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Brightwater’s Historic Royal Houses

 
If you’re not one of the 600 to have been invited to the forthcoming royal nuptials, mixing in royal circles might still be within your grasp touring behind the scenes on one of Brightwater Holidays Historic Houses and Garden Tours. Visiting some of England and Scotland’s most impressive castles, historic estates and gardens, literally walk in the footsteps of the Royal Family and explore what may well become one of Harry and Meghan’s new stomping grounds on the following tours.

Harry’s father’s country pad…
Highgrove and Cotswolds 2018
Enjoy an exclusive visit to Highgrove House, the country home of HRH The Prince of Wales, on this four day tour exploring some of the most impressive manor houses and the finest gardens to be found in England.  Walk through Prince Charles’ impressive, wholly organically cultivated, gardens imagining how the newly married couple might spend a stay, savouring the pleasures of the heavenly scented honeysuckle and jasmine that surround the house or admiring Harry’s father’s experimental wild flower meadow of endangered native plants. With Highgrove an undoubted highlight of this tour, the itinerary also includes other magnificent Cotswold properties such as Abbey House Garden at Malmesbury, home to a stunning rose collection; Hidcote Manor with its contrasting garden rooms; the creation of three generations of women gardeners at Kiftsgate; the private family run Misarden Park and Westonbirt – the National Arboretum.
Highgrove and Cotswolds four-day tour starts from £595/person including three nights B&B at the 4* De Vere Cotswold Waterpark Hotel, three dinners, coach travel throughout, garden visits, the services of a professional tour manager. Departs 3 May, 10 August & 7 September 2019; 12 April, 10 May, 21 June & 6 September 2019.

Visit the soon to be home turf for the tipped to be Duke and Duchess of Sussex
Gardens of Kent & Sussex 2019

With Prince Harry and Meghan Markle being tipped to become the new Duke and Duchess of Sussex, get a taste for their soon to be nominated stomping ground.  Enjoy an ‘early bird visit’ to the romantic and magnificently manicured gardens of Sissinghurst – before they open to the general public; explore Wakehurst Place’s wild botanic garden and Millennium Seed Bank – the largest wild seed conservation project in the world, and sit down to a sumptuous three-course lunch, fit for a King, in the 16th century Gravetye Manor.  In addition to other Sussex highlights, the itinerary also takes in some of the finest properties in Kent including Lullingstone Castle’s with its innovative World Garden of Plants, Hever Castle and beautiful seven-acre property Great Comp Garden.

Brightwater Holidays Gardens of Kent & Sussex starts from £795/person including three nights at the 4* Donnington Manor Hotel in Sevenoaks on a dbb basis, two lunches, travel throughout, garden visits and the services of a professional tour manager. Departs 30 May, 24 June 2018.
 
Visit Harry’s Grandmother’s Scottish Retreat and his Great Grandmother’s Childhood Home
Historic Houses of Scotland 2018

Follow the trail of both factual and fictional monarchs on this 4 day tour, including the opportunity to visit Balmoral.  Allegedly the favourite bolthole of The Queen, take lunch in its 18,659-acre estate before a private tour of the house with a real feel for how family gatherings with newly-weds might be.  Follow the lineage, visiting Glamis, the real childhood home of the Queen Mother where Princess Margaret was born, and Lochleven Castle, the once home of Mary Queen of Scots and later her jail cell.  Offering a fascinating exploration throughout, this tour also uncovers the histories and stories behind Braemar, Blair and Menzies Castles with the option to partake in a few small dams at local distilleries along the way.
Historic Houses of Scotland four-day holiday starts from £745/person including three nights’ dbb accommodation at Dunkeld House Hotel, three lunches, visits to all the sites in programme and the services of a professional tour manager. Departs 3 June 2018.


For bookings and further information, visit: 01334 897427, www.brightwaterholidays.com.

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Mark Bibby Jackson

Mark Bibby Jackson

Before setting up Travel Begins at 40, Mark was the publisher of AsiaLIFE Cambodia and a freelance travel writer. When he is not packing and unpacking his travelling bag, Mark writes novels, including To Cook A Spider and Peppered Justice. He loves walking, eating, tasting beer, isolation and arthouse movies, as well as talking to strangers on planes, buses and trains whenever possible. Most at home when not at home. Mark is a member and director of communications of the British Guild of Travel Writers (BGTW).

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