Gardening getaways at luxe hotels are blooming as slow-travel experiences

The first waft of lavender hits you as soon as you pass through the iron gates of Borgo Santo Pietro, a 300-acre farm estate in Tuscany. Once you step into the rose gardens, where the resident florist can often be found busily snipping blooms for the guest rooms or teaching a flower-arranging class, you’ll be enveloped in nature’s perfume.

Eventually, you’ll reach olfactory nirvana: the property’s six-acre herb garden, where rosemary, calendula and peppermint offer a potent tonic for well-being. At this point, you might be inspired to sign up for one of the botanical workshops — if you haven’t already — just to be able to grow and bottle the magnificence for yourself.

Borgo is one of many boutique hotels now beckoning travellers to embark on gardening getaways, where botany courses and educational farm-to-table classes arm guests with shovels, not just forks. The hospitality industry’s focus on leisurely experiences is ideally timed: A recent Skyscanner trend report revealed that 40 per cent of Canadians will prioritize “slow travel” activities over sightseeing on their next trip.

While a vacation in Italy commonly involves a dizzying spin through museums, wineries and historical landmarks, it’s the down-to-earth (but elevated) experiences at Borgo that make a countryside escape so enticing. Set on the grounds of a former healing village for pilgrims dating back to the 12th century, the five-star property honours its roots as a wellness destination.

Today, its resplendent vegetable and herb gardens fuel two restaurants (both Michelin-starred), a holistic spa and a skin care lab known for its popular Seed to Skin cosmetics line. Its latest addition, the Herb House, will soon be home to a new workshop space where guests can learn to make plant-based tinctures, soaps and creams. The first series, offered this summer, will be led by celebrated British herbalist and Ayurvedic practitioner Anne McIntyre, focusing on the medicinal plants grown on the estate.

“Our guests love experiences where they can switch off and reconnect, getting out of their heads and into using their hands,” says Jeanette Thottrup, founder and co-owner of Borgo Santo Pietro. “Attendees will be able to identify and forage wild herbs, understand their medicinal properties and uses, and practice skills to create and take home a range of herbal remedies.”

And it’s not just the medicinal plants that could do the body good. A meta-analysis published in Preventive Medicine Reports found that the simple act of gardening, including the more formal practice of horticultural therapy, comes with a range of health benefits, from reduced stress and anxiety to increased life satisfaction and a sense of community.

If you can learn to grow something delicious in the process, that’s a bonus. At Le Manoir aux Quat’Saison, a Belmond Hotel in Oxfordshire, England, chef Raymond Blanc invites guests to experience the two-acre vegetable and herb gardens that supply the property’s Michelin-starred restaurant. The 32-room manor exudes Provençal charm, even boasting a few suites with their own private gardens, but the true magic happens outdoors.

Blanc spent more than 30 years creating his edible oasis, now made up of around 90 types of vegetables and 70 herbs, a mushroom valley and a heritage orchard with more than 2,500 trees. The region’s agricultural traditions serve as constant inspiration. He’s even revived a few rare English and French apple and pear varieties that were on the verge of extinction.

After the success of the on-site cooking classes, he decided to take guest education one step further by launching the Raymond Blanc Gardening School — the world’s first hotel gardening school — in 2017. This year, the varied daylong workshops cover everything from how to grow micro herbs and edible flowers to creating a bonkei (a miniature Japanese trayscape garden) to learning about zero-waste food production.

Courses take place in an atmospheric Victorian-style Hartley Botanic greenhouse, where guest instructors like Robert Ketchell, who studied Japanese gardens for more than 30 years and apprenticed under a master gardener in Kyoto, share their knowledge.

For many, the impetus for enrolling in a gardening experience isn’t just self-improvement, but also finding a new way to slow down and appreciate the present, as well as the past. This is especially true if the backdrop of your classroom is Portugal’s Douro Valley, a UNESCO World Heritage site and one of the world’s oldest demarcated wine regions.

Here, agricultural traditions run deep, and sustainably minded hotels like Six Senses Douro Valley in Lamego are among the forces working hard to preserve them. In addition to protecting the ecosystem by restoring a 10-acre forest, the 60-room property immerses travellers in the region’s history and culture through its organic gardens, vineyard, spa and restaurants.

Guests are invited to “Be a Gardener” for the day and learn about ecological practices like composting, agroforestry and seed saving. Meanwhile, the Alchemy Bar Workshop teaches you how to whip up natural cosmetics from garden herbs and fruits. The local recipes date back to the 19th century, when Douro Valley residents made their own skin care using available ingredients — long before DIY beauty was a trend.

For those wanting to venture off-property, the Historic Douro Gardens Route links the valley’s most exquisitely groomed gardens. A stop at the 18th-century Casa de Mateus in Vila Real is a must, if only to marvel at the boxwood hedges and smell the fragrant roses.

While gardens of this size and grandeur may be disappearing, the interest in creating a verdant space of one’s own is a flourishing pursuit. Travelling to learn from the masters could be the perfect opportunity to dig into — and take home — a new hobby.

The Star understands the restrictions on travel during the coronavirus pandemic. But like you, we dream of travelling again, and we’re publishing this story with future trips in mind.