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 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.

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.

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.

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 crisp, artfully designed interior make it one of the coast's most sought-after lunch venues.

Brassica in Beaminster is Simon's canteen when his wife is away, and why not? Their seasonally inspired menus are crafted from locally sourced ingredients, and it is a firm West Dorset favourite.

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 is arguably the best chef in the county. Her top-restaurant-level suppers bring guests back to G&T year on year.

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.

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.

Chesil Beach, the most striking section of the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site, is 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 guided by Fraser Christian, a professional forager, market gardener, fisherman, qualified chef and nutritionist, to help us explore the Chesil Beach.

After lunch at The Parlour, a foodie gem tucked away in a Bride Valley farmyard, we follow up the valley to visit a mellow old brick-walled garden by the source of the river. 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 gin-clear stream which glides through the garden.

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.

Jake Hobson has invited us to his exquisite and thoughtful Japanese garden, hidden in a Shaftesbury residential street. Afterwards, Jake will lead us to the HQ of fashionable and fabulously practical Niwaki tools, established by Jake right here in Dorset, and demonstrate their range of sharp, shiny stuff from Japan. From hori hori to secateurs, they have tools for every conceivable garden job, all beautifully made by Japanese craftsmen.

Next we head to the ancient town of Sherborne, where a delicious lunch at The Green is followed by a visit to the famous Abbey, a jewel of late mediaeval England. 

We return to the Rectory via Cerne Abbas, and its famous giant.

Devon’s Blackdown Hills form one of the most beautiful landscapes in the West Country, where a stunning garden, surrounding medieval South Wood Farm, was first conceived by Professor Clive Potter, with the designer Arne Maynard helping him bring it all 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 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. 

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.