Holidays 2025

Tour Itinerary

Day 1: Depart Local Area

After boarding your luxury coach, you make your way south to the Winchester area. There will be comfort stops en-route for coffee and lunch. Arriving at your hotel by late afternoon, where you will enjoy the next 4 nights with dinner bed and breakfast at the Norton Park Hotel. There will be porterage on arrival to take your luggage to your rooms. After settling in to your rooms, time to relax before dinner.

Day 2: Milestones Museum & Bombay Sapphire Distillery

This morning we see something a little different. The immersive Victorian-style streets create an atmosphere that transports you back in time. It's truly remarkable how you can suspend your disbelief and feel like you are stepping into Hampshire's past. The experience is well worth it, and the cafe offers a perfectly adequate dining option as well. This afternoon we go to Bombay Sapphire Distillery, based at Laverstoke Mill, that is in a conservation area with over 1000 years of history. The distillery showcases the care, skill and artistry behind every drop of Bombay Sapphire, and allows you to discover the flavours of the botanicals which make this gin so unique. There will be a guided tour of this working distillery. There will also be a tasting for each person suited to your personal taste. We then return to the hotel.

Day 3: Winchester & Watercress Line

Today we take a trip to the historic streets of King Alfred's ancient capital of England, Winchester. Visit the Great Hall and King Arthur's Round Table, a fully restored working water mill and Winchester Cathedral, where Jane Austen is buried. This afternoon we take a trip on the Watercress Line. In years gone by the Watercress Line took people on holiday, carried people to war, transported evacuees and moved all the essential goods of the area. Let off steam at this living history railway! Experience the nostalgic sights, sounds and smells of steam. You join the line at the bustling market town of Alton, travelling through 10 miles of beautiful Hampshire countryside to the picturesque Georgian town of Alresford. Alresford station is where the watercress, that gave the line its name, was sent all over the country by train from the goods platform you can still see behind the signal box.

Day 4: New Forest & Beaulieu

The New Forest is a former royal hunting area in the south of England. It was created in 1079 by William I (known as William the Conqueror) as a hunting area, principally of deer. It is a unique area of historical, ecological and agricultural significance, and retains many of the rural practices conceded by the Crown in historical times to local people. Principal of these is the pasturing of ponies, cattle, pigs and donkeys in the open forest by local inhabitants known as commoners. The New Forest has also been an important source of timber for the Crown. Our visit will take us to the National Motor Museum at Beaulieu. There are over 800 years of heritage to be seen on the Beaulieu Estate, which has been in the ownership of the Montagu family for over four centuries. In 1867 Beaulieu received its first resident owner when Lord Henry Scott was given the estate by his father, the 5th Duke of Buccleuch, as a wedding present. The museum is home to a world famous collection of over 280 vehicles and motoring memorabilia. From legendary Formula One cars and land speed record-breakers, to incredible examples of pioneering motoring, the varied galleries and displays in the National Motor Museum tell the story of motoring on the roads of Great Britain. The Palace House & Gardens, Little Beaulieu, Beaulieu Abbey, the Secret Army Exhibition can all be seen, and unlimited rides on the monorail.

Day 5: Depart for Home

After breakfast and the cases have been loaded onto the coach, we say farewell to our hosts at the hotel and head for home. There will be comfort stop on the way. Continuing your journey home, to arrive in your local area by late afternoon, early evening.