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City & Village Tours: 0845 812 5000 info@cityandvillagetours.com
In 1932 Beatrix Havergal founded the Waterperry
School of Horticulture as a residential for women
and for many years she won the gold medal for her
exhibit of Royal Sovereign strawberries at the
Chelsea Flower Show. Miss Havergal, Trix to family
and friends she was a larger-than-life figure famous
for her eccentric style of dress of knee breeches with
knee-high stockings, sturdy leather shoes, a green
smock over a shirt and a tie. She wore a felt hat
always unless the weather was fine enough to allow
for a Panama. Sounds familiar? What about Roald
Dahl’s Miss Trunchbull from his story Matilda?
Roald Dahl lived at Great Missenden not far from
Waterperry. There’s no suggestion that Beatrix
Havergal was cruel like Miss Trunchbull but she
was strict and utterly devoted to Waterperry.
Miss Havergal never married viewing the institution
as unworthy of and indeed a waste of a Waterperry
training. In the 1950s when one young student told
the formidable Miss H that she had become engaged.
she was met with a horrified
"But what about the garden?"
The horticultural school closed when Miss Havergal
retired as principal in 1971, Waterperry but the
gardens and nursery live on and they are beautiful.
Come and meet our guide to buy morning refreshments
at
10am
in the heart of Oxford in the oldest pub in the
city. Within a stone’s throw of the pub we see such a
lot. First we’ll walk past the Sheldonian Theatre and
through the courtyard of the ancient Bodleian Library
emerging in a square that has at its centre the Radcliffe
Camera and to one side Brasenose College which we
visit to gain an understanding of academic life at the
university.
We’ll pop in to see the University Church before
continuing on to The High and Carfax to break for
lunch. Lots of choices around here for lunch and at
some surprisingly good prices and you can visit the
covered market where Miss Havergal once sold flowers
and vegetables grown at Waterperry.
After lunch 30 minute takes us to Waterperry Gardens
at Wheatley. In addition to the beautiful gardens with
year round interest, there’s a museum of rural life and
a fascinating Saxon church as well as tea rooms where
you can enjoy a break before returning to the coach to
head home at 4.45pm. A lovely day out! We do walk in
the morning but gently and not too far. Available daily
- all year round. Waterperry Gardens latest cancellation
is 2 weeks out.
Adults & Seniors: £16.95
Coach Mileage: 15
Oxford &Waterperry Gardens