The Garden Tourist’ Coastal New England Tour

Featuring Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens, Bedrock Gardens, Celia Thaxter’s Garden, Strawbery Banke and more!

Wednesday, July 26–Friday, July 28, 2023

Itinerary

This tour will focus on some of New England’s most beautiful coastal gardens, from the historic gardens in Portsmouth, to Celia Thaxter’s island garden, the imaginative Bedrock Gardens and the renowned Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens. Our evenings will be spent in the charming towns of Portsmouth, Boothbay Harbor and Newburyport.

DAY 1: We depart Framingham and head to the 30-acre Bedrock Gardens in Lee, NH. Bedrock Gardens began as the private garden of sculptor and horticulturist Jill Nooney and her husband Bob Munger. We will enjoy a tour with director John Forti through the series of imaginative gardens highlighted with Jill’s whimsical sculptures, followed by a box lunch.

From there we will head to the historic city of Portsmouth, NH, which will serve as our home base for the trip. Our afternoon will include a tour of the Moffatt- Ladd House and Garden, dating from the Colonial era. The home is beautifully decorated with rich carvings, hand-blocked wallpapers and period furniture. The lovely terraced gardens feature old-fashioned perennials and arbors smothered in roses.

From there we walk to Strawbery Banke, a living history museum that preserves the people, buildings, and gardens in Portsmouth’s 400-year-old South End neighborhood. Our guided tour will focus on Portsmouth’s history and 3 period gardens. We then check in at the AC Hotel by Marriott Portsmouth, which is situated within walking distance of many restaurants, gift shops and cultural destinations. The evening will be on our own for dinner, shopping and sightseeing in beautiful Portsmouth.

DAY 2: Our second day will be spent at the gorgeous Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens, which has been ranked as one of the best public gardens in the US. Located on 325 acres in Boothbay, ME, Coastal Maine features diverse natural ecosystems, dramatic topography, and innovative plantings. Some of the themed gardens include a Five-Senses Garden, delightful Children’s Garden, rhododendron garden, a woodland meditation garden, kitchen garden, and butterfly house. We will also get to experience the Guardians of the Seeds exhibit of mammoth wood troll sculptures hidden throughout the woods. We will enjoy a guided tour by Head of Horticulture Andy Brand, lunch in the cafe, and plenty of time to explore the acres of beautiful plantings on our own.

We will depart the garden at 4:00 pm, with time to sightsee and dine in charming Boothbay Harbor.

DAY 3: We will spend the day visiting Celia Thaxter’s Garden on scenic Appledore Island. Celia Laighton Thaxter was a notable 19th-century writer who summered on Appledore Island in
the Isles of Shoals. The garden she created there was the site of an informal summer “salon,” where she hosted her friends Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Sarah Orne Jewett, William Morris Hunt, Childe Hassam and others. Appledore functioned as a retreat for New England artists from the middle of the 1870s until Thaxter’s death in 1894. Today the island is the site of the Shoals Marine Laboratory, hosting college students from Cornell and University of New Hampshire. The trip includes boat transportation, a walking tour of the island and Celia’s garden, and a gourmet buffet lunch. *Please see important note about accessibility. If interested, read Celia Thaxter’s An Island Garden so that we can have a book discussion during our trip.

We will end the day with time on our own to explore Newburyport, MA followed by dinner at Michael’s Harborside on the waterfront, and return to Framingham about 9:00 pm.

Includes: 

• Small group tour with author Jana Milbocker and Friendship Tours

• 3 days, 2 nights, luxury air-conditioned coach

• 2 nights at AC Hotel by Marriott Portsmouth

• 5 magnificent gardens and historic estates

• 2 breakfasts, 2 lunches, 1 dinner

• Hotel and restaurant gratuities

• Sightseeing and admissions per itinerary

• Limited to 30 travelers