Troy B Marden Travel

Chateaux & Gardens of the Loire Valley
2023-06-06 - 2023-06-17
There is nothing quite like the beauty of France’s Loire Valley. From Julius Caesar in 52 B.C. to the Huns in the 5th century and the kings of France from the 16th century on, the Loire Valley has always been a highly revered and sought-after swath of land through central France for its fertile land, plentiful water, and desirable climate. Embraced by French royalty as a safe haven away from the political backstabbing of Paris, the Loire Valley became their playground and, on this tour, we’ll take a step back in time as we visit some of the valley’s most beautiful cities, villages, chateaux, and gardens including, but not limited to Chenonceau, Villandry, Azay-le-Rideau, Amboise, Chateau de Lude (still a family home), and many, many more! We’ll also visit historic towns and villages like Orleans, Tours, Amboise, Blois, and more. And of course, we can’t be in the Loire Valley and not take advantage of its rich culinary heritage and wine-making traditions! We would also be remiss to miss out on some gardens a little nearer to Paris, so on the way to and from the Loire Valley, we’ll also make stops at the Roseraie du Val-de-Marne where more than 3,000 roses will be at peak bloom, and the nearly indescribable gardens of Fontainebleau and Vaux le Vicomte.
Tour Price: $4,450.00 per person, double occupancy, ground package only (Airfaire not included) Single Supplement: $850.00
Maximum Group Size: 20 guests
For more information or a complete itinerary and reservation form, please email me directly at troy@troybmarden.com

An African Adventure!
2023-08-08 - 2023-08-22
I am thrilled to announce our return to Africa–this time in a very small group format with a maximum of 10 guests! We will fly round trip into and out of Johannesburg, South Africa, and in between, we’ll spend time at Victoria Falls, in Cape Town, and at the 5-star Kapama River Lodge in Hoedspruit. From those destinations, we will explore Victoria Falls, Chobe National Park, the Cape of Good Hope, Table Mountain (including Kirstenbosch National Botanic Garden), the wine country of South Africa, and much, much more! We’ll spend our final three nights at the 5-star Kapama River Lodge and Resort while finishing our quest to observe all of Africa’s “Big 5”–the lion, elephant, rhinoceros, leopard, and Cape buffalo. At Kapama, we will have the unique opportunity to participate in “bush walks” with highly trained guides who will escort us, on foot, across the African savannah to observe the wildlife in the most personal way possible.
Tour Cost: $7,250 per person, based on double occupancy, *ground package only. Single Supplement: $1,000 per person
*The “ground package” portion of this tour does include internal flights within Africa, between African cities. The price does not include round trip, international airfare from the U.S. to Johannesburg, SA, and back.
Maximum Group Size: 10 guests
For more information or a complete itinerary, please email me directly at troy@troybmarden.com

Wonders of the Italian Piedmont & French Riviera
2023-10-09 - 2023-10-23
Travel with Jason Reeves and Troy Marden as we explore the gardens, natural landscapes, art, food, and architecture of two of the world’s most beautiful destinations–the Italian Piedmont and the French Riviera! Starting in Milan, we will visit Lake Como and the surrounding area before moving on to the beautiful village of Stresa, nestled into the foothills of the Italian Alps on the shores of Lago di Maggiore. There, we will visit several gardens, including the “garden islands” of Isola Madre and Isola Bella, which occupy prominent positions in the center of the lake. Next, it’s on to the city of Turin, one of the most interesting cities in northern Italy with fabulous museums, a not-to-be-missed (and we won’t!) Royal Palace, and a food scene you must experience firsthand. Finally, we make our way across the border to Nice, France, one of the Riviera’s most stunning destinations. We will use Nice as our home base for the final four nights of this two week tour, exploring Monaco for a day, visiting the gardens of the city of Menton, experiencing the Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild in Cap Ferrat, and much, much more!
$4,950 per person, based on double occupancy. For a private room, the single supplement is $1,350.
For complete details, please email troy@troybmarden.com

The Wonders of Winter--Snowdrops & Winter Gardens of England
2024-02-17 - 2024-02-25
Winter may seem an unusual time for a garden tour to England, but it is the only time to see one of the country’s greatest garden spectacles—the annual flowering of the snowdrops in woodlands, gardens, and estates throughout the countryside. For gardeners “in the know”, snowdrops are one of the most popular bulbs amongst collectors around the world, but the mania started with the collections in England, Scotland, and Ireland. While diminutive on their own, collections begun a century or more ago now have bulbs numbering in the tens, if not hundreds, of thousands and the displays are some of the most impressive in the gardening world.

For one week, we’ll explore the best public and private collections of snowdrops from the Cotswolds to Yorkshire. For good measure, we’ll include some visits to gardens and nurseries with impressive displays of hellebores, witchhazel, crocus, and many other late winter and early spring flowering plants, as well. A friend who is one of the world’s foremost authorities on snowdrops is kindly helping me curate our stops on this tour, making it a truly unique and one-of-a-kind experience.

In the Cotswolds, we’ll use the beautiful town of Cheltenham as our home base, eventually making our way north to York. Near Birmingham, we’ll also include a visit to the world-renowned Ashwood Nurseries, some of the original breeders of modern-day hellebores. Estates and gardens on the tour will include Colesbourne Park, Kingston Bagpuize House & Garden, Biddulph Grange, Painswick Rococo Garden, Millichope Park, Castle Howard, and many more.
For complete details, please email: troy@troybmarden.com

Plant Delights Nursery & The Gardens of Raleigh-Durham with Jason Reeves & Troy Marden
2024-03-12 - 2024-03-17
Has Plant Delights Nursery been on your bucket list for a visit? Here’s your chance!
Jason Reeves and I will be your personal guides as we visit Plant Delights Nursery and its magnificent display garden known as the Juniper Level Botanic Garden. Early spring will find the hellebores (Lenten roses), early bulbs like crocus, narcissus, snowdrops, and others, as well as spring-flowering trees and shrubs on full display!
In addition to Plant Delights and Juniper Level, we will visit the J.C. Raulston Arboretum at North Carolina State University, Sarah P. Duke Gardens at Duke University, Homewood Nursery & Garden Center, Big Bloomers Flower Farm, Camellia Forest Nursery, and more. We will also visit at least three private gardens as part of this itinerary, and there will be lunches included in at least two of our stops.
This will be a bus tour departing from Jackson, TN on March 12, making passenger pickups in Nashville, and Knoxville along the way.
We’ll stay overnight in North Carolina on the first night, arriving in Raleigh on the 13th. Raleigh will be home base for three nights as we explore the area and we’ll head back to Tennessee on the 16th, overnighting again along the way and arriving back home on March 17. (Bus driver’s restrictions require us to make an overnight stop each way for safety reasons.)
Tour cost is $1,500 per person, based on double occupancy. A supplement of $500 applies for a private room for single travelers.
For complete details, please email: troy@troybmarden.com

Beautiful Bulbs!--Spring Gardens of the Netherlands
2024-04-16 - 2024-04-24
Join me in Holland as we visit the world-famous bulb displays at Keukenhof, Het Loo Palace, the tulip fields, the Dutch Flower Auction, and much more! Few sights are more impressive than the gardens of Holland in spring when the bulbs are at their peak. We’ll leave no stone unturned in seeking out the very best this incredible country has to offer!
As we explore Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Apeldoorn and others, we’ll also take in the Dutch countryside, experience the local cuisine, enjoy the museums, and get to know the vibrant and cheerful Dutch people. One of the many highlights of this tour will be a visit to the “Hortus Bulborum”, a living museum filled with some of the rarest tulips, daffodils, and other bulbs in the world! With tulip varieties that go back to the 16th century, daffodils that pre-date the tulips by 200-300 years, and a wide-ranging mix of historic hyacinths, crocus, snowdrops and many more, it is one of the most unique and important collections of bulbs in existence.
This tour will be about more than just gardens, though! Throughout the tour, we’ll dine in local restaurants, we’ll visit the city of Gouda so famous for its cheese, and while in Amsterdam, we’ll take in both the Rijksmuseum and the Van Gogh Museum to see two of the finest art collections anywhere in the world!
For complete details, please email: troy@troybmarden.com

The Beauty of Belgium
2024-06-11 - 2024-06-22
Price: Double Occupancy Room, $5,450 per person Private Room for Single Travelers, add $950 to the per person price
Join Joseph and Shannon Hillenmeyer, of Joseph Hillenmeyer Garden Design https://josephhillenmeyer.com/ along with Troy Marden, as we traverse the beautiful cities and countryside of Belgium, exploring gardens, art, architecture, cuisine, and more for 10 full days and nights! This top-of-the-line tour features 5-star accommodations throughout, as well as meals at some of the finest restaurants in Belgium.
Of particular interest to Joseph are the gardens and landscapes of Jacques Wirtz, founder of Wirtz International Landscape Architects, and there are several planned visits to gardens and landscapes featuring their work. Shannon’s interests include the world of fine arts and design, and she will offer a unique perspective on the aesthetics of many of the sites on our itinerary. We’ll explore the cities of Brussels, Bruges, Ghent, and Antwerp, and enjoy the hospitality of smaller towns and villages, as well, including the Botanical Garden Meise, the Kasteel van Ooidonk, the Chateau Alden Biesen, the Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts in Brussels, the Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten Antwerpen in Antwerp, and many other gardens and points of interest along the way! We’ll also spend one day in the Flanders Fields region learning about the sacrifices made by men and women from around the world during some of the most intense battles of WW1.
No tour with Troy is complete without experiencing the local cuisine and this tour will be no exception! Chocolate, waffles, moules frites and, of course, beer! We’ll check out the local food scenes in as many of the cities and towns as we can. Depending on the final size of the group, we may even take a cooking class (or at least have a demo!), participate in a chocolate-making class, or learn to draft a perfect beer!
For complete details, please email: troy@troybmarden.com

Flora, Fauna, and Fire! The Beauty of Eastern Sicily
2024-09-24 - 2024-10-05
A brand new offering for us as we expand our offerings in Sicily! Join Charles Yurgalevitch and Troy Marden on this more thorough exploration of Sicily’s eastern end, where fiery Mount Etna meets the Ionian Sea. The rich, volcanic soils of this end of the island are home to excellent wineries, beautiful gardens, and many of Sicily’s largest nurseries, not to mention the history that has unfolded here over thousands of years.

This tour will feature the historic city of Catania, the quiet respite of Ortigia, the spectacular views and luxurious lifestyle of Taormina, and more!

Included in this itinerary will be visits to the Alcantara Gorges, the wineries of Mount Etna, a unique and beautiful cactus and succulent nursery, the towns of Noto and Ragusa, and, schedule permitting, the Villa Romana del Casale, and that just scratches the surface!

We hope you will join us for a new and more in-depth look at Sicily as we begin offering more of these regional tours in the future. We love our spring “Gardens & Treasures of Sicily” tours, which we will continue offering, but we are equally excited for these new opportunities to explore this beautiful island!

Email troy@troybmarden.com for more details.

Hill Towns of Tuscany
2024-10-09 00:00 - 2024-10-20 23:59 (America/Chicago)
For the first time since before the Covid pandemic, we are returning to Tuscany! Autumn is the most beautiful time of year to enjoy the hill towns, when crowds are smaller, wine is being made, olives are being harvested, and restaurant menus are overflowing with local delicacies like chestnuts, mushrooms (including the famous truffle!), and wild boar.

We’ll bookend this tour with visits to the beautiful cities of Rome and Florence, taking in a few of the highlights of each. In between, we’ll stay in Cortona and at least one other hill town (probably San Gimignano, but we are awaiting hotel confirmation), and visit several more.

Along the way, we’ll enjoy public and private villas, palazzos, and gardens, including the Villa d’Este at Tivoli, the Parco dei Mostri (Bomarzo), the Basilica of Assisi, at least two wineries, and an olive grove and press.

It is no secret that Italy, and Tuscany in particular, is my favorite place in the world. I look forward to sharing it with you!

Email troy@troybmarden.com for more information.
