Chelsea Flower Show

Aaaack!! Thank you for posting! I nearly had heart failure but all is well, lol.

I've got a Road Scholar trip booked for Gardens and the Royal Flower Show for May 2022. The tour dates will work out fine, they've got us going on Thursday May 27.

Your post inspired me though...to start my googledocs itinerary for that trip and start thinking about what I'll do ahead of the tour. I have had a little thought process going on behind the scenes regarding returning to Keukenhof before this trip and maybe a few weeks in Paris plus time in London beforehand. It looks like Easter is April 17 in 2022 so will want to avoid the time around that at Keukenhof.

Have you all thought about what else you all will do?

Pam, sorry to give you a fright. Our trip depends on what SIL wants to do and IF she wants to go. My two thoughts for us: London, Paris, Nice, Milan, Venice OR London, Paris, Munich, Innsbruck, Salzburg, Vienna. She and I haven't seriously talked about taking another trip together. Since I did most of the planning last time, I found it easier to lay out an itinerary, then give her choices about what to do. The flower show is for her not me. I have horse related things slotted in for me. If she doesn't want to go, I'll go solo either starting in May or September: London, Paris, RS Noire Valley tour, overnight in Milan on way to Venice. Covid may push things out to 2023.

horsewoofie, we're thinking Loire Valley tour in 2022, as well. I know that's a long way off, but let's keep in touch. It'll probably be in the spring; fall is political season, and I'd have to drug my husband and drag him onto the plane to go in the fall.

You will both love the RS Loire Valley tour - there is a lot of variety on that one with the visit to Guedelon, the Chateaux, the DDay landing area and the Bayeux Tapestry plus the finish in Giverny. I KNOW you'll do this so saying it for lurkers, but you'll need extra time in Paris either before or after.

Any of your proposed add-ons sound good! Either with SIL or not!

For yourself, while in Paris you might want to plan a day to do a day trip to Chantilly as there are horse things there. I did not visit them, just did the chateau there but I believe there is a museum in addition to the race track.

It's so nice even to be thinking about travel....

Jane, that sounds lovely. Definitely keep in touch. I'm a warm weather person (there's a reason we live in AZ) so I'm thinking late spring or early fall. But at this point just being able to take the tour and travel to all I want to see will be such a treat. I'll be talking to SIL later this year about traveling, so will know what to plan then. After the election this year and he-who-will-not-be-named forgetting to put his big boy pants on, is your husband sure he doesn't want to sit out the mid-terms on the French Riviera?

Pam, I think you're talking about RS Paris and the Heart of France. I added that tour into SIL's itinerary if she wants. I only plan to do the Loire Valley tour if I go solo unless she want to change the itinerary to include it. Everything is wishful thinking at this point. But it's so much fun to plan, a positive step forward out of this covid infested world. I'll definitely take a look at Chantilly; thanks for the suggestion.

Horsewoofie, the 2020 results have only encouraged him.

Pam, you are definitely right about going early. We always do, and are always glad. In 2019 we did back-to-back Paris and the Heart of France, followed by Best of Eastern France. We went about 3 days early for the first one, then as soon as it ended up back in Paris we hit the TGV for Reims, where we spent a couple of lovely days before the Eastern France tour started.

For the Loire Valley tour, we'll probably try to spend several days in Chartres before the tour begins. We've never been there. And there's no such thing as too much time in Paris!

Pam, I started to PM you but thought that someone else can learn from your answer too. All the fantasy itineraries have 6 or 7 days in Paris, after 6 to 8 days in London. I slotted in a day trip to Versailles and a day trip to Fountainebleu. Chantilly looks wonderful and just got added as a “must see”. Would changing our day in Versailles be better than changing Fountainebleu? I saw Versailles 50+ years ago and am thinking that both Chantilly and Fountainebleu will be less crowded and not swarmed with as many tourists. I’m focusing on gardens for SIL and castles for me among the usual museums.
Thanks!
Kathy

I don't know where my mind is...I somehow always think of what Rick calls the Loire Valley tour as the "Southern France" tour, lol. Yikes. I need to get my brain back in tour mode, lol!! I DO see what both of you are talking about now!

And Jane, I should have remembered you all did the Heart of France and Eastern France tours previously!

Kathy, that plan looks excellent. I've not been to Fountainebleu so no advice on that. Versailles is SO crowded. The "gardens" there are more formal than I personally like. I do like it once you get out to the Trianons and the Hamlet away from the crowd in the building. The day I went to Chantilly - must have been a Fall visit - there was literally no one there. Perhaps a few people in each room. The library is small but filled with amazing stuff and that seemed to be the most crowded but it's because it's at the beginning of the tour and people kind of get jammed in there. Still, NOTHING like the shoulder to shoulder of Versailles. Friend Darcy and I took a cab from the station, then as we were exiting the Chateau in mid-afternoon the bus to the train station was just pulling up so on we jumped.

There are some cute little pocket gardens in Paris as well, particularly if you are there in the spring.

Yep! I am holding 2 of those Chelsea Flower Show tix myself right now! May plans canceled, hesitant to book hotels or flight for Sept....if we can't get in to the Country...then what??? Sad...😢

lindy's link looks more like a voucher code - or maybe not - be careful about clicking on links which may seem great deals, especially on old threads.

did that post just get changed to add the link?

Nigel, I reported lindy’s post if you didn’t. First time poster on old thread with questionable link that I don’t think was there when first posted. Post not really related to flower show news key word “ceremony”.