Our Mission Statement
Cotswold Garden Tours has several objectives that we outline below. Centred around Ben’s love for plants and gardens, he and his team want you to benefit from all they have to offer. We aim to:
Introduce our guests to a diverse range of beautiful and well-designed gardens throughout the Cotswolds.
Bring together like-minded people with a common passion for gardening, plants, gardens, and nature generally.
Create a warm, welcoming and friendly environment that provides both enjoyment and escapism.
Encourage conversation, the chance to meet new people, explore wider grounds, and the opportunity to talk with the gardeners.
Meet our team
Our specialists are at the heart of Cotswold Garden Tours. The team has been specially carefully created to showcase a wide array of skills including horticultural knowledge and experience, teaching and education, the creative arts, and IT and technical support. But we all sjare a passion for people, plants, and interesting places. Read our individual profiles below to find out more about us:
Ben Knight
Founder, CEO, and Architect
After a three year apprenticeship as a gardener at Batsford Park for Lord Dulverton, Ben studied at RHS Wisley om the two year Diploma course.
From there he finished his training at Highgrove, before gaining promotion to Senior Gardener, heading up a team responsible for a series of gardens that included the Sundial, Old and New Cottage, the Buttress, The Islamic and walled kitchen gardens among others.
Following a four year stint in HM Armed Forces , as a Paratrooper, Ben became Head Gardener to a variety of high profile people including the Al Fayed family.
For the last seven years Ben has grown a garden design, consultancy and maintenance business into a highly respected organization.
Now, over the last few months Ben has established Cotswold Garden Tours, blending some of his favourite things, notably beautiful gardens, plants, hospitality and good food. He also hopes to pass on his knowledge to his enthusiastic guests.
In his spare time he enjoys reading and has a passion for history and sport.
Colin Flint
Design & Technical
After a successful twenty-five-year career in teaching Graphic Design in the Further Education sector, Colin decided to change career to Horticulture two years ago. Being a keen gardener for many years, he has since worked in a plant nursery environment, where his duties involved cutting, nurturing, and growing a broad range of mainly climbing plants such as Clematis, and supplying them to the horticulture trade.
Colin now works as a full-time gardener for a gardening company based in the Cotswolds and has the privilege of gardening in some beautiful and prestigious gardens. As well as maintaining and restoring gardens, he is becoming more involved in the planning, designing, and creating gardens as the company grows.
Here at Cotswold Garden Tours, Colin uses his skills and knowledge from his teaching years in a more technical and design capacity. He has a passion for anything plant and gardening-related and enjoys working in such a varying role.
Sharon Cole
Tour Assistant
Sharon studied for a BA Honours in French, German and Economics and after a brief period in industry, trained as a teacher, working both in the classroom and in an advisory capacity. She left her post as headteacher a few years ago and since then has been supporting a commercial Training company specialising in Continuous Improvement Practices.
Alongside her love of teaching and meeting new people, she has always been passionate about gardening and loves nothing more than donning a pair of wellies and getting outside. Having been used to tending a very small garden for many years, she recently moved and set about reconfiguring the house and turning a two-acre paddock, full of divots and brambles into something resembling a garden! Along the way planting a native hedge, developing a pond, building a raised vegetable garden and planting trees and perennial beds. She shares the space with four Burford Brown chickens who often join her to help with the weeding, usually creating more mess in the process, but are forgiven for their marvellous eggs!
Sharon has also organised some private garden tours for friends over recent years and she is now delighted to be working with Cotswold Garden Tours, sharing her love of beautiful gardens.
Cotswold Garden Tours – Standard Booking Terms & Conditions
Tour Price Includes:
Accommodation at 4 and 5-star hotels with en-suite facilities; breakfast daily; dinner and/or lunch and each day’s admissions to gardens in the itinerary; luxury coach travel with professional driver; guest speakers and guides as described in the information pack provided at the start of your tour; services of your Cotswold Tour Manager; all tour gratuities.
Tour Price Excludes:
Airfares; transfers (unless otherwise stated in the itinerary) passport fees where applicable; lunches and dinners (unless otherwise stated in the tour itinerary); beverages; laundry; telephone calls; souvenirs and items of a personal nature.
Payment:
Payment is due in two parts: The deposit secures your place on the tour at the time of booking. Final payment is required 120 days before the tour commencement date. Payments are non-transferable.
Covid-19 vaccination:
It is no longer mandatory to be vaccinated against COVID-19 before joining our tours.
Cancellation Policy:
Cancellation by the client: More than 120 days prior to departure – loss of deposit; between 119 days and 60 days – loss of 50% of tour cost; 59 days and less before departure – 100% cancellation penalty. All cancellations should be made in writing and emailed to Cotswold Garden Tours. A phone call is also a good idea. For this reason, purchasing cancellation insurance as part of your travel insurance policy at the time of booking is strongly recommended.
Cancellation by the company: Cotswold Garden Tours reserve the right to cancel your tour. In this event they will give a refund of all money paid up to 60 days before departure. In no case except for reasons of war, natural disasters, fire, civil disturbances, riots, terrorist action, closure of port or airport, industrial disputes, force majeure or similar events beyond our control will cancellation take place within 60 days of the departure date. In the event of a cancellation within 60 days under these conditions, Cotswold Garden Tours retains the right to make a partial refund at their own discretion. A minimum of 14 passengers is required to run a tour. If the minimum number of bookings has not been received, Cotswold Garden Tours reserves the right not to run the tour and refund all money paid.
Travel Insurance:
Travel insurance is mandatory for all guests joining Cotswold Garden Tours. Your travel insurance policy must provide cover against personal accident, death, medical expenses and emergency medical repatriation. We also strongly recommend it covers cancellation, trip curtailment, personal liability and loss of luggage and personal effects, and that it is purchased at the time of booking. The details of such insurance (including travel insurance policy number and the insurance company’s 24-hour emergency contact number) must be provided as part of the pre-tour information form that we ask all guests to complete around 6 weeks in advance of the tour; you will not be able to join the tour without these details. If you have travel insurance connected to your credit card or bank account, please ensure you have the policy number and emergency contact number rather than just the bank’s name and credit card details.
NB: travel insurance is not mandatory if you are resident in the country where the tour is taking place, however we would always recommend cancellation cover.
Surcharges:
We guarantee that your tour will not be subject to any surcharge except for those resulting from fuel surcharges and government action. Only amounts more than 5% will be surcharged. If this means paying more than 10% of the tour price, you are entitled to cancel your tour within 14 days of receiving the surcharge invoice. You will receive a full refund of all money paid to Cotswold Garden Tours.
Liability:
We have taken all reasonable steps to ensure that proper arrangements have been made for the tour advertised and that the suppliers of the services are efficient and reputable. Every booking is subject to the conditions imposed by shipping, airline, rail, coach, hotel, restaurant, visitor attraction and insurance. We cannot be held liable for any loss or expenses suffered by you because of your late arrival at the start of your tour, or at any time during your tour for other reasons than within our control. Any willful damage to property is your sole responsibility and the company will not be responsible for any costs incurred due to such action or measures taken by the various authorities or principals. Damage will be charged to you and must be paid for at that time. We cannot accept claims when an inferior vehicle is used as relief or replacement in an emergency. Cotswold Garden Tours reserves the right to withdraw tour membership from any person at any time if their behavior is likely to affect the smooth operation of the tour or adversely affect the enjoyment or safety of other passengers and Cotswold Garden Tours shall not be under any liability to such person whatsoever. This is without any liability whatsoever on the company’s behalf for homeward travel arrangements or refund of holiday costs. The decision of the Tour manager will be final. Cotswold Garden Tours will not be held responsible for closure of gardens or attractions named in the tour itinerary. Under such circumstances every endeavor will be made to find an alternative. Cotswold Garden Tours reserve the right to substitute hotels. If a passport is lost or one of the group members is taken ill or has had an accident, Cotswold Garden Tours will assist to the best of their ability but must reserve the right to carry on with the tour. It may be necessary to leave the tour member to rejoin later at his/her own expense.
Complaints:
If you have a complaint during your holiday, please notify your Tour Manager immediately so that they can try to resolve the problem. If the matter is not resolved to your satisfaction, you should inform the company in writing within 30 days of the end of the tour. The company will not accept claims outside this period.
Tour Accuracy:
The running order of the tour may change. Subject to changes outside of our control, all elements of the itineraries will be included in the final program. All the facts in the published itinerary about gardens, facilities, accommodations and other services are checked so that they are as accurate as possible. However, changes do occasionally happen that are not within our control. Such changes are regrettable and when a major change takes place, we will inform you whenever possible.
These conditions shall be interpreted, construed and enforced in all respects in accordance with English law and you and we each irrevocably agree to submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the English Courts in respect of any dispute or claim arising out of or in connection with these conditions.
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