Day 1: Following your home taxi collection you will join our luxury tour coach and we will make our way south to Hampshire, and our hotel for the next 4 nights, the 4 star Hampshire Court Hotel & Spa on a dinner bed and breakfast basis.
Day 2: After a leisurely breakfast, we head to Mottisfont House and Gardens. This former priory has an incomparable beauty, and is full of delights and surprises. Discover a wealth of creativity, conflict, love and loss as the house is brought to life through a changing array of exhibitions. 20th century society hostess Maud Russell hosted numerous events here, with guests including The Churchills, Ian Fleming and the Bloomsbury Group. Outside, carpets of summer flowers and the walled gardens create a feast for the senses.
Later we make our way to Winchester for an afternoon at leisure. Popular for its bustling shopping streets, Winchester is best known for its eleventh century Cathedral and for the Great Hall which for over 700 years has housed the mysterious King Arthur's Round Table.
Day 3: This morning we head to Basingstoke and the Milestones Museum of Living history. There’s no need to ‘remember the good old days’ – at Milestones Living History Museum, you can live them. In this detailed recreation of life from the Victorian times through to the 1930s and 1940s, you can travel the cobbled streets of yesteryear. In their life-sized, immersive streets you’ll find buildings, shops and vehicles recreated and restored as they would have been.
Milestones is split across two levels with plenty to see and do. From vintage Thornycroft vehicles to the milliner, saddler, ironmonger and more, you’ll get a fascinating look at how people in Basingstoke and the surrounding areas used to live.
It’s not just the buildings that will bring back memories either; for those with a sweet tooth, the museum also contains its own 1940s sweet shop, Abrahams, where you can pick up your ration’s worth of niceties, or if you’re looking for something a little stronger, grab a pint at The Baverstock Arms!
This afternoon we head to The Black Chalk vineyards. The Vineyard lies in the heart of the beautiful Test Valley, which provides a stunning setting with fantastic views for you to enjoy while you learn about the art of vine growing.
Day 4: Our day begins with a short drive to the Market town of Alton, where we join the Watercress Line for a single journey over the ‘Hampshire Alps’ to Arlesford. Alresford is the home of the Hampshire watercress industry, from which the line takes its name. Watercress was sent all over the country by train from the goods platform which you can still see behind the signal box.
This afternoon we head to Chawton, and the home of Jane Austen. We have included a visit to Jane Austens House, where she wrote or revised all of her novels. You can also see the Chawton House Library where Jane's brother, Edward Knight lived.
Day 5: Sadly this morning we depart our hotel as we make our way back to Norfolk, making suitable stops on route. We arrive late afternoon to re-join our door to door taxi service who will return you safely home.
Holiday Information:
4 Nights Dinner, Bed & Breakfast (Dinner will be table service)
Price: £667pp
Single Supplement: £Nil (Limited Availability)
Additional Singles Beyond Allocation From: £128 (Will be allocated a twin or double room for sole occupancy, depending on availability)
Tour Reference: AWE5188
Deposit Required: £50pp
Balance Due: 10 weeks prior to departure