Arrive in Glasgow and make your way to the hotel. Renaissance Tours or your travel agent can assist you with your flights and other travel arrangements including travel insurance (a condition of travel), private hotel transfer, accommodation before or after the tour and a room category upgrade.

At 18:00, join Elizabeth Swane and fellow travellers for a welcome briefing and talk at the hotel, followed by dinner.

(D)

Begin the day with an orientation tour of Glasgow, taking in the city’s beautiful Victorian and Art Nouveau architecture including Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s House for an Art Lover and the adjacent walled garden.

After lunch, explore the Burrell Collection, containing artwork collected by Sir William Burrell and Lady Constance and gifted to the city of Glasgow in 1944. The collection holds 9,000 objects including Chinese art, Roman sculpture and Egyptian pottery. Surrounded by beautiful parkland, the museum is one of the most significant civic museum collections in the United Kingdom.

(BL)

After breakfast, depart for Dumfries House in Ayrshire, the former residence of the Marquess of Bute. Join a private, guided tour of the Palladian manor house, containing fine works of 18th-century furniture by the likes of Thomas Chippendale, and stroll through its walled garden.

Enjoy lunch at the Dumfries House library and explore the grounds of the estate and the arboretum, containing more than 500 specimens of trees, shrubs and woodland flowers, as well as two lochans (small lochs). Return to Glasgow in the late afternoon and enjoy the evening at leisure.

(BL)

Travel to Mount Stuart House on the Isle of Bute, taking the ferry across the Firth of Clyde. Enjoy a guided tour of Mount Stuart’s manor and gardens. Built in the Gothic Revival style of the late 19th century, Mount Stuart House was the first home in Scotland fitted with electricity, and its beautiful gardens include a rock garden, kitchen garden and a quaint, secluded ‘Wee Garden’.

Afterwards, continue to Loch Lomond, including a ferry crossing of the East Kyle of Bute to return to mainland Argyll. A picturesque freshwater loch bestriding the Highland Boundary Fault, Loch Lomond is the largest stretch of fresh water in Great Britain.

(BD)

This morning, travel to Inveraray Castle, the seat of the Dukes of Argyll, and wander through its gardens and ‘policies’ (improved lands). The magnificent 18th century castle overlooks gardens abounding with white, pink and red rhododendrons and azaleas, and containing trees planted by distinguished 19th century visitors such as Queen Victoria, Prime Minister William Gladstone and explorer David Livingstone.

Spend some free time in Inveraray for lunch before continuing to Oban, considered the unofficial capital of the West Highlands and the ‘Gateway to the Isles’. Oban boasts panoramic views of the mountains, lochs and islands which have captivated artists, authors, composers and poets for centuries. Tonight, dinner is at a local restaurant.

(BD)

Travel to Arduaine Garden, situated on a rocky promontory at the confluence of the Sound of Jura and Loch Melfort, where the North Atlantic Drift warms the coastal climate. Created in 1898 at the height of Scotland’s enthusiasm for exotic flowers, Arduaine Garden contains a wealth of flora from around the world, with a particular emphasis on East Asian and South American plants.

After lunch, visit Crarae Woodland Garden, an exotic garden imitating the style of a remote gorge in the Himalayas. Return to Oban in the afternoon for an evening at leisure.

(BL)

In the morning drive to Fort William at the southern end of the Great Glen, the 100 km-fault line that cuts through the Scottish Highlands. Enjoy time at leisure in Fort William before embarking on the Jacobite steam train. Described as one of the great railway journeys of the world, the steam train passes Loch Eil, over the 21-arched Glenfinnan viaduct and on to Arisaig.

After disembarking in Mallaig, travel ‘over the sea to Skye’, the romantic Hebridean isle which has called out to travellers and members of the Scottish diaspora for centuries.

(BD)

After breakfast depart for Dunvegan Castle on the northwest coast of Skye, the stout holdfast that has been the seat of the Clan MacLeod for some 700 years. Since the 13th century, successive clan chiefs have embellished the site with towers, battlements and apartments, as well as walled, round and water gardens.

Then, drive to Armadale Castle on the southeast coast, a ruined 19th century castle once inhabited by the MacDonalds and graced with 16 hectares of beautiful gardens and a Museum of the Isles.

(B)

Today, cross back over to the mainland to Attadale Gardens in Wester Ross. Established in the Victorian era, Attadale now contains a Japanese garden, kitchen garden, water gardens, a sunken garden and a geodesic dome filled with ferns. Scattered throughout the gardens is an impressive collection of sculptures.

Later, drive to Fort Augustus for a cruise on Loch Ness – weather and monsters permitting! The largest lake by volume in the British Isles, the black waters of Loch Ness plumb depths as deep as 230 metres. Then, drive to Inverness, capital of the Highlands.

(BD)

In the morning, enjoy a guided tour of Cawdor Castle, which traces its origins back to the 15th century, when it was built by the 6th Thane of Calder. The castle is particularly well known for its gardens, including the 18th-century walled garden, 19th-century flower garden and 20th-century wild garden – appropriately planted at the height of ‘Flower Power’ in the 1960s.

Enjoy the afternoon at leisure in Inverness before dinner at a local restaurant.

(BD)

Strike out for a day trip across Wester Ross, travelling first to Inverewe Gardens situated on the west coast of the Scottish mainland. Benefitting from the temperate influence of the North Atlantic Drift, Inverewe cultivates diverse flora such as New Zealand olearia, Himalayan blue poppies and even the northernmost planting of Australia’s own Wollemi pine.

Enjoy some time at leisure at Inverewe before travelling to Brahan Estate in central Wester Ross. The 1,600-hectare Brahan Estate plays host to birdwatchers, golfers, trout fishers, Highland ramblers and deer stalkers.

(BD)

Depart Inverness for Balmoral Estate, the Scottish holiday home of the Royal Family since it was purchased for Queen Victoria by Prince Albert in 1852.

After a tour of the gardens and estate, including of the majestic ballroom, enjoy some time at leisure for lunch on the estate. Later, continue to Pitmedden Garden. Originally laid out in 1675 and re-created in the 1950s, Pitmedden features over five miles of box hedging arranged in intricate patterns to form six parterres. These parterres are filled with some 40,000 plants bursting with colour in the summer months. Extensive herbaceous borders provide an abundance of colour and texture throughout the season and the spectacular lupin border is not to be missed.

Arrive in Aberdeen in the late afternoon.

(BD)

In the morning visit Crathes Castle, one of the most beautiful and well-preserved castles in Scotland, occupied by the Burnetts of Leys for over 350 years and set against a magnificent garden with its world-renowned June border. Continue to Stonehaven to view the dramatic ruins of Dunnottar Castle, surrounded by steep cliffs that drop to the North Sea. The surviving buildings are largely from the 15th and 16th centuries, but the site is believed to have been fortified in the Early Middle Ages.

Enjoy the remainder of the day at leisure in Aberdeen.

Tonight, enjoy dinner at a local restaurant.

(BD)

Depart Aberdeen and stop at Glamis Castle, the ancestral seat to the Earls of Strathmore and Kinghorne since 1372 and childhood home of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother. The gardens surrounding Glamis Castle are beautiful all year round. Walks have been created to take in a mixture of habitats ranging from parkland and policies in the immediate vicinity of the castle to the formal Italian Garden, mixed woodland and pinetum.

Arrive in Edinburgh in the mid-afternoon. Tonight, celebrate the conclusion of the tour with a special farewell dinner with Elizabeth and fellow travellers.

(BD)

Tour arrangements conclude after breakfast.

For those returning home today, make your way to Edinburgh Airport for suggested flights to Australia or New Zealand. Renaissance Tours or your travel agent can assist you with your flights and other travel arrangements, including a private airport transfer, additional nights’ accommodation either before or after the tour and travel insurance (a condition of travel).

(B)

Note: At time of publication (October 2025), most but not all garden visits were confirmed. Private owners, in particular, are reluctant to commit more than one to two months prior to the visit. Therefore, while we undertake to operate the tour as published, there may be some changes to the itinerary.