In a recent interview for G&T with The Financial Times, Jason spoke of the ‘enfolding secrecy’ of the region, ‘an extension of the very idea of a garden, a paradise, a refuge in a turbulent world.’ Dorset remains one of England’s hidden corners, and is the only county without a motorway.

Our Secret Garden Tour explores many gardens which are themselves hidden behind mellow walls, the grand and the small, gardens declamatory and gardens intimate, at a perfect moment in the year. It is a gardener’s garden tour, with a focus on design and plantsmanship.

The price of the tour includes your 6 night stay at The Old Rectory, Symondsbury, as well as delicious teas and dinners prepared by Caroline and Clare, with help from Dorset’s best cake baker, Haley. As usual we will be lunching at a variety of our favourite restaurants in this beautiful corner of south-west England. It’s all included.

Every journey we create leaves behind more than memories — it inspires home gardening, creates connections, and prompts returns. Hear how these experiences have impacted the lives of some of our amazing travellers.

We will be staying at Symondsbury Old Rectory, reserved exclusively for G&T guests. It is not a hotel, so the atmosphere is that of a country house week – and every bedroom is unique.

The Old Rectory is an early Georgian house with splendidly high ceilings and elegant sash windows, reputed to be the biggest rectory in England. It has a huge comfortable sitting room, a dining room and even a library games room with a pool table.

Recently renovated, the Old Rectory has 11 immaculate bedrooms, seven of them fully en suite doubles, and four further standard doubles (one a twin) sharing bathroom facilities with one other room. Rooms will be allotted in order of booking.

Simon and Jason take food seriously, and Dorset's fields, coasts and skies - not to mention a host of growers, farmers, fishers and cooks - make this one of England's top spots for fresh, seasonal, local food.

G&T guests enjoy amazing lunches, dinners and teas, every day.

The menu revolves around locally sourced ingredients, inspired by the environment and the beautiful Somerset countryside. Holm works with local farmers, growers, butchers and anyone who shares their love of exceptional ingredients, treated with care and respect.

The Acorn Inn in the beautiful village of Evershot - constantly in demand for remakes of Thomas Hardy movies - is a traditional local but also a sophisticated gastropub.

Set against the historic Parnham House, this restaurant emphasizes sustainability and ethical practices, making each meal a memorable occasion.

We will enjoy stunning coastal views over fresh, locally sourced ingredients from a seasonal menu, complemented by a specialized wine selection. The inviting atmosphere and artfully designed interior make it one of the coast's most sought-after tables.

Brassica Restaurant offers a delightful dining experience with seasonally inspired menus crafted from locally sourced ingredients. A welcoming atmosphere and exceptional service delivers creative dishes that celebrate the region's culinary heritage, making each visit memorable.

On our return home from the gardens, there’s always a fresh cake baked by Dorset’s best cake maker, a high accolade which goes to Hayley, Darcey’s mum. Victoria sponge, scones and cream, a towering coffee and walnut cake with just the right proportion of icing to cake… every day is a new revelation!

And then, after tea, after evening drinks, it’s time for dinner.

Need we say more?

Caroline and Claire are possibly the best chefs in the county. Their top-restaurant-level suppers bring guests back to G&T year on year.

Claire’s hugely successful vegetarian/vegan restaurant, f.east, recently moved to lovely new premises in Bridport. She uses the freshest seasonal herbs and vegetables, much of it picked daily from her own Dorset kitchen garden, to create delicious and colourful dishes which draw on influences from Asia, North Africa, South America and the Mediterranean.

Her style of cookery is light, delicious and always beautiful.

Caroline brilliantly conjures up delectable dinners, whether it’s lamb cutlets or delicate venison, mouth-watering medallions of pork, or elegant slices of beef; they are served with all the trimmings and fresh, seasonal vegetables.

For pudding, something sophisticated and fresh.

You are collected at Dorchester station, to arrive at Symondsbury Old Rectory in time for tea. We have time to unwind and enjoy the garden before dinner. 

Simon Tiffin and Jason Goodwin will set the scene with an introductory talk on the history and gardens of west Dorset.

This morning we head to a garden located in one of the most beautiful landscapes in the West Country, Devon’s Blackdown Hills.

The stunning garden, surrounding medieval South Wood Farm, was first conceived by Professor Clive Potter, with the designer Arne Maynard helping him bring the garden together into a cohesive design. The result, in its owner’s words, is ‘a garden that slowly melts into the landscape’, in perfect harmony with its surrounding landscape and the medieval building at its centre.

We will enjoy a splendid picnic lunch, prepared for us by our cooks Caroline and Claire, in the grounds at South Wood.

After lunch, a chance to explore the thirteen acre gardens at Burrow Farm, gradually created by John and Mary Benger since they came to the dairy farm in 1959, taking advantage of sweeping country views, an abandoned clay pit and their interest in unusual trees and shrubs. 

This morning we head to the sea – specifically to a striking section of the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site, the largest shingle ridge in the world. It’s a breathtaking spectacle, in one of Britain truly wild places, where the shingle is host to a dazzling wildflower display, including rock sea lavender, shrubby sea blite, sea beet and yellow horned poppy.

Here we’ll be joined by Fraser Christian, a professional forager, market gardener, fisherman, and qualified chef and nutritionist.

We will have lunch at the Seaside Boarding House, overlooking Chesil Beach.

In the afternoon our destination is another of the outstanding and rarely visited private gardens of Dorset: the Old Rectory at Litton Cheney. This four-acre hillside plot features a formal garden with a pleached crab tree border designed by Arne Maynard, over 350 rose bushes, a magnificent natural swimming pond, and a walled garden with a more relaxed style of planting.

After tea at the Manor, we’re thrilled to have Dorset’s renowned flower painter, Flora Roberts, give us a masterclass in botanical illustration. Inspired by historic textiles and paintings, Flora’s work features in murals, wallpaper and interior textiles, and is always informed by sensitive observation of the flowers in her own garden.

Dorset has a tradition of tiny, informal and productive cottage gardens, whose simple beauty inspired the Edwardian painter Helen Allingham. In just ⅓ of an acre at Corner Cottage, Sue and Colin Dyer maintain a perfect example, with their beautiful kitchen garden, and a small orchard, surrounded by deep flower and shrub borders.

Our morning visit extends to a mellow old brick-walled garden hidden deep in the Bride Valley. Here the largely perennial borders are arranged in ‘rooms’, laid out in a lovely tumble of naturalised planting down the south-facing slope, together with potager vegetable areas and a large lavender border. The sheltered garden is famous for a profusion of scented roses along the edge of the River Bride, a gin-clear stream which glides through the garden.

For lunch, we will head to the restaurant in the grounds of Parnham, one of England’s significant Elizabethan treasure houses. Parnham was tragically torched by its previous owner in a fit of jealous madness, and now stands as a magnificent ruin amid a deer park and stunning grounds, laid out in the 17th century by Britain’s first classical architect, Inigo Jones. Current owners James and Sophie Perkins will tell us about the history of this magnificent historic house, and their plans to restore this national treasure.

Buffy Sacher planned her garden on the slopes of the hillfort at South Eggardon to incorporate its sacred springs and the magnificent 2000 year old yew tree, 24’ round at its narrowest point.

With far-reaching views out over the Asker valley, threaded by chalk streams running to a landscaped lake, this is a stunning garden that takes full advantage of its ancient setting.

Lunch is at the award-winning Brassica in the peaceful little town of Beaminster.

Jim Bartos is a noted garden historian and formerly Chairman of the Gardens Trust. His exquisite gardens unfold around an old Dorset rectory with a magnificent interplay of exuberance and restraint.

A succession of garden rooms, including a wildflower meadow and a ’secret’ garden with Mediterranean planting, epitomises the nature of this tour, full of horticultural surprise. A short sharp walk up the hill behind the gardens reveals a view that overlooks three counties and Glastonbury Tor.

This morning we have an invitation to visit Little Benville, a thrilling contemporary garden with design features by Harris Bugg Studio, winners of the Gold and Best in Show at Chelsea in 2023, the go-to new kids on the horticultural block.

Set in a historic landscape – mentioned in Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the d’Urbevilles – Little Benville boasts magnificent herbaceous borders, woodland planting, a walled vegetable and cutting garden, cloud pruned topiary, a ha-ha, ornamental and productive trees and a moat which is a listed Ancient Monument.

Lunch is at the 16th century Acorn Inn, in the stunning and filmic village of Evershot.

In the afternoon we have an invitation to visit Wall, the remote and romantic home of artist Annie Roberts and her husband, Johnnie. This is the latest in a succession of beautiful gardens Annie has made, with her signature Rosa Rugosa hedging and deep herbaceous borders.

We return to Symondsbury for a valedictory dinner.

After breakfast, we leave Symondsbury Rectory, bidding a fond farewell to Dorset - perhaps, like so many G&T Gardeners, yet vowing to return!

Those travelling on by rail will be taken to meet the late morning train at Dorchester South.