The gardens of Normandy are superb and astonishingly varied in style and design. They range from perhaps the most enchanting 17th century formal garden in France through to some of the very best contemporary planting and plantsmanship in Europe. In the early autumn they are at their finest.

For this five-day tour, we stay in a very comfortable five-star hotel in a former 15th and 16th century nobleman’s house in the centre of Rouen, which, with its many restaurants and magnificent cathedral makes the perfect base to visit gardens spread across the region from Dieppe to Bayeux. The hotel has a spa with the largest indoor swimming pool in Normandy.