Historic Tours of England

Britain at War Tour 1 - June 19-22, 2026 - air show 2026

At 9 am, we meet at the statue of Winston Churchill located at Parliament Square, in front of Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament. From there we walk to the Churchill War Rooms steps from No 10, the Prime Minister's residence.
We explore the War Cabinet Rooms as they were on VE Day, May 8, 1945. See where Churchill conducted the war during the Blitz.
After this tour we board our coach and head to RAF Hendon Museum. This was a former RAF base and now holds an awesome collection of planes from WWI, WWII, and from the Cold War.
We then will head to our hotel The Hilton Cambridge City Centre in Cambridge and enjoy dinner at the fabulous Eagle Pub a regular hangout for the officers and men of the USAAF stationed nearby. It is also the place where Crick and Watson announced to the world that they discovered DNA!
We will have a chance to wander around the university of Cambridge especially Kings College with its magnificent 15th century chapel.

DUXFORD SUMMER AIR SHOW 2026
The sound of the P-51 on a low pass is unforgettable!
After breakfast we board the coach and have a short drive to the Imperial War Museum at Duxford. This was the home of the USAAF 78th Fighter Group. We will spend an entire day here marvelling at the spectacle in the sky. Planes will likely include the Spitfire, Hurricane, P-51, C-47, and B-17 and many others including an assortment of attack helicopters and stunt planes. It is not to be missed.
We also get to see the permanent exhibits of planes from WW1 onward. You can even climb onboard a Concorde which is in one of the large exhibition halls
The Duxford Air Show is a must the WW2 historian.
After this, we head back to Cambridge for our final night.
Dinner will be at The Pickerel Inn Pub - built in the 15th century!

After breakfast we board the coach for a one hour's drive to Bletchley Park.
There we will wander through some of the key museum buildings most of which remain untouched since 1945. We also follow a guided tour of the famous code breaking centre for the Allies in WW2.
See the Mansion which was converted the HQ for breaking the Enigma Machine.
You will recognise the locations used in the filming of The Imitation Game (2014) starring Benedict Cumberbatch, who played the hero codebreaker, and mathematician Prof Alan Turing.
After lunch we head to Blenheim Palace, an 18th century masterpiece of architecture and design. It is also the birth place of Winston Churchill in 1874.
Here you will see unrivalled architecture, and also an exhibition of Churchill's life from childhood to Britain's greatest Prime Minister.
After visiting Churchill's ancestral home we will head to the Van Brugh House Hotel, in Oxford where we stop for the night.
Dinner will be at the Red Lion Pub just a short walk from our hotel.

After breakfast we will have a look at Balliol College (my alma mater) which was founded in 1263. Here you will get a feel of university life in its third oldest college.
We will have a tour of the Bodleian Library and the Divinity School built in the 15th century. It was also a location for Harry Potter's hospital scene.
After a lunch at The Kings Arms Pub (17th century) we will head to our final stop on the tour being the Battle of Britain Bunker Museum in West London.
This was the command centre for RAF 11 Group Fighter Command under the control of Air Vice-Marshall Keith Park.
Here you will experience what it was like defending Britain from the Luftwaffe in 1940 as the room and maps were left as they were at the end of World War 2.
We will then head back to Central London where our tour ends.

Britain at War TOUR 2 - June 26-29, 2026 TANKfest 2026

TANK FEST 2026 !
At 9 am, we meet at the statue of Winston Churchill located at Parliament Square, in front of Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament. From there we walk to the Churchill War Cabinet Rooms Museum steps from No 10, the Prime Minister's residence.
We follow a splendid guided tour of the War Cabinet Rooms as they were on VE Day, May 8, 1945. See where Churchill conducted the war during the Blitz.
After this tour we board our coach and head to Portsmouth on the English Channel, a lunch is provided as we head south on the coach.
Portsmouth was one of the major embarkation ports for the Allies. We proceed to tour the D-Day Museum. Climb aboard the last surviving LCT (Landing Craft Tank) which landed soldiers and tanks on the beaches of Normandy on D-Day. This is a great D-Day experience for sure.
In Portsmouth we then head over to The Old Customs House Pub for dinner and enjoy the fantastic views of Portsmouth Harbour.
After dinner we head to the Ibis Portsmouth Hotel where we will stay the night.

After breakfast we board the coach and have a two hour drive to Bovington.
TANKFEST 2026! We will spend the entire day at Bovington Tank Museum and watch the greatest display of moving armour in the world!
We will see over 60 tanks from WW2 to the Present Day driving through the Tank Museum's proving grounds.
We also get to see the permanent exhibits of tanks from WW1 onward.
TANKFEST is a MUST for the WW2 historian.
After this, we head to Oxford where we will stay at The Van Brugh House Hotel in central Oxford among the university buildings.
Dinner will be at the Red Lion Pub a 3 minute walk from our hotel and weather permitting we can enjoy dining on the back patio.

After breakfast we head over to Blenheim Palace, an 18th century masterpiece of architecture and design. It is also the birth place of Winston Churchill in 1874.
Here you will see unrivalled architecture, and also an exhibition of Churchill's life from childhood to Britain's greatest Prime Minister.
You will have some free time to wander around Oxford on your own to retrace the steps of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, and Harry Potter.
Join Dr Geoff for a tour of Balliol College (his alma matter) and the Bodleian Library or the Bodleian Divinity School (15th century) where the hospital scene was filmed for the first Harry Potter film. You may also tour Oxford at your own speed.
At 7 pm we will walk over to The Kings Arms Pub (17th century) for dinner and drinks.
Enjoy the twilight stroll back to the Van Brugh House Hotel for the final night in Oxford.

After breakfast we board the coach for a short drive to Bletchley Park.
There we will wander through some of the key museum buildings most of which remain untouched since 1945. We also follow a guided tour of the famous code breaking centre for the Allies in WW2.
See the Mansion which was converted the HQ for breaking the Enigma Machine.
You will recognise the locations used in the filming of The Imitation Game (2014) starring Benedict Cumberbatch, who played the hero codebreaker, and mathematician Prof Alan Turing.
After our time at Bletchley Park we will drive to Cambridge for a lunch at the famous Eagle Pub - a regular haunt for members of the 78th USAAF Fighter Group and others. It was also here Crick & Watson announced their discovery of DNA in 1953!
After lunch we head for a 15 minute drive to the Duxford Air Force Base and feast upon a great number of exhibits which showcase Airborne Assault, WWI, and WWII aircraft like the Spitfire, Hurricane, P-51, P-47, B-25, B-17, B-29 and many modern USAF iconic craft F-15, A-10, B-52.
After our day at Duxford we will board our coach and head back to our s tarting point in London.

Britain at War Tour 1 - June 19-22, 2026 - air show 2026