Garden Fly Drive | Southern USA

Days 1-3

Atlanta

Your holiday starts with a direct flight from London to Atlanta, Georgia where you will spend the first three nights. We suggest you stay in Midtown so that you are nice and
close to the Atlanta Botanical Gardens which spreads for 30 acres close to the centre of the city.  You can enjoy a Canopy Walk through the Storza Woods, an Edible Garden, a children’s garden with outdoor demonstration kitchen. The Fugua Conservatory is an organic biosphere that features many tropical and rare plants including conifers and palms as well as the Guqua Orchid Centre with the foremost collection of orchids in the USA. You can also visit the conservation gardens featuring carnivorous plant bogs from the South Eastern USA and endangered frogs from around the world. There are lots of other attractions in Atlanta including the World of Coca-Cola and Margaret Michell’s home where she wrote Gone with the Wind.

3 nights Atlanta

Days 4-5

Atlanta to Great Smoky Mountains

Collect your car today for the 194-mile drive to the Great Smoky Mountains, a subrange of the Blue Ridge Mountains, and the Biltmore Estate in North Carolina. Biltmore House known as America’s Largest Home and a National Historic Landmark, is one of the most magnificent houses in the USA. Originally the home of the renowned Vanderbilt family, built in 1889, the three storied mansion displays vintage clothing, a dazzling art and furniture collection. You can also explore 8,000 acres of garden, split into six formal and informal gardens, it has 250 varieties of roses, a Conservatory, and nature walks connecting them to the French Broad River, the Deer Park, Lagoon, Farmyard and woodlands. The gardens were designed by Frederick Law Olmsted who also designed New York’s Central Park and the US Capitol gardens in Washington DC. You can also visit the winery and Antler Hill Village with its shops, restaurants and an Outdoor Adventure Centre. You will be able to stay at one of the three properties on the estate.

2 nights North Carolina

Day 6

North Carolina to Charlotte

Your 129 mile drive today will take you through the Black Mountain range to Charlotte, the capital of North Carolina where you can visit the Botanical Gardens or the rather lovely Susie Harwood Gardens. However, if you need a “garden break” you could explore the Bechtler Museum of Modern Art or the Charlotte Museum of History.

1 night Charlotte

Days 7-8

Charlotte to Myrtle Beach

Continue East to Myrtle Beach on the South Carolina coast. Just south of the town, you will find Brookgreen Gardens, which according to Trip Advisor is one of the top 10 gardens in the US. It has an interesting history. It was founded in 1930 as a 9,127-acre retreat for noted New York sculptor Anna Hyatt Huntingdon who was suffering from tuberculosis. Soon after her recovery, the property was turned into a wildlife preserve, botanical and sculpture garden to showcase her works along with many pieces collected around the world. Today you can walk through Live Oak Alley to see the 250-year-old Live Oaks planted in the early 1700s when the land was part of four successful rice
plantations. If this is your first sight of a live oak, we are sure you will be entranced by their shapes and colours. Brookgreen contains the largest collection of American figurative sculptures displayed throughout the gardens with over 2000 works by 430 artists.

2 nights Myrtle Beach

Days 9-11

Myrtle Beach to Charleston & South Carolina

From Myrtle Beach, it’s just under 100 miles to one of our favourite US cities: Charleston. The city is a true architectural and culinary gem and you will need at least three nights to explore both the city and the surrounding plantation houses and gardens. Amongst the most famous is Middleton Place which is a US National Historic Landmark and considered to be one of the oldest and most important landscaped gardens in America. Its creation began in 1741 and was meant to reflect the grandeur of the European gardens of the age. It now features over 100,000 azaleas and displays the history of the enslaved Africans and African Americans who helped to build and develop the property. Another favourite is the Boone Hall Plantation

3 nights Charleston

Days 12-13

Charleston & South Carolina to Savannah

Another 100 miles will take you to the Georgian gem of Savannah. Another beautiful and historic town, you will have time both to explore the Coastal Georgia Botanical Gardens at the Historic Bamboo Farm and take a walking tour of Savannah. The garden’s museum of plants was begun in the late 1880s when the then owner, Mrs H B Miller planted three giant Japanese timber bamboo plants founding today’s collection of over 60 bamboo taxa. We suggest you hike the Judge Arthur Solomon Camelia Trail home to one of the largest Camelia collections outside China.

2 nights Savannah

Day 14

Savannah to Georgia

A longer drive today, 242 miles to be precise, will take you to Pine Mountain in Georgia for your last garden. There, you will find the Callaway Gardens home to over 4,000 native and hybrid azaleas spread over 2,500 acres. But, astonishing as the azaleas are, perhaps more outstanding are the more than 1,000 butterflies fluttering around you in the Cecil B Day Butterfly Centre. If you need something a little less manicured, go and explore the F.D. Roosevelt State Park and the Little White House Historic Site in Warm Springs.

1 night Georgia

Day 15

Georgia to Atlanta

After visiting the gardens this morning, it is time to wind your way back to Atlanta Airport in time for your flight home or perhaps onwards for more adventures.