Oh Carol, how lovely. But, Cambridsge botanics has a miserably neglected rose garden so I will have a think because there are much nicer fellows gardens in the colleges (and you are always welcome to come and visit my allotment). Nonetheless, Cambridge is a lovely town and worth a visit but gardenwise, I think you can do better than the botanics. Beth Chatto - well this is another garden I am familiar with but you will not be seeing many roses - gorgeous woodland and gravel gardens but roses, nada. However, if you are heading Eastwards, then Peter Beales at Attleborough is standoutand is in the same(ish) area as Bressingham (but again, grasses and perennials but not exactly roses. You absolutely have to take in Mottisfont though. Finally, Wisley, which does have a decent rose display, is absolutely fabulous, for just about the best in horticultural excellence. Are you planning on using public transport. Are you in a group? I will check in the yellow book (this is a list of local gardens open to the public and include some very grand gardens as well as entire villages, when a whole bunch of little private gardens are open on certain days). There are a couple of jewels near Cambridge (Docwras Manor springs to mind, in Shelford. Such a perfect time of year to visit the UK.

Haven't been to Boscobel but it's in my GPS. The Frederic Church house is in there also. Our usual haunts are Stratford Antique Center in Stratford, Antiques on the Farmington in Collinsville, and Collinsville Antique Center in New Hartford. We also like driving along the shoreline past Branford and there are several shops up that way too. We haven't been to the Elephants Trunk in a long time. We have been working on my downstairs apartment for over a year now and getting ready to move in there soon. And then we get to start upstairs and paint that apartment and then look for a new tenant.

Monica, I think you will have a great time! I will be working that weekend, so not able to join you, but hopefully someone else will. Even though you are from that place up north! As for a place to stay, we are lucky in that there are many nice hotels in the area. My parents like to stay at the Country Inn North right off I-71(it is close to my home)--they say it is always clean, quiet and comfortable, although the immediate neighborhood looks like it is on a downslide; I would feel safe there. I like to use Tripadvisor.com when searching for hotels because it has comments by other travelers. Then I go to Hotwire.com to get a good price! You might want to focus your search in the Worthington(Crosswoods/ Hutchinson Ave.)/ Polaris (north outerbelt) areas as there are many nice places there in good areas with easy access (10-15 minutes) to the sites you want to visit. I think that there are places close to the convention center/downtown also reasonable, nice, and close to the short north "arts & dining" district. Have fun--raee

When the owner was asked by another visitor if she would be open again next year, she grimaced about the amount of work but I have a feeling her gardens are that spectacular every year (and weed free). She said she bought the property across the road and was planning an apple orchard. I feel lucky to have gone this year. She recommended Christopher Lloyd's book on succession gardening. Danielle's sister's garden in Nashua used to be on Open Days several years ago although I visited when it was on the local garden tour to raise money for the symphony. She was at Danielle's when I visited. Said her garden had a lot of vole and rabbit damage this year so she has lost a lot of plants. She had already started downsizing her tropical collection she planted in pots and next year when her husband retires, they plan to do a lot of traveling. I don't think her garden will ever be open to the public again which is a shame because she gardens on a small suburban neighborhood lot with a steep backyard slope that's shady. No professional landscape designer but she did need some gardening help. Lucky you to have visited the Epsom garden 10 years ago so to know how much it has changed. Funny thing, I didn't notice the pollinators but I did notice how well the red in the red and cream sunflowers along the side of the garage marched the paint color. Comments were made that the dark red was a great back drop for all the colors. It was painted three years ago ... I wonder how the painters dealt with all the plants? Maybe it was fall.