England Cotswolds and Colleges

BONUS NIGHT!  For this trip there is Memorial Day holiday to take advantage of!  So we're adding a day in the Cotswolds!  10 days (now 11) in lower England,  we'll explore the best Villages of the English Cotswolds and the historic cities Oxford, Bath and London!

Min Guests - 4 (custom, call for details)

Max Guests - 14

Slots Left - 12

WHEN

May 15 - 26  2025

Leaders - John and Cherise Jett

WHERE

2 nights in Bath

3 nights in the Cotswolds

2 nights in Oxford

1 night in Windsor

2 nights in London

COST

From $4049 pp double occupancy, Land only, based on number of guests. 

14 guests - $2799

12 guests - $2925

10 guests - $3055

8 guests - $3325

6 guests - $3799

4 guests - $4899  (this can be a mixed or private tour)

Customization

Add a night or two at the beginning or end of the trip, travel to another city or country, just ask and I'll be glad to help you with those plans too! *

* - This is a day longer than our usual itinerary and most likely you won't have to use an extra PTO day thanks to it being Memorial Day.

What is Included?

Land Only

Fabulous, highly rated accommodations in premium locations!

Luxury Coach Transport from Airport to all hotels and group activities

Breakfast in all Hotels

Group coach tours of popular areas including the towns of The Cotswolds

Tickets to group destinations, Stonehenge, Broadway Tower, Highgrove Gardens, Windsor Castle  ($135 value)

What is NOT included?

Food and drink (other than breakfast-included accommodations)

Admission tickets to Castles, Museums or any other admission/ticketed activities - on free days.

Bus/train or taxi fare from last hotel to airport.

Tips - Driver/Tour-Guide tips should be considered at the rate of around 5-10 Pounds or so per day.

Trip insurance  we do not sell insurance but it is mandatory to cover you for any medical issues as well as unexpected travel issues and refunds for covered cancellations.

Itinerary

Day 1 - Travel day, this one doesn't count as much fun, but I'd rather be on a plane to England than asleep on a work night.

Day 2 - Arrive at London Heathrow by mid-late morning (you should arrange flight to arrive by then, or we can make alternate arrangements), then head directly to our first location, the ancient city of Bath, founded by Rome and retaining the worlds best intact example of Roman bath houses. You can explore the baths, or the town with its many medieval buildings and roads (and a great pub or 3)!  - Bath

Day 3 - After a grand English breakfast, We'll head to a location that no trip to England is complete without,  Salisbury with its grand Cathedral and lovely town center, and the crown of ancient Britain,  Stonehenge!  Historians, scientists and hippies alike have argued about it for centuries. Was it a burial ground?  A worship center?  A calendar or clock?  Form your own opinion!  Afterward we'll head back to Bath for another stroll around town, shopping and dining at your leisure. - Bath

Day 4 -  After Breakfast we'll journey to the beautiful and famous Cotswolds town of Gloucester,  yet another beautiful English town and home of Highgrove, the country home of King Charles III.  We'll take a tour of the grounds of the King, a gardener's delight famous for its organic and natural approach and countless whimsical topiary.  You may even option for high-tea if you'd like! Then, on to our stay in The Cotswolds!  For the next three nights we'll lay our heads in historic and fascinating Stow-On-The-Wold.  The immediate surroundings of The churchyard and Stow Village will be enough to fill the rest of the day and then some.  If we get there in time for high tea, you can start  your English experience in the proper way!  Then off for a stroll that would have cost you a week's salary in film back in the 90s.  There are some of the oldest pub's (in fact at least 2 claim to BE the oldest) in England right there in the village.  You'll not lack for choice of meals, desserts, drinks,  chocolate shops, and antiques stores that would embarrass anything you've ever seen in the U.S. of A.  - Stow

Day 5 - Stow on the Wold - Free day.  This village is one of the most famous and beautiful in the world and begs to be explored fully. Today is a day of hiking (short, long, or not much at all), antiques shopping (some of the finest you'll ever see), high-tea, ancient pubs (one of the oldest in England), magical places (don't miss St. Edward's Church and the J.R.R. Tolkien door!), you name it, today is the day to do it!  You will be glad we're staying put today as this village deserves its own day! -Stow

Day 6 - We'll eat a bountiful English breakfast, then head off to explore the Southerly villages of the Cotswolds including Bibury with its famous Arlington Row, pictured in travel blogs on a daily basis,  Bourton on the Water, Upper and Lower Slaughter a stop at an English Manor house for high tea.  Whatever we do, get your shopping and tasting shoes on because you will not believe the flavors and delicacies hiding in every quaint shop (if you can stop snapping photos of the water flowing down the middle of the town and beautiful Cotswold stone and slate-roof buildings and as many Cotswolds stops as we can!  - Stow

Day 7 -  Cotswolds to Oxford - after a morning strolling around Stow village one last time, maybe followed by a browsing/shopping stop at Jeremy Clarkson's Diddly Squat Farm shop, and his pub for lunch (if we can get a seat), we'll head to Oxford, making a quick stop at the Church where CS Lewis is buried to pay our respects, and then on to the cradle of learning in the English speaking world,  Oxford. After a short walk into town and about 100 pictures of the architecture,  you'll want to eat at one of the many fine dining establishments in Oxford (or hit the pubs if that's more up your alley).  Tonight and tomorrow we'll stay at the elegant and charming Cotswolds Lodge Hotel, a Cotswolds manor house right in the middle of Oxford!

Day 8 - Oxford - Free day -  today it's a day of Museums, Dreamy spires, architecture and a thousand years of history.  Also Harry Potter if you like (get your tour tickets early), college tours, and the finest old pubs in England!  It was here that the atom was split among thousands of other monumental achievements in human history, including the friendship and literature of J.R.R Tolkien and C.S. Lewis who usually held forth at the Eagle and Child, or "The Bird and Baby" as they called it, where you can visit for fabulous pics and maybe a pint or two.  You can walk around and snap pictures to your hearts content, eat at historical pubs, shop in historical book-stores,  dine at some of the best establishments in England and tour one of the dozens of thousand year old colleges, or go punting on the river Cherwell and Thames (known as The Isis locally).  This is truly a wonder and an architectural feast for the eyes!

Day 9 -  Oxford to Windsor - Today we'll head out early (after breakfast), to Royal Windsor for our stay just feet away from the castle to end all castles, Windsor Castle!  The primary home of the British Royal Family in England!  You'll stroll over beautiful arched bridges, stone streets, lovely pubs and shops, and a tour of the incomparable Windsor Castle!

Day 10 -  London Calling!  We'll take the morning up until noon enjoying more sites and eating an early  lunch in Windsor, then we'll take our private coach to London! We'll arrive at our Central London Hotel where you'll be free to explore the greatest of all English speaking cities.  You can take in a play or musical at the theater, ride the famous London Eye, stroll through St. James Park and take a look at Buckingham Palace,  you might want to go shopping at world-famous Harrods and eat at Gordon Ramsey's, its all up to you!

Day 11 - Sunday in London!  The pinnacle of the English speaking world for over a thousand years!  There is enough to see and do here to last a week or two.  This will be a free day for you,  you can get a London pass to visit nearly anything you've ever heard of for the day including hop-on-off double decker bus tours, river taxi tours of the Thames, ride the London Eye.  Don't miss Evensong at Westminster Abbey (you can attend a service or go in to pray for free on Sundays only), pictures in front of Big Ben, and see the Crown Jewels at the Tower of London!  You can also choose from museums, shows, fancy dinner,  and more!  If you want to see the changing of the guard you'll need to get up early this or the next morning.  It doesn't have to end at dark!  London has some amazing pubs and nightlife that should not be missed!

Day 12 - Goodbye England!  Depending on your flight time you might have time for another stroll for shopping in Central London, or catch the Changing of the Guard ceremony, before heading to the airport.  You'll take a taxi or the tube to London airport for your flight home.

--  Another option from here is to book your ticket to fly home a few days later and spend a couple of extra days in London to extend your vacation.  You can even take a cheap flight to Edinburgh or Dublin from here if you'd like to add a few more days!  I'll help you arrange lodging and plan a few activities!