The French Rose Garden

Join us for a five-day tour from Paris to the Loire in the company of rosarian Michael Marriott to celebrate the French rose

For 2022, our popular rose tour travels over the Channel to investigate the story of the French rose and enjoy some truly wonderful gardens and rose collections. Starting with a visit with the curator of Roseraie du Val-de-Marne in L’Haÿ-les-Roses, you’ll come to understand more about the vast array of French roses and the development of the roses we grow in our gardens today. You will also visit collections of wild roses; a specialist rose nursery producing beautiful new roses each year; a village overflowing with roses; a fairy-tale château where the discerning owner has surrounded her home with sumptuous roses; as well as some intimate private gardens where roses steal the show. This is an unmissable opportunity to stroll from rose to rose discussing the merits of under-planting, mulching, pruning, budding, training, and even ‘the name of the rose’ in the company of a great rose enthusiast and expert. We will stay one night at Hôtel

Les Pléiades, in the village of Barbizon, before travelling down to the Loire to Hôtel Le Choiseul in Amboise. Both hotels offer good food, local wines and convivial Gallic hospitality.

Michael Marriott has worked at David Austin Roses, designing and advising, for the past 30 years. He is an expert on all matters relating to roses, from the extensive range of cultivars and type to successful growing.

Château de Villandry.