There's no "list of trails" in Britain because there are, as we understand the term in Britain, very few to list. You may be asking for something different from what it sounds like to a Briton

Practically all of rural Scotland has the Right to Roam: land owners can't prevent walks from accessing most land. In England, there's over 120,000 miles of legally enforced footpaths giving walker right of access across (mostly private) land, and a near infinite amount of similar paths where access has emerged through local customary usage. Few have names - and those that do are usually indistinguishable from paths that some local bureaucrat gets taxpayer funding to brand and employ himself promoting.

Go to http://www.getamap.ordnancesurveyleisure.co.uk/ then zoom to wherever you want to be. The green dotted line interspersed with diamonds is the definitive source of legal walker rights of way. A tiny proportion of these carry names: they're still the same invisible rights, rather than manufactured trails, as the unnamed ones. Landowners are required to maintain access, through stiles, gates and avoiding obstructions in exactly the same way on named paths as on unnamed ones, though some named paths have slightly clearer on-path waymarking.

Register (free) at the Ordnance Survey site and you get more functionality in terms of printing, storing and route planning. Just about every village in Britain has a wide range of "dozens of walks round here" booklets on sale or sometimes free helping you plan and guide yourself across open country.

In parts of Scotland (and other parts of the less cosy bits of Britain), this can sometimes be perilous if you don't prepare and equip yourself properly. Do read the warnings in these books.

I'm not aware of specific preplanned garden walking routes, though there's bound to be such a booklet produced locally or by an enthusiast group. It's a slightly specialised question this forum might not uncover expertise on. You might do better googling in English ("trail" is very rarely used and "hiking" is mildly pejorative in English) rather than American, or asking the question on Trip Advisor.

I am wondering if I should see these gardens or possibly go on a hiking trail. I am a strong and active hiker and the idea of seeing the rhodos in wild as you suggested is intriguing.>>

those wild rhodos are very likely all boring purple rhododendron ponticum and not very wonderful after the first mile or so. as for trails, what you are looking for are footpaths. the Ramblers' Association might be able to help.

http://www.ramblers.org.uk/scotland.aspx

"I have done a couple of searches but can't track down a list of trails. Do you have any to suggest? All my website searches end up with commercial sites and I don't want to hire a hiking company."

flanner's post mostly explains why you are having problems. 'Trail' just doesn't compute when talking about what you describe.

The most well known Scottish 'trails' are the 'Whisky' and 'Castle' -which are really just tourist areas w/lots of Whisky distilleries, and lots of castles respectively, and aren't 'trails' at all.

Plus what you are talking about really is walking - not 'hiking'. Named 'trails' would be things like The Cotswold Way, the Southwest Coast Path - things like that.

Mainly what you will find are public footpaths, and such. Find the gardens you are interested in -- and there will be walking routes to get to them.

< those wild rhodos are very likely all boring purple rhododendron ponticum and not very wonderful after the first mile or so. >

Horticulturally those purple rhodies may not be anything special but I loved to see them covering the glens. And the bluebells, which I particularly remember carpeting the hills west of Loch Lomond. Considering how far north Scotland is, it seemed quite marvellous to me -- not to speak of the palm trees at Inverewe and Plockton.

Horticulturally those purple rhodies may not be anything special but I loved to see them covering the glens. And the bluebells, which I particularly remember carpeting the hills west of Loch Lomond>>

Mimar - they may look pretty but those purple rhodies are thugs which strangle everything in their way, and in many places steps are being taken to get rid of them. this is an extract from the forestry commission website:

<<Although it possesses attractive flowers R. ponticum has few attributes that offset the negative impact it can have on an invaded site. It has been shown to reduce the numbers of earthworms, birds and plants and regenerative capacity of a site, leading to a reduction in the biodiversity of the area. Physical access to a site can be reduced by the density and size of mature bushes, and management costs then rise as the bushes need to be treated prior to other activities being carried out. Established bushes then act as a seed source for further invasions in adjacent areas, eradicating ground cover plants and interfering with the process of natural regeneration of trees.>>

Native bluebells, OTOH, are an absolute joy - but are themselves threatened by that dratted ponticum!

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