Day 1: After your collection by our door to door taxi service, we join our luxury tour coach and head south west to Wiltshire and our hotel for the next four nights, The Best Western Blunsdon House Hotel. Upon our arrival tea/coffee will be served while your cases are delivered to your room.
Day 2: After breakfast we make the journey to Newbury, set on the banks of the river Kennet, here we will be free to explore at your own leisure. After our time here we enjoy the highlight of our tour – a visit to Highclere Castle. The Castle is one of England's most beautiful Victorian Castles, set amidst 1,000 acres of spectacular parkland. The Carnarvon family has lived at Highclere since 1679, and the current Castle stands on the site of an earlier house, which in turn was built on the foundations of the medieval palace owned by the Bishops of Winchester for some 800 years.
Longstanding friend of the Carnarvon family, Julian Fellowes had Highclere Castle in mind as he wrote the drama Downton Abbey and was filmed on location here at Highclere Castle. He often commented he wanted a house which spectacularly testified to the confidence and soaring optimism of the Edwardian period.
Follow in the footsteps of your favourite characters as your transported back in time on a tour of the castle and gardens. On our tour we explore the main state rooms, some of the bedrooms and also have a visit to the staff quarters. Outside, the gardens feature a wild flower Meadow, Rose Garden and a Healing Herb Garden.
Day 3: This morning we journey to the beautiful Georgian city of Bath. Here we meet a local guide for an on-board tour of this beautiful city. The rest of the day is free for you to explore at leisure. The Pump Room is well worth a visit, and there are several museums, including the world’s largest costume museum and the fine medieval abbey.
Day 4:
This morning we set off on a wonderful scenic drive into the beautiful Cotswolds countryside. Our first stop onto Stow-on-the-Wold. At nearly 800ft, Stow is the highest of the Cotswold towns, located on the Roman Fosse Way and at the point where several roads meet. The Market Square is large and impressive and testifies to the town’s former importance. It is surrounded by town houses, independent shops, antique centres, cosy cafes and inns all built in the mellow local stone, and it has been the focus of town life over many centuries, with the medieval market stocks at one end, the ancient market cross at the other and the impressive St Edwards Hall standing in the centre.
Later we journey to Burford. Burford’s famous High Street sweeps downhill towards the River Windrush. Little has changed over the centuries, and Burford is popular with visitors, both for its beauty and history but also for its shopping, especially antiques, and for the wide variety of places to eat, with restaurants, pubs and teashops. Here you can stay in a hotel frequented by King Charles and Nell Gwynn, dine where Nelson dined or visit England’s oldest pharmacy, a chemists since 1734.
Half way down the hill, the 16th century Tolsey building, once the meeting place for medieval merchants, now houses The Tolsey Museum, a delightful, local museum illustrating the town's social and industrial past. There are wonderful alleyways and side streets just waiting to be explored and next to a set of medieval almshouses stands St John’s church, a permanent memorial to Burford’s medieval wealth. This fine church is a real gem with many interesting memorials charting some of Burford's great families including one to Henry VIII’s barber surgeon, which includes one of the earliest depictions of native Americans and the ostentatious Tanfield tomb. (attractions today are subject to individual choice and payment)
Day 5: Sadly this morning we depart our hotel and make our way back to Norfolk making suitable stops en route. Upon arrival our door to door taxi service will be waiting to take you home.
Holiday Information:
4 Nights Dinner, Bed & Breakfast
Price: £623pp
Single Supplement: £nil (Limited Availability)
Additional Singles Beyond Allocation From: £112 (Will be allocated a double or twin room for sole occupancy, depending on availability)
Insurance: TBC (Insurance not currently available)
Tour Reference: AWE4805
Deposit Required: £50pp
Balance Due: 8 weeks prior to departure