Scotland & Northumberland with Juniper Level Botanic Garden Tour
MAY 18–27, 2027
Price: $10,800 (Double Occupancy)
Join fellow plant lovers and Juniper Level Botanic Garden Supporters on a one-of-a-kind journey through Scotland and Northumberland. This 10-day journey will take you through historic formal gardens and estates, wild rugged natural landscapes, and even a garden filled with over 100 toxic plants!
This custom trip was designed exclusively for Juniper Level Botanic Garden’s travel program. By traveling with Juniper Level Botanic Garden, you help generate operational income to preserve, maintain, and build upon Juniper Level Botanic Garden’s plant research, conservation, breeding, and garden operations.
What You’ll Love About This Trip
Gardens With a Plot Twist
Wander Alnwick Garden’s Bamboo Labyrinth and Poison Garden, then have a cup of Earl Grey at Howick Hall, home of the Earls Grey. The trip ends at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, which began in 1670 as a physic garden.
Walled Gardens and Grand Estates
Floors Castle’s 4-acre walled garden holds one of the finest Victorian kitchen gardens in Scotland, near the summer house where Queen Victoria stopped for tea in 1867. Dumfries House adds a five-acre Walled Garden, restored from a derelict site and reopened by Queen Elizabeth II in 2014.
Puffins, Gannets, and Seals Up Close
Sail to Bass Rock, home to the world’s largest single-rock colony of northern gannets, then cruise Coquet Island, where more than 40,000 seabirds nest each summer. Grey seals often rest on the rocks just meters from the boat.
Castles, Coastlines, and a Tidal Island
Explore Alnwick, Warkworth, and Bamburgh castles, which have guarded the Northumberland coast for centuries. Then cross the causeway to Lindisfarne, a tidal island cut off twice a day, to walk among the ruins of its 12th-century priory.
A Night in a Lighthouse
Corsewall Lighthouse Hotel perches on a rocky coast near Stranraer, and every room is different. One evening, a local astronomy expert leads a stargazing session under a sky with very little light pollution.
Spring in Galloway
Logan Botanic Garden’s Gulf Stream climate is almost subtropical, so plants that thrive here are rarely seen elsewhere in the UK. Meet Highland cows on a farmer-led tour, then walk the RSPB Wood of Cree, where bluebells and birdsong arrive in May.
Meet your Juniper Level Botanic Garden Host
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Patrick is a well-known fixture in the horticultural, taxonomic and conservation circles. For over 30 years, he has worked as a professional botanist, horticulturist, naturalist, biologist, and educator. His explorations of the globe have added hundreds of new species and cultivars to the horticultural world.
His transformation of the South Carolina Botanical Garden including the development of the natural heritage garden exhibits were formative in the development of the gardening style he has coined as “natural community gardening.” His horticultural research interests lie in the maintenance and generation of diversity using managed landscapes and the conservation of rare species both in their native habitats and in gardens.
He has also worked extensively in the introduction and evaluation of plants from the Chihuahuan desert ecoregion as landscape plants in the Southeast and Pacific Northwest. His range of experience has concentrated on botany, though he is also well-respected through his work in ichthyology, herpetology, and mammalogy. Patrick is perhaps best known as the Emmy Award-winning host, co-creator, and writer of the popular ETV nature program Expeditions with Patrick McMillan.
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Group transfers to/from the airport to the group hotel
Accommodations as listed in the itinerary, or similar
Tours as listed in the itinerary
All entrance fees to the sites mentioned in the program
Meals as mentioned in the program
Living like a Local- Travel with us and find out!
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International flights
Personal expenses such as laundry, beverages, phone calls, internet access
Travel insurance (recommended)
Food & beverage during stay, unless mentioned in the itinerary
Alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages
Personal expenses like phone calls, laundry, etc.
Gratuities for drivers and guides