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CREAM TEAS AND PASTIES
Dorset, Devon & Cornwall

7 day/ 6 night Tour

Back by Popular Demand!

This well-balanced tour features the best of the UK's southwestern region. It's a cliché to write that there's something for everyone here but sometimes the cliché is the most accurate word or phrase to use. For lovers of countryside there are rolling downs, rugged seascapes, atmospheric moorlands and the lush, green country that is so representative of England. For those who enjoy history there are castles aplenty, the King Arthur connections, the prehistoric and Roman sites, the more recent war time remains and everywhere the mighty maritime past.

Literature lovers will be thrilled to see the lands of Thomas Hardy and Daphne Du Maurier. Gourmets will die for the cream teas, real Cornish pasties and farmhouse cooking.

This is a real Back-Roads Touring Co. Ltd experience. You'll never forget the narrow country lanes where the hedgerows grow higher than the cars, the villages where it's difficult for bicycles to pass let alone motorized vehicles, the thatched cottage hamlets and small fishing harbours accessible only on foot.

This itinerary ideally combines with our 4-day Red Dragon or our 8-day The Land of Song tours of Wales to make a longer 'Land of the Celts' experience.

Alternatively, if you don’t have the time for a week long experience in Devon & Cornwall, why not check out our weekly four-day In Search of Arthur tour.

 

"I recently returned from my trip to Cornwall with you folks. I just wanted to tell you that it was marvelous and I had a great time. It has always been one of my dreams to go there and you made it possible. Neil, our guide, did some specialty looking around for me to find rides to Frenchman's Creek, and long distance sightings of Menibilly (Manderlay prototype), and I loved our stop at Jamaica Inn. The moors were very brooding when we got out and walked them. It was perfect."
Sandra Chroman, USA

 

DEPARTURE DATES & PRICES FOR YEAR 2008

Tour Code

Depart London

Return London

CTEA

Sunday

Saturday

CTEA1

11 May

17 May

CTEA2

07 Sep

13 Sep

This GUARANTEED DEPARTURE begins SUNDAYS as above from central London hotels below.
It is your responsibility to be there in plenty of time.

The Royal National, Bedford Way
The Corus Hotel, Hyde Park
The Grosvenor Thistle, Victoria Station
The Holiday Inn Forum
The Chiswick Hotel, Chiswick

08.00 (underground Russell Square)
08.20 (underground Lancaster Gate)
08.30 (underground Victoria Station)
08.45 (underground Gloucester Road)
09.00 (underground Turnham Green)

NOTE: Clients should wait by the concierge desk. Return drop-offs are to any central London hotel.

Cost: $2049 USD per person in a twin share room. Single $2299 USD single occupancy

What your tour price includes: Your accommodation for 6 nights while on the tour including both full breakfasts and dinners as listed. Your price also includes all entrance fees to attractions, transportation, services of driver/guide-companion and all taxes and tips other than those you may wish to give your guide.

Airport transfers and accommodation pre and post tour is not included but can be reserved at a specially discounted price. Our London tour base is the Chiswick Hotel so you will be picked-up for your tour here at 09.00 if booking pre-tour accommodation with us.

Want to upgrade your tour package to include international airfare? Click here for info.

 

TENTATIVE ITINERARY 

DAY ONE

You are collected from one of our hotel collection points as per your choice. Then our first day's touring takes us into England oldest counties, Wiltshire and Hampshire. The purpose of our visit is to see King Arthur's Round Table at the Great Hall in Winchester, before continuing through the timeless landscape of Thomas Hardy's Dorset to Honition in Devon. En route, we'll stop at Cadbury castle, an iron-age, hilltop fortress and one of the possible sites of Camelot. A further highlight of our day will be a local stately home such as Montacute House or Stourhead.

NIGHTSTOP: Honiton area, Devon

 

DAY TWO

Our routing for the day will offer us great choice. There's the maritime city of Exeter, the English Riviera, and Plymouth, where we'll see the harbour from which the Mayflower set sail. Next, we follow the Cornish coast through delightful fishing villages and harbours stopping en route, perhaps, to visit the pirate museum at Looe or the shipwreck centre at St Austell. Readers of Daphne Du Maurier will also enjoy our time at Fowey and discovering the real Jamaica Inn.

NIGHTSTOP: Falmouth/St Ives, Cornwall

 

DAY THREE

There's so much to see in this region. There are the wonderful harbours of St Ives and Penzance, the coastal walks along cliff tops and beaches, the prehistoric village at Chysauster, the famous open-air Minack theatre, some of the most beautiful gardens in Britain, including the new Eden Project. There are old lead mining museums, castles and Land's End itself. And then, of course, we've afternoon cream teas to take and Cornish pasties to eat! Our flexible touring concept will allow tour participants to decide on the day's priorities in consultation with their guide.

NIGHTSTOP: Falmouth/St Ives, Cornwall

 

DAY FOUR

Continuing our Cornish adventures. Today we'll spend enjoying the atmosphere of St Ives. There's plenty to entertain. This is an artists' haven and you'll delight at the range of local galleries, but perhaps of even greater interest will be the extension of the prestigious Tate Gallery. There are also some fine walking opportunities. The sailors or deep sea fishers amongst you might just find the opportunity of taking to the water just to good too pass up! You're free to dine independently in St Ives this evening and to return to our accommodation by local taxi at your leisure.

NIGHTSTOP: Falmouth/St Ives, Cornwall

 

DAY FIVE

We turn north, following the north Cornwall and Devon coasts. Our itinerary today will include Padstow, King Arthur's Tintagel, the impossibly pretty village of Clovelly (where donkeys are still used to haul goods and people up and down the narrow cobbled street to the sea) and the Devon countryside north of Dartmoor and Dartmoor itself.

NIGHTSTOP: Exmoor or Dartmoor

 

DAY SIX

We tour today through Somerset. This is a county famed for its cider apples and so we must, of course, visit a cider farm and sample the wares! There are also the mystic town of Glastonbury where Arthur is said to have been buried, and the magnificent Wells cathedral. If time permits, perhaps we can also visit the massive gorge and caves at Cheddar. Even with all of the other memorable days on this tour, past participants have still named it one of their most memorable - perhaps because the treasures we discover are just so unexpected.

NIGHTSTOP: Bath region

 

DAY SEVEN

Today, we'll first soak up the splendour of Gerogian Bath. Your guide will deliver a panoramic tour on our mini-coach, introducing you to the many fine aspects of this famed city. You'll then have some free time to visit the Roman Bath pump room, the cathedral, or simply to shop.

This afternoon we take the olde coaching road back to London, stopping en route at the unspoilt mediaeval Lacock (home of photogaphy and a well-known film location site), the prehistoric World Heritage site of Avebury, and perhaps the antique centre of 17th century Hungerford depending on time and group choice. You'll be dropped back at one of our central London hotel pick up points as per your choice.

Accommodation is not included tonight.

 

 

NOTE: Many of the historic properties we visit on our tours are either owned by the National Trust (www.nationaltrust.org.uk) or the English Heritage (www.english-heritage.org.uk). Why not visit their sites to get further descriptions of some of the super places included on the tour?

 

 

This tour is designed to link with the following tours should you choose a longer holiday break: weekly departures Red Dragon tour of South Wales; weekly departures of Heart of England visiting Oxford and the Cotswolds; select departures of Eastern England, Mini-Harry Potter and the Kingdom of Wessex.

 

 

 

 

This tour is operated by Back-Roads Touring Co Ltd

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