With Georgia a few miles behind us we have crossed the border into South Carolina.

Here in Beaufort, SC a stone's throw away from Wadmalaw Island is a tea plantation - America's only tea plantation.

It is a small plantation of only about 130 acres once owned by Liptons and now Bigelow's. The area has sandy soil, a sub tropical climate and an average rainfall of 52 inches per year - apparently idyllic conditions for the plants.

We meet up with Graham & Suzy - friends of our friends in Savannah, and Graham takes William for a sightseeing tour across Beaufort in his light aircraft. From the air it was easy to see outlines of the old indigo and rice plantations still etched into the land. The magnificent old plantation homes now family homes with smaller gardens.

Only room for two aboard, so I take the camera and walk around town - it is gorgeous - just as if it had been built as a film set but the old wooden houses, giant trees, island boardwalks stretching out over the marsh and masses of flowers and greenery are for real.