Cotswolds Villages to Cornwall’s Coast

Arrival & Highclere Castle

Your journey begins with a private transfer to Highclere Castle for a private tour and afternoon tea — the real Downton Abbey, and still home to the Earl and Countess of Carnarvon. Sandwiches, scones, and a proper cup of tea in the State Rooms you know from the show, before a short drive through the Oxfordshire countryside to Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons. After check-in, the rest of the afternoon is yours to settle in and explore the stunning grounds. We'll gather this evening for a light dinner in the lounge with welcome champagne.

Accommodations: Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons
Meals: Afternoon Tea (T) Dinner (D)

Gardens, Flowers & the Cookery School

This morning we'll spend time in Le Manoir's celebrated gardens with the team who tend them — the potager, the herb beds, the heritage orchard — before sitting down to arrange flowers cut that same morning. Lunch is at your leisure. In the afternoon, a private class at the Cookery School, cooking seasonal English dishes alongside professional chefs, followed by dinner made from what we've prepared.

Accommodations: Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons
Meals: Breakfast (B), Dinner (D)

Cotswold Villages

Today we'll wander the honey-stone villages the Cotswolds are famous for: Upper and Lower Slaughter, where the River Eye slips beneath mill bridges and past stone cottages untouched by time; and Broadway, with its wide, chestnut-lined High Street. Lunch is at your leisure, followed by Stow-on-the-Wold and its historic market square, and an afternoon at Daylesford Organic, browsing the farm shop and lingering over coffee overlooking the gardens. We'll return to Le Manoir for dinner in Les Jardins du Manoir.

Accommodations: Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons
Meals: Breakfast (B), Dinner (D)

Blenheim Palace

A private tour of Blenheim Palace this morning, birthplace of Winston Churchill and the only non-royal country house in England to hold the title of palace — through the magnificent State Rooms, followed by a buggy tour of Capability Brown's parkland. We’ll lunch at L'Orangerie, then the afternoon is yours for shopping at Bicester Village, or an afternoon at Le Manoir's spa. Tonight, dinner at the two-Michelin-starred Le Manoir restaurant.

Accommodations: Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons
Meals: Breakfast (B), Lunch (L), Dinner (D)

Transfer to Cornwall via Bibury & Castle Combe

We'll say goodbye to Oxfordshire and make our way to the Cornish coast, breaking the drive at two of England's prettiest villages: Bibury, which William Morris called the most beautiful in the country, and Castle Combe, its honey-coloured cottages running down to a stone bridge and an ancient market cross. Lunch is at The Newt in Somerset, a working farm estate where the kitchen gardens and orchards supply the table — a fitting last stop before the coast takes over. Then on to The Headland, with the Atlantic on three sides and Fistral Beach below. Dinner tonight is at RenMor, with an open kitchen and the last of the light going down over the water.

Accommodations: The Headland
Meals: Breakfast (B), Lunch (L), Dinner (D)

Leisure Morning & Tintagel

A slower start today — a morning to relax, take a walk along the coast path, or spend time at the spa, with its Cornish sea salt steam room and treatment rooms looking out to the Atlantic. Lunch is at THE PIG, a fifteenth-century house with a walled kitchen garden that supplies the table. In the afternoon, we'll cross the footbridge to Tintagel Castle, the thirteenth-century ruin built on the strength of the King Arthur legend, with the ocean on every side. Dinner tonight at Ugly Butterfly, Adam Handling's Michelin-starred restaurant, cooking almost entirely from the Cornish coast.

Accommodations: The Headland
Meals: Breakfast (B), Lunch (L), Dinner (D)

St Michael's Mount, Land's End & St Ives

This morning we'll go to Marazion, where a granite island rises out of Mount's Bay with a medieval church and castle on top. Edward the Confessor gave St Michael's Mount to the Benedictine monks of Mont-Saint-Michel in Normandy, and it was their priory for centuries — which is why the two islands share more than a name. We'll cross according to the whims of the tide. Lunch at the Marazion Hotel's Cutty Sark Restaurant, with the Mount framed in the window and a menu built on Cornish meat, produce, and fish landed nearby. From there, Land's End, where mainland England ends and the Atlantic begins. Then on to St Ives, the harbour town that's drawn painters for a century, with time to wander its boutiques and galleries. Dinner tonight is at your leisure.

Accommodations: The Headland
Meals: Breakfast (B), Lunch (L)

Transfer to Cliveden House

We'll leave the Cornish coast behind for the drive to Cliveden, passing Stonehenge visible as it rises out of the Salisbury Plain — five thousand years old, and still one of the great mysteries of the ancient world. We'll arrive at Cliveden to champagne afternoon tea, in a house that once entertained Churchill, Chaplin, and Roosevelt. After checking in, the afternoon is yours. Wander the 376 acres of National Trust gardens and woodland, or head to the walled garden for the spa — home to the only listed outdoor pool in England, set among roses and lavender. Dinner tonight is at your leisure.

Accommodations: Cliveden House
Meals: Breakfast (B) Afternoon Tea (T)

Cliveden at Leisure

A day to make the most of the estate. In the afternoon, we'll take a private trip down the Thames aboard one of Cliveden's restored vintage launches, drifting the same stretch the Astor family cruised a century ago. Beyond that, the day is yours: horseback riding, woodland walks, or time at the Pavilion Spa. Lunch is at your leisure — The Astor is a lovely option. Tonight, a farewell dinner in the Cliveden Dining Room, looking out over the parterre and the gardens.

Accommodations: Cliveden House
Meals: Breakfast (B), Dinner (D)

Departure

After breakfast, transfers to Heathrow, just twenty-five minutes away — one last look at the countryside before ten remarkable days come to a close.

Meals: Breakfast (B)