wars of the roses - AUgust 15-18, 2025

We meet early (at 8 am) in central London where our driver will take us the the West Country.
We drive Berkeley Castle, first built in the late 12th century and tour the magnificent castle and grounds.
After the Castle we head to another medieval site - Thornbury Castle - where Henry VIII also visited. There we will have a classic English Tea in unforgettable surroundings,
Afterwards, we head to the 12th century Tewkesbury Abbey.
We take a guided tour of this former Benedictine Abbey where more than fifteen major nobles of the Wars of the Roses are buried. It was also the site of a battle - inside the Abbey itself!
Time permitting we have a pint or a cuppa (tea) at the Abbott's Table Pub across the street.
Following this break we head for the Globe Hotel in Warwick.
We will gather for dinner and drinks around 7:30 pm in the hotel pub, after a long Day 1.

After breakfast we head to Warwick Castle, the seat of the Earls of Warwick and especially Neville - The Kingmaker!
There we will follow a guided tour of this very large medieval castle.
Activities galore at Warwick Castle including: displays of archery, jousting, falconry, and perhaps a medieval trebuchet (catapult). There is also a ghost tour and if you dare visit the very medieval dungeon.
Visit the late Victorian rooms 'upstairs' where the elite of England's society carried on including Daisy Warwick and Edward VII.
Later in the afternoon we walk over for an English Afternoon Tea at the Thomas Oken Tearooms.
We also stop at the nearby 12th century St Mary's Church, the burial site of the Earl of Warwick, Richard Beauchamp as well as Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester - the favourite of Queen Elizabeth I.
After our time in Warwick he head to the amazing City of York - the epicentre of the York Dynasty.
We check in to the Dean Court Hilton - we will arrive late so drinks and/or dinner at 9:30 pm.

After breakfast we head to Harewood House, where we visit the Church of All Saints. Here we see the burial sites of the Neville and Gascoigne nobles who supported Richard III. The alabaster effigies are the greatest of their kind in England and are not to be missed.
Once we are back in York we proceed to a guided tour of the incomparable York Minster.
You will surely want to wander the narrow, and world famous, medieval street, The Shambles.
We can have lunch at the famous Betty's and then tour the most impressive parts of the medieval city walls of York.
Following York, we head to Leicester and check in to the Novotel, Leicester.
We dine at the Globe Leicester's oldest pub since 1720.

After breakfast we tour the Richard III Museum and Visitor's Centre made famous following his discovery in the parking lot after five centuries,
We then visit his final resting place in Leicester Cathedral,
We then drive to Bosworth Field, the battle site where, according to Shakespeare, King Richard III cried out 'my Kingdom for a horse.'
We spend the afternoon at Bosworth's museum followed by a walking tour of the battlefield,
We return to Leicester and board the train by to central London,
Back at Marylebone Station, we say our goodbyes, exchange final hugs and email addresses from one another, collect our bags and set off to our next destinations.