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    • How to Actually Enjoy the Chelsea Flower Show
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    • Meet Our New Zealand Guide

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Can’t choose your next garden trip? 👀 Press p Can’t choose your next garden trip? 👀 Press pause and let the destination choose you 😉 

Let us know in the comments where you landed 🤭

And if you’re curious where we’re heading this year, find out in the bio link 🔗
More garden tours in 2026? Yes, please! 🤩 What More garden tours in 2026? Yes, please! 🤩 What are your INs and OUTs for this year? 🔎
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#gardentours #englishgardens #dutchwave #frenchgarden #italiangardens
Our garden-loving Carex team is sending warm holid Our garden-loving Carex team is sending warm holiday wishes your way. Thank you for trusting us with your travels and for sharing our love of gardens. 

Wishing you a restful, beautiful holiday season. Hope to see you in the gardens in the year ahead 💚

~ Jacqueline & the Carex Tour team
Happy Thanksgiving! 🧡 Taking a moment today to Happy Thanksgiving! 🧡

Taking a moment today to appreciate our amazing community of Carexplorers… 

Thank you for being part of it, for sharing your passion and garden stories, and for trusting us with your garden travel dreams.

Thank you to every garden creator and owner who opened their gates to us this year, answered endless questions, and shared their life’s work with our travelers. 

Thank you to our small team, and to Chris @walsh8008 and Kim @ouraustraliangardens for helping our Carexplorers truly understand each garden while making every moment special.

And thank you to the gardens themselves, for teaching us about patience, beauty, and things worth taking time to appreciate.

What are you feeling grateful for this year? 🍂

📸 Three of our Carexplorers in Japan this fall 
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Delicious food and stunning strolling gardens here Delicious food and stunning strolling gardens here on this years Japanese Gardens in Autumn with Carex tours. Watch along and see the whole crew. Bye for now from your guides Chris, Teiko and Yumo!
Big gardens can be overwhelming! Ever get that nag Big gardens can be overwhelming! Ever get that nagging “I probably missed something” feeling while exploring one?

Some gardens hand you a map and wish you a nice walk. You start off full of excitement, but after an hour or two, your senses just… give up?! You know there’s still so much more to see (maybe even the best bits), but somehow you stop really seeing.

That’s where our lovely tour hosts Chris @walsh8008 and Kim @ouraustraliangardens make all the difference. They know exactly where to take you, what stories to share, and how to make you feel like you’ve seen exactly enough. ✨

Have you ever left a garden wondering what you might’ve missed? Let us know 👇

📸 A picture from our England trip – Fairlight End, 2022
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#gardentourism
📍This peaceful spot in Tallinn, Estonia has us 📍This peaceful spot in Tallinn, Estonia has us dreaming of Japan, where our Carexplorers will be heading next month with our garden expert @walsh8008 Chris. 🌸

What’s the most peaceful garden you’ve ever visited? 🔎
Stumbled across this little patch of wildflowers i Stumbled across this little patch of wildflowers in a remote Estonian village this summer and literally couldn’t walk past it. 😅 Something about the mix of colors and the wild beauty made me feel happy and free. 🌼 I stayed so long that even the garden’s owner came out to say hello.

Wild plantings like this aren’t just beautiful, they’re also buzzing with pollinators and have inspired many modern garden designers. In fact, the Netherlands has become a leader in this naturalistic style, which we’ll get to explore together with our Carexplorers soon. 🤩

If you came across a little meadow like this… would you stop too? 
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#gardendesign #gardendesignideas #wildflowers #wildflowermeadow #naturalistic #naturalisticgarden #gardeninspiration #pollinatorgarden #gardening #gardeningismytherapy #gardentourism
Counting down the days to our first South Island g Counting down the days to our first South Island garden trip! ⏳🤩 With our host Kim @ouraustraliangardens leading the way, we’ll walk into inspiring private gardens, and may even meet their creators along the way. 🎉

Swipe to see where we’re heading (part 1) 

Pic 2: @flaxmere_garden Penny Zino’s sunken native garden with a fabulous fusion of grasses and perennials, framed by ponds, meadows, and a lush canopy.

Pic 3: @lochlevennursery Curved beds, clever planting combinations, and structured hedging create a garden that feels both refined and relaxed, all developed by talented nurserywoman Doreen Dryden.

Pic 4: Hortensia House - Huguette Michel’s romantic garden, named for her love of hydrangeas, with a Monet-style bridge, weeping willows, and flower-filled borders.

Pic 5: @jo.wakelin ’s Garden: Against a dramatic mountain backdrop, ecologist and horticulturist Jo Wakelin has shaped a dry-climate garden of natives planted by the ‘right plant, right place’ principle, with gravel paths, stone, and rustic sculpture.

Pic 6: @frensham_garden In a beautiful country setting, Margaret Long has shaped an elegant yet relaxed garden with abundant vignettes, classic design, and judicious pruning to maximise filtered light.

Which of these gardens would you lose yourself in first? 🌸
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#newzealandgardens #flaxmerehouse #lochleven #hortensiahouse #jowakelingarden #frenshamgardens
We are curious … which iconic garden would you s We are curious … which iconic garden would you still visit, even if it’s packed with people? 🧐
A couple of weeks ago we made it to Monet’s garden in Giverny. No surprise, it was buzzing with visitors… it was probably the most crowded garden of our whole trip. But honestly, we wouldn’t miss it when in Normandy.

Here are a few ways you can find your “Monet moment”: 

🌸 Focus on details: a single bloom, or a reflection in the pond.
🌸 Take breaks instead of rushing through.
🌸 Change your perspective: crouch down, look up, or frame through foliage.
🌸 Wander off the less-famous corners which might feel more peaceful.
🌸 Pause in one spot and give the garden a chance to reveal itself slowly
Lisa, the creative mind behind our trips, just wra Lisa, the creative mind behind our trips, just wrapped up a brand-new garden adventure: ✨🎉

🍷 Winery tastings
 🌊 Lake views
 🌿 Villa gardens straight out of a movie set

Any guesses where this trip is headed? 👀
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#gardentrip #gardentour #gardentourism
We bid farewell tonight for some guest returning b We bid farewell tonight for some guest returning before breakfast. Our hearts are full and our garden spirits lifted by such a lovely group of garden enthusiasts. @walsh8008 signing off until next time. Great Gardens in Brittany anyone.. or Cotswolds, Lake District?!
Lovely start to our final day at Jardins de Brecy— a true hidden gem in this. @carextours
Our garden Carex-plorers led by Chris @walsh8008 a Our garden Carex-plorers led by Chris @walsh8008 are on a mission to explore some beautiful gardens in Normandy… And even the rain couldn’t scare them! ☔️ 

Yesterday, they were strolling through Jardins d’Angélique. ✨

🤩 The property has gardens in two styles: formal French & informal English. 
🤩 In front of the 18th-century house, it’s the English style garden with winding grass paths, intensely mixed plantings, including a great variety of roses. 🌹 
🤩 It’s designed by the owners Gloria and Yves Lebellegard whom our group had the pleasure of meeting. 

Would you enjoy wandering these gardens yourself? Tell us in the comments! 💚
Join us in welcoming Kim Rabbidge – curator of @ Join us in welcoming Kim Rabbidge – curator of @ouraustraliangardens and guest lead of our very first New Zealand: South Island in Full Bloom tour this November.

Kim’s an award-winning garden writer, photographer, and tour leader who’s spent her life around gardens.

On this tour, she’s taking you to:
-- private gardens rarely open to the public
-- creative landscapes by Jo Wakelin, Jane Falconer, Robert Watson, Penny Zino, Ross Palmer, Hiro Yoshida, and more
-- the expression of native NZ plants you’ve probably never seen before, in local garden designs.

When Kim's not leading tours, she and her husband are transforming an old dairy farm into a garden at Eltham, near Lismore, Australia.

📷 Swipe to see Kim's own photos from her New Zealand garden collection:

1. Kim Rabbidge
2. Walter Peak
3. Flaxmere Garden
4. Larnach Castle
5. Fisherman's Bay Garden
6. Barewood Garden
7. & 8. Welton House Garden
9. Paripuma
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