How popular are garden tours

A.� They've come a long way since that pre-Alan Titmarsh hardy perennial of a TV gardener Percy Thrower first offered tours of Westcountry gardens from the Imperial Hotel in Torquay.

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Themed holidays are a boom area for the tourism industry and garden tours are among the most popular. Specialist garden holidays now attract tens of thousands of greenfingered tourists every year. Just look at the ad section in any of the weekend paper supplements and you'll find a garden tour to satisfy just about every taste and budget.

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A.� The world is your oyster. Some of the most popular include tours of Andalusia in Spain, the Alhambra gardens et al, spring trips to the bulb fields of Holland or the Renaissance gardens of Tuscany. Outside Europe you can retrace the steps of the great plant hunters in Chile, South America, Australia and New Zealand or admire the Zen and temple gardens of Japan and China.

Try http://www.brightwaterholidays.com� (tel 01334 657155) or www.garden-holidays.com (tel 0870 442 3290).

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There are a handful of very specialist operators who really push the boundaries, going to different places each year. Destinations include countries as diverse as Iceland and Madagascar.

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A.� Not at all. Many of them will combine gardens with trips to see interesting plants in the wild, birdwatching or even a bit of wine tasting, particularly in France, Spain and the New World. You also get to explore some of the world's finest cities.

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A. Gardening may be hip and trendy at the moment, but anyone going along expecting to party on the beach until sunrise will probably be disappointed. Generally speaking, the clientele hasn't changed much since Percy's days, with the average age being between 55 and 65. Although some of the more specialist, obscure or demanding tours attract a younger age group, most parties are made up of retired enthusiasts, often fulfilling a life's ambition to visit a certain country or treating it as a second annual holiday.

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A. There are loads of garden tours on offer in Britain, from long weekends to whole weeks. You can even get your hands dirty with the National Trust, who offer working holidays where you muck in with restoration work, clearing etc around some of Britain's finest stately homes. In return you get cut-priced local accommodation. For more details log onto www.nationaltrust.org.uk/volunteers.

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