- Western Europe
- >
- England/Wales
- >
- Country Elegance in Dorset, Somerset and Devon
Country Elegance in Dorset, Somerset and Devon
$0.00
Unavailable
per item
Highlights:
Explore the scenic highlights of England’s Southwest counties as you discover fossils on the beach of Dorset’s Jurassic Coast and the land brought to life in the literary works of Thomas Hardy including dinner at a coaching Inn that is featured in “Tess of the d’Urbervilles."
Continue to Somerset and use the Royal City of Bath to visit Stonehenge, Salisbury and Winchester. Explore the Bath of Jane Austen before driving along the north Devon coast to Dartmoor and an elegant hotel with 2** Michelin dining. Build up an appetite by hiking in Dartmoor and meeting the Dartmoor ponies. You can drive yourself with our provided rental or have a knowledgeable drive/guide show you around.
Explore the scenic highlights of England’s Southwest counties as you discover fossils on the beach of Dorset’s Jurassic Coast and the land brought to life in the literary works of Thomas Hardy including dinner at a coaching Inn that is featured in “Tess of the d’Urbervilles."
Continue to Somerset and use the Royal City of Bath to visit Stonehenge, Salisbury and Winchester. Explore the Bath of Jane Austen before driving along the north Devon coast to Dartmoor and an elegant hotel with 2** Michelin dining. Build up an appetite by hiking in Dartmoor and meeting the Dartmoor ponies. You can drive yourself with our provided rental or have a knowledgeable drive/guide show you around.
SKU:
Explore: DORSET, SOMERSET AND DEVON
Customizable Itinerary - 12 Days (from $6,721 per person)
Day 1: Depart USA
Board your aircraft for the overnight flight to London and your authentic experience in Southwest England.
Day 2: Welcome to Britain
Upon arrival in London you will either pick up your rental car or be met by your driver/guide. In either case you will drive to the town of Evershot in the county of Dorset. The owners of your hotel also own a coaching Inn which is located in the village within walking distance. What a great way to meet the locals, play skittles and enjoy sophisticated “pub grub” in an Inn featured by Thomas Hardy in two of his novels.
Day 3: Walking the Jurassic Coast
After breakfast, you will drive to the Southwest Coast Path which runs the entire length of the Jurassic Coast and reveals thousands of years’ of history in the rock formations and the dramatic coastal cliffs. Thousands of fossils have been found on its shores including dinosaur bones and teeth, sea creatures, insects and flying reptiles. Even today, you can make a find. Return to your car or meet up with your driver and return to the hotel. In the afternoon test your skills on the hotel’s 18 hole putting green. Breakfast and Dinner
Day 4: Exploring the New Forest
Today you get the chance to spend time in one of England’s scenic delights, the New Forest. Despite the name “New”, the forest was actually a hunting preserve for the early Saxon kings before the arrival of William the Conqueror. Today wild ponies, cattle, pigs and deer roam freely amongst the 93,000 acres. The forest makes a great location for a picnic.
Breakfast and Dinner
Day 5: Winchester, Salisbury and Stonehenge
After breakfast you depart the New Forest and head to the picturesque cities of Winchester and Salisbury (no matter their population a town can only be called a city in England if it has a cathedral). You finish your day in the Royal city of Bath with strong ties to Roman Times and the novels of Jane Austen.
Breakfast
Day 6: Exploring Roman and Regency Bath
Today you will have a privately guided walking tour of Bath starting with the Roman Baths which made the town a center of Roman life at that time. Based on natural springs, the baths are still in working order today. You will walk through the Regency portions of Bath and admire the crescent shaped terraces. You will also see sights associated with Jane Austen who lived in the city and based several of her novels here.
Breakfast
Day 7: Stonehenge and the Pump Room
Today you should rise early to drive to Stonehenge as the sun is coming up (ask the hotel to pack you a picnic breakfast). Enjoy your visit to this edifice that dates back before the Pyramids and just as mysterious. After your visit you drive back to Bath where you can use the afternoon to explore on your own. We do recommend that you take afternoon tea at the Pump room much as they did in the times of Jane Austen. A string quartet will be playing and adding a glass of champagne adds a nice touch to the experience.
Breakfast
Day 8: Devon’s West Coast and a Devonshire Cream Tea
Today you leave Somerset and head into Devon which is unique among English counties in having two separate coastlines, one in the south and one in the north. You will drive by, and possibly visit, some quaint little seaside towns before reaching Dartmoor National Park the last wilderness area in Southern England. Your hotel is situated in the forested hills of Dartmoor on a road known as Mariner’s Way since sailors used to disembark on the south coast and walk this path to the north coast to find another ship. After arrival you have some time to relax and walk through the gardens especially the water garden then enjoy a Devonshire Cream Tea featuring scones, strawberry jam and Devonshire Clotted Cream.
Breakfast and Dinner
Day 9: A Picnic in the Countryside
You have the full day to enjoy the 100+ acres surrounding the hotel with formal gardens, rugged countryside and trails through the woods. The hotel will provide a picnic hamper for you to enjoy along the way.
Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
Day 10: Walking on Dartmoor
Today you can immerse yourself on the moor. This is a romantic, rugged landscape, ranging from rolling valleys and wetlands to wide open landscapes, dense forests and tumbling waterfalls. It is a walker’s paradise, offering a huge variety of trails that cater for all levels of walker and discovering this magical landscape on foot affords the opportunity to experience the wildlife and natural vegetation that are at home here. The famous Dartmoor ponies are perceived to roam fee and wild on the moors, but they are, in fact, owned by farmers who work the moorland and their health and wellbeing is taken care of year round. The hotel will pack you a ‘hikers’ lunch in a rucksack for an impromptu picnic. Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
Day 11: From the Moor to the Thames
In the morning you will drive back to the London area to a hotel situated on the banks of the Thames between Marlow and Henley-on-Thames. Breakfast
Day 12: Return to the USA
You will be transferred to nearby Heathrow airport for your return flight to the USA.
Breakfast
Board your aircraft for the overnight flight to London and your authentic experience in Southwest England.
Day 2: Welcome to Britain
Upon arrival in London you will either pick up your rental car or be met by your driver/guide. In either case you will drive to the town of Evershot in the county of Dorset. The owners of your hotel also own a coaching Inn which is located in the village within walking distance. What a great way to meet the locals, play skittles and enjoy sophisticated “pub grub” in an Inn featured by Thomas Hardy in two of his novels.
Day 3: Walking the Jurassic Coast
After breakfast, you will drive to the Southwest Coast Path which runs the entire length of the Jurassic Coast and reveals thousands of years’ of history in the rock formations and the dramatic coastal cliffs. Thousands of fossils have been found on its shores including dinosaur bones and teeth, sea creatures, insects and flying reptiles. Even today, you can make a find. Return to your car or meet up with your driver and return to the hotel. In the afternoon test your skills on the hotel’s 18 hole putting green. Breakfast and Dinner
Day 4: Exploring the New Forest
Today you get the chance to spend time in one of England’s scenic delights, the New Forest. Despite the name “New”, the forest was actually a hunting preserve for the early Saxon kings before the arrival of William the Conqueror. Today wild ponies, cattle, pigs and deer roam freely amongst the 93,000 acres. The forest makes a great location for a picnic.
Breakfast and Dinner
Day 5: Winchester, Salisbury and Stonehenge
After breakfast you depart the New Forest and head to the picturesque cities of Winchester and Salisbury (no matter their population a town can only be called a city in England if it has a cathedral). You finish your day in the Royal city of Bath with strong ties to Roman Times and the novels of Jane Austen.
Breakfast
Day 6: Exploring Roman and Regency Bath
Today you will have a privately guided walking tour of Bath starting with the Roman Baths which made the town a center of Roman life at that time. Based on natural springs, the baths are still in working order today. You will walk through the Regency portions of Bath and admire the crescent shaped terraces. You will also see sights associated with Jane Austen who lived in the city and based several of her novels here.
Breakfast
Day 7: Stonehenge and the Pump Room
Today you should rise early to drive to Stonehenge as the sun is coming up (ask the hotel to pack you a picnic breakfast). Enjoy your visit to this edifice that dates back before the Pyramids and just as mysterious. After your visit you drive back to Bath where you can use the afternoon to explore on your own. We do recommend that you take afternoon tea at the Pump room much as they did in the times of Jane Austen. A string quartet will be playing and adding a glass of champagne adds a nice touch to the experience.
Breakfast
Day 8: Devon’s West Coast and a Devonshire Cream Tea
Today you leave Somerset and head into Devon which is unique among English counties in having two separate coastlines, one in the south and one in the north. You will drive by, and possibly visit, some quaint little seaside towns before reaching Dartmoor National Park the last wilderness area in Southern England. Your hotel is situated in the forested hills of Dartmoor on a road known as Mariner’s Way since sailors used to disembark on the south coast and walk this path to the north coast to find another ship. After arrival you have some time to relax and walk through the gardens especially the water garden then enjoy a Devonshire Cream Tea featuring scones, strawberry jam and Devonshire Clotted Cream.
Breakfast and Dinner
Day 9: A Picnic in the Countryside
You have the full day to enjoy the 100+ acres surrounding the hotel with formal gardens, rugged countryside and trails through the woods. The hotel will provide a picnic hamper for you to enjoy along the way.
Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
Day 10: Walking on Dartmoor
Today you can immerse yourself on the moor. This is a romantic, rugged landscape, ranging from rolling valleys and wetlands to wide open landscapes, dense forests and tumbling waterfalls. It is a walker’s paradise, offering a huge variety of trails that cater for all levels of walker and discovering this magical landscape on foot affords the opportunity to experience the wildlife and natural vegetation that are at home here. The famous Dartmoor ponies are perceived to roam fee and wild on the moors, but they are, in fact, owned by farmers who work the moorland and their health and wellbeing is taken care of year round. The hotel will pack you a ‘hikers’ lunch in a rucksack for an impromptu picnic. Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
Day 11: From the Moor to the Thames
In the morning you will drive back to the London area to a hotel situated on the banks of the Thames between Marlow and Henley-on-Thames. Breakfast
Day 12: Return to the USA
You will be transferred to nearby Heathrow airport for your return flight to the USA.
Breakfast