Itinerary - London and the Cotswolds
Itinerary MFASA London/Cotswolds 2016
Thursday, May 12 - 8:05 a.m. Depart British Airways - Flight # 238 - Arrive London Heathrow - 7:39 p.m. Coach transfer to Brown's Hotel. We will have the services of a bus on both Friday and Saturday.
Day 1 Friday, May 13
9:30 - Depart Brown’s Hotel via motor coach.
10:00 Tate Modern - Private tour has been arranged. You could have lunch here at the museum or go to:
11:30 Borough Market - Vast, colorful outdoor market with a large variety of food stalls. You can choose to either eat outdoors or in one of the restaurants.
1:00 Westminster Abbey - We will visit this historic cathedral where every royal coronation has been held since 1066. It is also the site of many royal weddings including, most recently, the marriage of Kate and Will. Blue Badge Guides , Philippa Owen and Eileen Cox, will give us a private tour.
2:45 Choices after the abbey: Continue with your guide to 1. St. James Park and Houses of Parliament (outdoors only) or: 2. Churchill War Rooms - audio guide:
Optional: Evensong service at Westminster Abbey is at 5:00. This would end about 6:00 pm and you would need to find your own way back to Brown’s Hotel.
7:00 Dinner at Langan's Brasserie, Stratton Street, Mayfair, The Hall of Fame Room - All invited
Day 2. Saturday, May 14
10:00 Wallace Collection- We will be given a private tour of this national museum housed in a London townhouse. 25 galleries with stunning art. 11:30 Lunch. Many choices nearby.
12:30 Tour on your own at Portrait Gallery or National Gallery Choice: Horse Guards Dismounting Ceremony. "The Four O'clock Parade". 4:00 p.m.
7:30 Dinner at Royal Automobile Club
Day 3. Sunday, May 15 FREE day -
1:00 - Tea at Brown's Hotel. All are invited. Dinner on your own. Pack your bags to leave for the Cotswolds in the morning.
Monday, May 16
Travel by coach from London to Bowood House near Chippenham where we will tour the HHA (Historic Houses Association ) Gardens of the Year 2014. After coffee we will be taken on an exclusive tour of the private gardens of the Marquis and Marchioness of Landsdowne. Lunch in the converted horse stables. View the historic house where we will find Queen Victoria’s wedding chair. Travel to Calcot Manor, our hotel, where we will enjoy a welcome drink, and introduction to the gardens by our guides, Marion and Verity. Dinner to follow.
Tuesday May 17, 2016
This morning we drive from Tetbury to Frampton Court Estate. Set in the Vale of Berkeley, Frampton-on-Severn has the largest privately owned village green in England fringed with picturesque houses. On arrival at the 15th century Frampton Manor we shall be served coffee in the historic Wool Barn, before being given a private tour by the owners of this cottage and woodland garden, studded with stone objects and divided by sculpted beech hedges. After which we shall cross the village green to visit the more lavish eighteenth century Frampton Court with its contrasting formal and parkland gardens, culminating in perhaps one of the most beautiful garden buildings in England - the Orangery.
We return to the Tetbury area to have lunch privately at Upton Grove. Following lunch we continue to nearby Ozelworth Park for a private tour of the highly designed and maintained gardens. Return to the hotel. This evening by special arrangement, we shall be the guests of the owners of Quennington Old Rectory. Following a relaxed stroll around the riverside gardens with their unusual sculpture collection, dinner will be served in the house.
Wednesday, May 18
Check out of hotel and travel to the Arts and Crafts Eastleach House. Stroll through the gardens. Travel to Barnsley House to see Rosemary Verey’s famous Knot Garden. Following lunch we will return to London to the airport.