Britain on the Cheap

Have you always wanted to see inside the great buildings and tiny houses of London? Maybe the Old Palace in Croydon where Elizabeth I visited the bishops, the Studios at Kensington Court Mews or Benjamin Franklin’s House in Westminster? Now’s your chance with the free Open House London, the capital’s great architectural showcase Sept. 18-19. [...]

The sumptuous Hampton Court Palace Flower Show continues through July 11 at the royal palace on the Thames. This Royal Horticultural Society spectacle is the largest of its kind in the world. Day tickets start at £22/$33; less for evening hours.

Be sure to order your new, free Yorkshire Gardens guide to visit the suddenly famous “Welcome to Yorkshire’s Rhubarb Crumble and Custard Garden,” winner of the People’s Choice award for best garden at this year’s Royal Horticultural Society’s Chelsea Flower Show. The garden, full of horticultural puns, will be presented at the Great Yorkshire Show [...]

To celebrate Tim Burton’s new hit movie, “Alice in Wonderland,” the National Trust is kicking off an eight-month party at its Antony House in Cornwall near Plymouth. The classic, 18th-century mansion was the only “real” site for the filming of the motion picture. The National Trust is transforming Antony into the fantasy land envisioned by [...]

Some good news! Betsa’s piece “Kenilworth Castle Plants New Elizabethan Garden,” published on  Suite 101.com, is a finalist in the Best Online Article category in VisitBritain’s Travel Journalism Awards for 2009. Hope you’ll enjoy reading!

Superbreak London has tour packages for the 250th anniversary of the Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew. From $104/£63.50 per person, including the tour and one night’s lodging at the Chiswick Moran hotel. Good on selected dates until Nov. 30

Take a deep breath—it’s UK Peace and Tranquillity Week Sept. 7-13 in Durham. Celebrate the art of relaxation throughout County Durham, which a national tranquillity map compiled by the Campaign to Protect Rural England identified as the fourth-most relaxing place in Britain; North East England was the UK’s most relaxing region. Most of the week’s [...]

Can’t make it to Hidcote Manor Garden, one of England’s great gardens, this year? Glyn Jones, head gardener at Hidcote in Chipping Campden, north Cotswolds, will be discussing “Lawrence Johnston’s Hidcote: A Paradise Enclosed,” along with horticulturalist Ethne Clarke. This Royal Oak Foundation lecture is 2 p.m. Sept. 24 at Filoli in Woodside, Calif. $25 [...]