Tourism Entrepreneur's Handbook THE HISTORICAL AND THE CONTEMPORARY GARDEN PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT PROJECT LLI - 181 REVIVAL OF OLD TRADITIONAL FRUIT, VEGETABLE AND ORNAMENTAL PLANTS AND THEIR PRODUCTS: HERITAGE GARDENS TOUR (HERITAGE GARDENS). This handbook has been prepared as part of the project "Revival of old traditional fruit, vegetable and ornamental plants and their products: Heritage Gardens Tour" (HERITAGE GARDENS), which is funded by the European Union under the Interreg V-A Latvia – Lithuania Programme 2014-2020 Project lead partner: The Project’s partners: The Project’s aims The aim of the project is to promote the conservation and restoration of historical varieties and gardening traditions by including the gardening heritage in tourism. During the project, horticulture experts from Latvia and Lithuania inspected and selected the most valuable sites of horticultural heritage, provided advices on historical varieties, and management of the heritage garden. Cross- border project forced to exchange the experience in this field and to safe old cultivars for the future generations. Latvian and Lithuanian rural tourism associations are helping the garden owners to develop their contribution towards garden tourism, preparing historical garden tourism routes and carrying out marketing activities to promote historical gardens and varieties. Cross-border routes is fostering horticultural lovers to visit valuable objects and attract more foreign visitors. The methodological and informative material developed during the project is useful for the owners of the historical gardens, for the horticultural enthusiasts and shows the need of preservation of the historical objects. The improved infrastructure and developed historical gardens meet tourists at Rundale palace and Obelynė homestead. Horticulture institutes in both countries will enrich their collections for educational and research purposes. The total project budget is 830,733 EUR. Out of them co-funding of European Regional Development Fund is 706,123 EUR. Project webpage: www.latlit.eu, The official website of the EU: www.europa.eu, Information about the project: http://www.celotajs.lv/lv/project/15 This publication has been supported by the European Union. The Latvian country tourism association Lauku ceļotājs is fully responsible for the content of this publication, and it cannot be considered the official viewpoint of the European Union under any circumstances. CONTENT 1. Introduction 2 2. The historical garden tourism product 3 2.1. The definition of a historical garden tourism product 3 2.2. What can we find in Latvian gardens 3 2.3. What can we find in Lithuanian gardens 5 2.4. How to turn a garden into a tourism product 7 3. Garden planning and development 8 3.1. Where to start? A situation analysis 9 3.2. The zoning of a garden or a farmstead 11 3.2.1. The access area, first impressions 11 3.2.2. Living area, rest area 11 3.2.3. A place for a fire 12 3.2.4. Water in the garden, farmstead 13 3.2.5. Children in the garden - a children’s playground 13 3.2.6. Recreation options - areas for peaceful and active recreation 14 3.2.7. The household area 15 3.2.8. Waste, compost piles 15 3.3. Practical work – zoning in our land plan 16 3.4. Garden architecture and greenery 17 3.4.1. Garden architecture 17 3.4.2. Greenery 18 4. Garden tending and cultivation 20 4.1. Tending to old orchards 20 4.2. Reconstruction of an orchard and caring for new trees 20 4.3. The growing of vegetables 21 4.4. The growing of herbs 23 4.5. Tending to decorative plants 23 5. How to prepare the garden for visitors 24 5.1. What is your garden tourism product 25 5.2. How to communicate the garden to visitors 25 5.3. An excursion hosted by the owner or a guide - how to create it 29 5.4. Presentation - a story with a slideshow 29 5.5. Produce tasting 31 5.6. A farm store or stand 32 6. Infrastructure for receiving tourists 37 6.1. Road signs 37 6.2. Car parking 38 6.3. Visitor’s WCs 38 7. Historical information on gardening, varieties, plant breeding 38 7.1. Latvian Horticultural History 38 7.1.1. Fruit growing 38 7.1.2. Vegetable gardening 45 7.1.3. Herbs and medicinal plants 49 7.1.4. Decorative gardening 51 7.2. Lithuanian Horticultural History 54 7.2.1. Fruit growing 55 7.2.2. Vegetable gardening 56 7.2.3. Ornamental and medicinal plants 58 8. Examples of garden tourism 61 8.1. Altes Land, Germany 61 8.2. Norway, Hardanger region 64 Sources of literature 66 1. INTRODUCTION Historical Heritage gardens is a new, barely explored The chapters of the handbook introduce the follow- topic in Latvian and Lithuanian rural tourism. Garden ing topics: tourism has long-standing traditions in Europe, and it enjoys popularity. There is virtually no comparable The historical heritage garden tourism product. offer in Latvia and Lithuania, but there is good po- This chapter provides a definition of the historical tential for it. The most popular gardens in Latvia are, garden tourism product. This chapter also intro- for example, the Rundāle Palace garden with a col- duces the results of the survey of Latvia’s gardens lection of roses, the Pēteris Upītis’ garden in Dobele, carried out by the specialists of the Dobele Institute the Kalsnava Arboretum. Several gardeners and vari- of Horticulture to establish the situation in Latvia’s ety collectors have opened their gardens for visitors, gardens and evaluate their potential for garden allowing them to enjoy the beauty of roses, peonies, tourism. Specialists from the Lithuanian Research dahlias, and various ornamental plants in the sum- Centre for Agriculture and Forestry together with mer and providing practical tips. The owners of tourism specialist have inspected and evaluated the fruit orchards welcome guests, too, combining their places where you can become in acquainted with visit with consultations on the cultivation and sales different heritage garden tourism products. of fruits and plants. Manor owners who renovate Garden planning and development. This chapter historical manor houses create proper gardens and explores the basic principles to take into account parks to develop the manor’s environment, not only when planning and developing any garden – both to the extent of interior design and architecture, but historical and contemporary. Each subchapter on the entire manor ensemble. this topic is supplemented by photographs; exam- In Lithuania there are several botanical gardens, ples of garden zoning maps are also provided. Tadas Ivanauskas Homestead’s Obelynė Park with Garden tending and cultivation. This chapter almost 300 different plants collection, Navidanskas includes tips on the reconstruction of a fruit or- Park with old apple orchard, few manor houses with chard and the tending of new trees, the cultivation tulip bloom festival and preserved authentical or- and tending of vegetables, herbs and ornamental chard. Big part of the objects have very wide assort- plants, as well as advice on the selection of varieties ment of medicinal and culinary herbs, where visitors for a historical garden offered for tourists. can get acquainted with the plants, take part in ed- How to prepare the garden for receiving visi- ucational programs about the herbs or taste them. tors. This chapter includes advice on how to devel- Consultations or examples of old plant varieties you op a garden’s story and present information, how to will find at horticulture institute in Babtai (Lithuania). establish a shop, which is an important element in This handbook is useful for: the tourism offer and provides additional income. 1 professional gardeners and plant breeders. The Infrastructure for receiving tourists. This chap- handbook includes practical tips on preparing the ter describes the minimum required infrastruc- garden for visitors. By welcoming visitors in the ture for visitors’ comfort – parking, facilities, etc. garden, it is possible to introduce a wider society Historical information on gardening, varieties with the results of plant breeding – the varieties cre- and plant breeding. This chapter provides a short ated, their assets, the value of conserving historical summary on the development of fruit, vegetable, varieties; herb and medicinal plant growing, as well as orna- mental gardening in Latvia and Lithuania. 2 rural tourism entrepreneurs. The handbook Examples of garden tourism. This chapter ex- includes practical tips on how to design a garden plores examples of Germany’s fruit orchards as a to create a harmonious landscape and a pleasant garden tourism product. environment for visitors, in addition to the existing tourism on offer. 2 THE HISTORICAL GARDEN 2. TOURISM PRODUCT 2.1. THE DEFINITION OF A HISTORI- The most important aspects CAL GARDEN TOURISM PRODUCT of a tourism object are: the story of the garden, Gardens, botanical gardens and plant collections interesting varieties, that are open for visitors to learn about the tradi- the garden’s landscape, tions and history of gardening and for viewing tradi- products etc. tionally grown fruits, vegetables, herbs, ornamental trees, shrubs and flower varieties. Specialized gar- Historical garden tourism objects generally dens may offer the opportunity to learn about the include: history and use of these varieties and the achieve- manor gardens ments of local plant breeders. Historical gardens farmhouses (rural tourism objects) reflect the influence of different eras and cultures. plant collection gardens Such gardens are often located next to manors, museums dedicated to fruit-growers (in Durbe, museums or farms and are related to their history. Dviete) 2.2. WHAT CAN WE FIND IN They have been established in: LATVIAN GARDENS? 19th century (manors, old farms) 20th century the first half (farms etc.) Specialists from the Latvian Institute of Horticulture more recent (plant collections) surveyed the gardens in Latvia and drew conclu- sions on the development potential of a historical Manor gardens: garden tourism product.