Classic Tour of England

Your driver-guide will meet you inside the arrivals hall, assist with luggage and escort you to the vehicle.

Older than the Pyramids of Egypt, Stonehenge, Europe's most famous prehistoric monument is around 5,000 years old.  A temple to the sun, moon and stars, this mystical and magical site holds within in its stones, the key to understanding the cultures and rituals of the Neolithic people that built it. The story of Stonehenge is not one to be missed! Your private guide will reveal the mystery around this world-famous stone circle, explaining how experts have exposed the secrets of this enigmatic site. The interactive experience doesn't stop at the stone circle! Your guide can also take you to meet a 5,500-year-old man and discover the tools and domestic artefacts handled by these people who lived 1000's of years ago.

The last stop is one of Britain's most magnificent cathedrals and one of the world's most excellent examples of early English gothic architecture. Salisbury was built-in 1220, its spire boasts a height of 404 feet and is the tallest medieval structure in the world. Salisbury Cathedral commemorated its 800th birthday in 2020 and has seen some things in its time. Plague, royal feuds ravaged the city, and secret WW2 operations took place. Come and discover all this and more with your guide. See the Magna Carta and a beautifully preserved stone frieze depicting scenes from the old testament.

Finish the day driving through the Avon Valley to the historic City of Bath. 

Overnight: Bath - Recommended Classic Five Star Hotel: The Royal Crescent Hotel.
Overnight: Bath outskirts - Recommended Country House Hotel: Bath Priory.

Unique Places to Stay
Castles and Manor House Hotels
Classic and Britain’s Finest Hotels
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Take a stroll around the world heritage City of Bath with its grandiose Georgian architecture, boasting more listed buildings than London. The Circus and Royal Crescent represent Georgian architecture at its finest. Tour the ancient Roman Baths. Two thousand years ago, the Romans harnessed the local hot springs and were able to engineer a magnificent complex of plunge pools, steam rooms and saunas. See how the Romans unwound in their state-of-the-art health club and spa, complete with saunas, steam rooms and plunge pools, dating as far back as 60 A.D.

Visit Bath Abbey; The Gothic fan vault over the nave in the abbey is quite simply majestic. The great advantage of having your professional driver-guide is to be able to take scenic routes that are off-the-beaten-track and explore England’s country lanes, hamlets and lesser-known villages. Take a break at a real local’s pub in a proper English village. 

Considered to be one of England’s most exceptional gardens, Stourhead is one of the most remarkable landscaped gardens in Europe. The garden is a living work of art, perfect to see at any time of the year. See the dark and mysterious volcanic rock Grotto and come face to face with the river god. 

Visit Old Wardour Castle, a real secret tucked away down a narrow series of country lanes, almost forgotten in time. This 14th Century fortification came under attack during the English Civil War on May 1643, the occupants loyal to the King surrendered, the castle now severely damaged. The counter siege that December almost destroyed the entire building. Later in history, the Arundel family built a new house but admired their ‘fashionable’ romantic ruin, so it remains today surrounded by landscaped grounds. 

Your driver-guide will take you around the castle rooms and up the circular stairs to see the panoramic landscape of Wiltshire. The perfect place for a picnic lunch; Wardour is genuinely magical and mostly unknown. 

Overnight: Bath - Recommended Classic Five Star Hotel: The Royal Crescent Hotel.
Overnight: Bath outskirts - Recommended Country House Hotel: Bath Priory.

Unique Places to Stay
Castles and Manor House Hotels
Classic and Britain’s Finest Hotels
Townhouse and Boutique Hotels
Luxury Guesthouse and B&B’s

Take a journey through England’s timeless countryside and visit the pretty villages surrounded by the Cotswolds Hills. See traditional thatched cottages and delightful shops full of unusual and unique items. Stop at Chipping Campden, the perfect Cotswolds market town, with its old pubs, tea rooms and a quaint market hall. Visit delightful Bibury, which first earned its title of ‘the most beautiful village in England’ from the artist and craftsman, William Morris.

Stop at a country pub for lunch; we like to get off-the-tourist-trail and go where the locals go.

During the afternoon you may wish to tour some of the quintessentially English gardens of the Cotswolds region. Tour Hidcote Manor Gardens, one of England’s most exquisite gardens, a complete dream set high in the Cotswold Hills. The herbaceous borders and chambers of hedges add to the theme and character of the garden - every corner turned brings a smile to the face.

Option to enjoy a guided Bike Tour of the Cotswolds using electric bikes.  

Overnight: Bath - Recommended Classic Five Star Hotel: The Royal Crescent Hotel.
Overnight: Bath outskirts - Recommended Country House Hotel: Bath Priory.

Unique Places to Stay
Castles and Manor House Hotels
Classic and Britain’s Finest Hotels
Townhouse and Boutique Hotels
Luxury Guesthouse and B&B’s

Oxford is home to the oldest university in England, home to C.S Lewis, JRR Tolkien and the birthplace of Stephen Hawking. Twenty-six British Prime Ministers attended Oxford University, along with many famous individuals such as Tim Berners Lee, computer scientist and inventor of the World Wide Web. 

Enjoy a walking tour of Oxford with your guide and visit Christ Church College. See the vaulted staircase and elegant Tudor dining hall, the inspiration for Hogwarts dinning hall in the Harry Potter films.

The Cotswolds is one of England’s ‘Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty’ with picturesque towns and villages made of honey-coloured limestone; the Cotswolds are a delight to explore. Once a wealthy wool-producing area, this region is now a TV and filmmaker’s dream, with well preserved buildings of the past. Have lunch in a traditional country pub serving, prepared with Cotswolds sourced ingredients. When the weather is inclement, pubs usually have roaring log fires to keep everyone warm. 

Home to the Duke of Marlborough and birthplace of Sir Winston Churchill, Blenheim Palace is a grand aristocratic home befitting the high status of a Dukedom. This Baroque masterpiece intended to impress; the long drive up to the Great Court provides splendid views of Capability Brown’s world-famous landscaped grounds. Time-permitting, tour the magnificent staterooms. Walk around the formal gardens and stroll through the Italian, secret and rose gardens, not forgetting the water terraces.

Overnight: Bath - Recommended Classic Five Star Hotel: The Royal Crescent Hotel.
Overnight: Bath outskirts - Recommended Country House Hotel: Bath Priory.

Unique Places to Stay
Castles and Manor House Hotels
Classic and Britain’s Finest Hotels
Townhouse and Boutique Hotels
Luxury Guesthouse and B&B’s

Liverpool and The Beatles, trace the life and times of the fab four and hear about Britain’s vibrant music culture.  Start your day with the Beatles Story, an exhibition, the largest of its kind in the world.  See the brand new lifelike statues of the Beatles in front of the iconic waterfront buildings. Your guide will show you the “Dazzle ship” ferry the colourful design was by Sir Peter Blake, who designed the cover for the Sergeant Pepper Album. Visit the childhood homes of John Lennon and Paul McCartney, before heading to Penny Lane and Strawberry Fields.

Your guide will show you where it all began, musically. The Beatles first regular performances took place started at the Casbah club, they even decorated the venue. The Casbah club became a home for that distinctive Mersey beat sound. 

Continue to Albert Docks passing the Billy Fury statue, pass through the rejuvenated town centre to the Town Hall.  The Town Hall balcony is where the Beatles made their famous homecoming in 1964 after a grand world tour. Beatlemania had arrived, the term used by the press at the time to describe scenes of mass hysteria where ever they performed. 

See the brand new £1 billion shopping area called Liverpool One and the former site of Beatles manager Brian Epstein’s record store North End Music Stores.  See the Eleanor Rigby and the fabulous Cilla Black Statue; Cilla was a friend and fellow Liverpudlian of the Beatles. The tour will finish outside the Cavern Club where the Beatles played 292 times as the residential house band from 1961 to 1963. 

After lunch, we continue to the Lake District National Park.

Overnight: The Lake District - Recommended Hotel: The Samling Hotel.

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Castles and Manor House Hotels
Classic and Britain’s Finest Hotels
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The 19th-century landscape painter, John Constable, declared the Lake District National Park ‘the finest scenery that ever was’

The English Lakes have been photographed, painted and had poetry written about its natural beauty. Its natural features are the result of geological upheavals over millennia. Archaeological footprints, stately homes, ruined monasteries and rainbows. It’s got 10 of England’s mountains, and 16 lakes. For those with mountains of energy HIKE the Lake District National Park, please ask for details. 

Human influences have left their mark too: the main activities are quarrying, mining, farming and tourism. There is more to the Lakes District than its world-famous natural environment. There are many towns and villages to explore, whether nestled in valleys or on the side of a lake. Coniston, Windermere, Ambleside and Grasmere each have their own story to tell.

The characters Peter Rabbit, Jemima Puddleduck, Jeremy Fisher! The creation of Beatrix Potter, undoubtedly inspired by the enchanting scenery, dreamt up her stories and eventually lived in the lake district, winning prizes for breeding Herdwick sheep.

Overnight: The Lake District - Recommended Hotel: The Samling Hotel.

Unique Places to Stay
Castles and Manor House Hotels
Classic and Britain’s Finest Hotels
Townhouse and Boutique Hotels
Luxury Guesthouse and B&B’s

Enjoy the Yorkshire Dales National Park with its outstanding scenery of deep valleys, rich hay meadows and grassy hills as well as working farms. Known ‘James Herriot Country’ after the veterinary surgeon and writer, the national park covers 680 square miles and is home to castles and ancient monasteries. 

Nestled in a wooded valley stands the awe-inspiring ruins of UNESCO accredited Fountains Abbey, built in the 12th century by an austere order of Cistercian monks. The Abbey now forms part of an extraordinary 18th-century water garden featuring moon-shaped pools, temples and cascades. 

During the afternoon, tour York and York Minster, one of the world’s most magnificent places of Christian worship, the largest Gothic cathedral in Northern Europe. Constantine the Great proclaimed Christianity as the official religion of the Roman Empire while in York. The minster has half of England’s medieval glass within the Great east window, which is the size of a tennis court - so rare and precious are such windows they were removed during World War Two. The threat of damage being to great to contemplate, so come and soak up one of Europe's wonders of the medieval world. 

Overnight: York - Recommended Hotel: The Grand York Hotel.

Unique Places to Stay
Castles and Manor House Hotels
Classic and Britain’s Finest Hotels
Townhouse and Boutique Hotels
Luxury Guesthouse and B&B’s

Discover the story of Cambridge and how it became home to a world-class university. Wander through the historic streets with your guide, you will be surrounded by magnificent university buildings and riverside colleges. Visit the iconic King’s College Chapel and find out why it took 100 years to complete. Within this working chapel, you will see one of Europe’s most excellent examples of Renaissance stained glass and one of the most impressive fan vaults anywhere, it is quite something to see. 

If your time allows, we can provide private punt on the River Cam, the most dignified way to see Cambridge's grand university buildings. 

Your driver-guide will be able to get you to Heathrow by late afternoon. Alternatively, extend your trip and stay in the Thames Valley, relax and enjoy spa time at either Stoke Park Country club or Cliveden House Hotel. 

Overnight: Buckinghamshire - Recommended Five Star Country House Hotel: Cliveden House Hotel.
Overnight: Buckinghamshire - Recommended Five Star Country Club Hotel: Stoke Park.

Unique Places to Stay
Castles and Manor House Hotels
Classic and Britain’s Finest Hotels
Townhouse and Boutique Hotels
Luxury Guesthouse and B&B’s