DAY 1
10.30am arrive Heathrow
11.30am follow A308 to Runnymede, site of the signing of Magna Carta. Continue to Windsor with tour of Windsor Castle including State Apartments and St George's Chapel.
1.30pm light lunch in Windsor
2.15pm depart Windsor for scenic drive through Chilterns to Oxford (via Henley, Wallingford and Dorchester)
3.30pm arrive Oxford; check in at hotel
4pm 90-minute tour of Oxford
DAY 2
9.00am depart Oxford for Blenheim Palace
9.30am arrive Blenheim for 45 minutes in park.
10.15am depart for Burford
11am arrive Burford, stop for 30 mins
11.30am depart for Stow-on-the-Wold
2pm. Stratford with immediate visit of Anne Hathaway’s Cottage for 1-hour tour.
3pm Drive to Ringo car park.
4.30pm depart Stratford heading south into the Cotswolds via Mickleton and Chipping Campden to Broadway. If time include a short walk on Dover’s Hill for stunning views of Vale of Evesham
Arrive Broadway 6.45pm
DAY 3
9am depart Broadway for tour of North Cotswolds with idyllic villages of Stanton and Stanway then continue to Broadway Tower (with short walk weather permitting)
10am continue southeast to Stow-on-the-Wold at the centre of the Cotswolds. Tearoom visit.
11.15am head southwest towards Cheltenham then south along the idyllic Coln Valley to Bibury. Lunch in Bibury. Alternative: visit to Chedworth Roman villa (with lunch) followed by shorter visit to Bibury.
2.15pm head from Bibury across the southern Cotswolds via Tetbury to Bath
Arrive Bath 3.45pm, for initial 30-minute minibus tour of this World Heritage Site city famous for its Georgian architecture and amazing Roman Baths.
4.15pm check into hotel
5.30pm early evening visit to the Roman Baths (museum; not for swimming!)
DAY 4
Sun 4th August 2019
8.30am Early start along A36 to Stonehenge
9.30am arrive Stonehenge for tour of the monument followed by refreshments
11.15am depart Stonehenge
12am latest arrive Salisbury for visit to the Cathedral with lunch in the cathedral cafe
1.30am depart Salisbury for Southampton
DESTINATIONS & TOURS
DESTINATIONS & TOURS
Stratford-upon-Avon
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Stratford-upon-Avon is both birthplace (1564) and burial place (1616) of William Shakespeare; it's where grew up, went to school, met his wife Anne Hathaway and then returned to having achieved unparalleled fame and fortune as a playwright in London. Shakespeare was the son of a prosperous local wool merchant and glover.
SHAKESPEARE SIGHTS
See some of the houses associated with Shakespeare and his family, including his Birthplace, Hall’s Croft, Anne Hathaway’s Cottage and perhaps Mary Arden’s House in Wilmcote. Also, the Old Grammar School, where Shakespeare was educated, the Site of New Place, where he lived on his return to Stratford; and the Holy Trinity Church where he was baptised and buried. If you finish with a play at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, your immersion into the life of the Bard will be complete.
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WARWICK CASTLE AND KENILWORTH
The town of Warwick is dominated by its mighty medieval castle, begun in Saxon times by Ethelfleda, daughter of Alfred the Great. Its most powerful resident was Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick (the Kingmaker), who played a key role in the Wars of the Roses of the 15th century. Adjacent is the elegant spa town of Leamington Spa, while to the north lies Kenilworth and its castle, long since ruined but still one of the finest fortresses in England, whose list of past occupants reads like a roll call of some of medieval England’s most colourful characters.
MANOR HOUSES
Apart from the Warwickshire villages with their typical timber-framed houses, there are some wonderful manor houses in the vicinity including the moated Baddesley Clinton Hall, famous for its priest hole used during the reign of Elizabeth I, and Packwood House with its lawn of yew trees. The Elizabethan Charlecote House is where Shakespeare was caught poaching deer as a boy; the grounds were later remodelled by star landscape architect, Lancelot Capability Brown.
