Highgrove Estate: Country home of Prince Charles

Oh, can't wait to be on the road again for another getaway! 

But no travel plan at the moment, still fixing a schedule with some friends to visit Puerto Galera, a picturesque island in Oriental Mindoro, hopefully this coming September.

While waiting for another road trip, I will just update this blog with some of the world's most enthralling holiday destinations!

After featuring the splendid natural wonder of Niagara Falls (special thanks to my friend, Arman Esmas, for the photos I featured), magnificent countryside of the New England States and the fascinating surroundings of South Carolina, it's time to move back to my obsession, Europe! And be amazed with its charming landmarks and countryside gems!

Before embarking elsewhere in the continent, let's drop by at the vibrant British Isles and wander around and yeah, what could be more magical than visit the royal abode of the future British King, Prince Charles?

If you are a nature lover and adored the countryside life, you will surely admire the Prince's spectacular country home, the Highgrove Estate.

One of England's most innovative and beautiful farm properties, Highgrove offers a modern-day living in the countryside under the comfort of nature. It has a very relaxing atmosphere of wild trees, lush greenery, flowers of different varieties, meadows, organic vegetable farm and fruit orchard.

So if you're thinking of embarking into an ultimate nature getaway in England with a dash of royalty, choose Highgrove Estate.

Let's visit Highgrove!

And have a taste of grandeur and royal charm at the sprawling country home of the Prince of Wales.

I've been planning to write a feature story about this beautiful countryside residence of His Royal Highness for my Royal Blog but never got a chance to do it until I decided to just publish the entry here in my travel site.

King-in-waiting: His Royal Highness, Charles, the Prince of Wales

An environmentalist and a keen gardener, the Prince is a great advocate 

of nature, organic farming and modern-day architecture. 

He loves the country life and would spend most of his leisure time in his beautiful gardens at Highgrove Estate 

Photo image credits: The Telegraph UK

The Prince of Wales is a great advocate of organic farming and countryside life. A nature lover and a keen gardener, he had personally supervised the development of this estate since 1981 and its transformation from a tousled barn to one of the most amazing working farms and innovative gardens in the United Kingdom.

High Grove Estate was purchased by Prince Charles in 1980, a year before he married Lady Diana Spencer. It's basically a private home of the Prince of Wales and not part of the crown properties. He purchased this property from his Duchy of Cornwall income which supports the activities and personal needs of the Heir-apparent.

The elegant three-storey Highgrove mansion of HRH Prince Charles

within the Highgrove Estate in Tetbury, Gloucestershire, England

High Grove Estate is located in Tetbury, Gloucestershire, England and has been the Prince's country home since 1981. Over the years, the Prince cultivated and transformed the estate into one of Great Britain's most spectacular countryside wonders with elaborate gardens and highly innovative organic farms, meadows and fruit orchards.

Every corner of the estate truly describes who the Prince of Wales in private. He is basically a nature lover, he loves the countryside life and has been a great advocate of organic farming, agriculture, gardening and fine architecture. It's a mixture of the natural beauty of the wilderness and a comfort of life in the countryside. Highgrove Estate truly represents environmental sustainability.

Within the estate is a beautiful three-storey Victorian mansion surrounded with a beautiful landscape of flowers, wild trees, verdant plants and a manicured lawn. Highgrove Estate has organic farm that produced vegetables, fruits and dairy products, wild flower meadows and an elaborate tree house which the Prince commissioned to be built during the boyhood of his two sons, William and Harry.

Taking care of the environment is the primary focus of Prince Charles at this country home. Waste management is fully implemented with a specially built reed bed sewage system that is used for all Highgrove's waste. Cans and bottles are recycled, kitchen waste goes through the composting system.

Bed of flowers at Highgrove

Highgrove wild flower meadow

All images featured here are from the Highgrove Gardens website

And while this is a private home of the King-in-waiting, the good news is that, the gardens are open to the public! Visitors have a chance to enjoy, discover and learn more about Prince Charles's life in the countryside. The gardens can be visited any days in a week from 9:00 in the morning to 5:00 in the afternoon through its guided Garden tour packages. 

Each season, Highgrove tours offer a magical experience of visiting and wandering around the elaborate gardens with a royal feel. The experienced tour guides of the Prince will take visitors to the history of the estate and the gardens and will have a chance to experience what it feels like to be in the royal private home. This is the closest way of knowing the other side of the future British King. 

The estate has a souvenir's shop for visitors to take home some of the best mementos of the estate. The income generated from these tours are given to different charitable institutions supported by the Prince. So when visiting Highgrove, you are not only experiencing the royal grandeur and the beauty of nature but you are also contributing something worthwhile to people in needs through the Prince's charity works.

Here are the choices of the tour packages at Highgrove:

The Garden packages:

A. Champagne Tea Tours - A small group of just 16 persons.

Ticket: 75 pounds for individual, 145 pounds for pair.

Time schedule: Mon to Sun 9AM to 5PM 

• Walk around the magnificent and elaborate gardens of the estate.
• Experience the unique garden style of Prince Charles.
• Have an afternoon tea at the Orchard restaurant.

Click here to read more details and buy the ticket for this tour.

B. Individual Garden Tours - A guided tour for a maximum of 25 individual visitors

Ticket: 24.50 pounds per person

Time schedule: Mon to Sun 9AM to 5PM 

• Walk around the magnificent and elaborate gardens of the estate.
• Visitors will see the abundance of Britain's most beautiful flora and fauna.
• Light lunch and afternoon tea at the Orchard restaurant.

C. Group Garden Tours - Maximum of 26 visitors per group and per visit

Ticket: Ticket: 24.50 pounds per person

Time schedule: Mon to Sun 9AM to 5PM 

• Walk around the magnificent and elaborate gardens of the estate.
• Visitors will see the abundance of Britain's most beautiful flora and fauna.
• Light lunch and afternoon tea at the Orchard restaurant.

Within the Estate, visitors will discover more awesome natural sceneries:

• Organic Farm of the Prince of Wales
• Kitchen Garden with a beautiful landscape of home grown vegetables, herbs, wild trees.
• Orchard Restaurant offering teas, sandwiches, soups, organic vegetables, fruits, etc.
• Iconic wild flower meadows (Highgrove and Transylvanian)
• Tree house
• Flowers of different varieties, lush plants
• Fruit orchards
• Fountains, rocks
• Highgrove souvenir's shop

Kitchen Garden

This area of the estate is surrounded with seasoned organic vegetables, herbs and spices

Afternoon Tea at the Orchard Restaurant in Highgrove Gardens

Offering teas, sandwiches and fresh food varieties from the organic farm

Visit the official website of Highgrove Estate HERE

Sources:

www.highgrovegardens.com
www.princeofwales.gov.uk