Yorkshire

D1 Wednesday, 14 July

Wallington

Tim will meet you at the Hampton by Hilton Edinburgh Airport at 9.30 am.

We’ll load the minibus and drive south to visit Wallington, the much-loved home to generations of the unconventional Trevelyan family. In an unusual move for the land-owning gentry, Sir Charles Trevelyan joined the Labour Party and served in Britain’s first Labour government. Later he gave Wallington to the National Trust in 1942. We’ll have time to explore the house, and all its treasures, and the gardens, especially East Wood and its hidden walled garden.

Wallington is about halfway on our journey to the lovely North Yorkshire village of Harome, and The Pheasant Hotel, our home-from-home for the next four nights, where we’ll arrive in good time to check in, relax and enjoy drinks and dinner at the hotel.

Today's driving is about 200 miles/320 km

D2 Thursday, 15 July

Castle Howard & Scampston

We start the day at nearby Castle Howard, a fabulous house, forever linked with Brideshead Revisited. Home to the Howard family for over 300 years and designed by Sir John Vanbrugh, Castle Howard is a masterpiece of English Baroque architecture. Work began in 1699, but wasn’t completed until 1811! Today, it is renowned for its richly layered interiors and world-class art collections. We will have plenty of time to explore the house and its wonderful walled garden, and as much of its vast parkland as you care to walk through.

After lunch we’ll visit Scampston Hall to admire the Piet Oudolf-designed walled garden. The Hall’s original 18th-century walled garden had lain empty for over fifty years when, in 1999, the family commissioned Oudolf to design a new garden. The result, Oudolf’s largest UK garden at the time, is a stunning contemporary garden divided into 12 distinct hedge-enclosed rooms.

From Scampston we cross the North York Moors for a scenic drive to Whitby, a wonderful harbour town, the birthplace of Capt James Cook, Dracula and, at the 644 Synod of Whitby, a date for Easter!

We stay in Whitby for fantastic Fish & Chips at the Magpie Cafe.

Today's driving is about 100 miles/160 km

D3 Friday, 16 July

Helmsley Walled & Mount Grace Priory

We have stayed at The Pheasant for the better part of twenty years and never once stopped in Helmsley, Harome’s neighbouring market town – until our last Yorkshire tour in 2025, and now we can’t wait to go back.

Without doubt, the star of the show is Helmsley Walled Garden, originally built to provide fruit and vegetables to nearby Duncombe Park, but today, thanks to the vision of a local nurse, it is a beautiful community garden maintained by a dedicated band of volunteers. Next door is Helmsley Castle, a once mighty medieval fortress, which we’ll visit before lunch.

After lunch, we’ll cross the Moors to visit Mount Grace Priory, the last of the great Yorkshire monasteries, founded in 1398, and the best-preserved Carthusian monastery in England. After the Reformation, the monastery became home to wealthy aristocrats and industrialists, including Lowthian Bell, who remodelled part of the priory in the Arts and Crafts style and created terraced gardens.

We return to Harome for dinner at The Star Inn.

Today's driving is about 60 miles/100 km

D4 Saturday, 17 July

Burton Agnes & Jackson’s Wold

Interesting text…

Today's driving is about 100 miles/160 km

D5 Sunday, 18 July

Fountains Abbey & Newby Hall

After loading the minibus, we leave Harome to visit Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal Water Garden, a peculiar combination of the hauntingly beautiful ruins of Fountains Abbey, a magnificent 12th-century Cistercian abbey, and Studley Royal, one of Britain's finest landscaped water gardens – a landscape of lakes, formal canals, water features and sweeping lawns. The whole is unique, historically important and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It’s a large area, with much to see and explore, and we’ll ensure that there’s plenty of time to do so.

After lunch, if time allows, we’ll stop in the neighbouring market town of Ripon, before spending the rest of the afternoon in the gardens at Newby Hall. Designed by Christopher Wren, architect of St Paul's Cathedral, Newby Hall is a handsome William & Mary house surrounded by 25 acres of stunning gardens. Largely created in the early 1920s, the gardens comprise several distinct gardens, sitting on either side of its famous double herbaceous border, which, at 172m in length, is one of the longest in the country.

From Newby Hall we drive to our new home-from-home for the final three nights, at The Devonshire Arms, where, again, we’ll arrive in good time to check in, relax and enjoy drinks and dinner at the hotel.

Today's driving is about 50 miles/80 km

D6 Monday, 19 July

Harlow Carr, Parcevall & the Dales

Our day starts on the outskirts of the Victorian spa town of Harrogate at RHS Garden Harlow Carr. Formerly the home of the Northern Horticultural Society, it merged with the larger RHS in 2001 and is now one of the family of five RHS gardens. Not unjustly, it’s long been regarded as the 'Wisley of the North'. It is an extensive and superbly maintained garden, with some exceptional features. It also boasts a branch of Bettys Tea Rooms and that, alone, is worth the visit.

After lunch we’ll drive into the Dales to visit Parceval Hall, a once-derelict 16th-century shell of a house, rebuilt in 1927 by Sir William Milner (1893-1960). He made Parcevall Hall his home and designed the ‘Arts & Crafts’ garden, with its stunning views across Wharfedale and its broad terraces cut across the steep slope of the hillside. We leave the Pennines for Harrogate, a Victorian Spa Town, and West Park Hotel, our home for the final three nights of the tour, where we will arrive in good time to check in, relax and enjoy drinks and dinner at the hotel.

We leave Harome, cross the Vale of York and spend the day in the Yorkshire Dales, an iconic landscape largely of upland pasture grazed by sheep and cattle – and an estimated 5,000 miles/8,000 km of dry-stone walls! We’ll stop for coffee and stretch our legs in Leyburn, a lovely market town sitting above the River Ure in lower Wensleydale, before driving through pretty Dales villages for a picnic lunch in Grassington. You may have seen Grassington, it is where the most recent rendition of All Creatures Great & Small was filmed, it’s where the world watched the start of the 2014 Tour de France and is the setting for the film Calendar Girls!

Today's driving is about 50 miles/80 km

D7 Tuesday, 20 July

A day in York

We’ll take the 09:34 train from Harrogate Railway Station into York, where you’ll have the whole day free to explore this great, historic city.

We will organise a private guided tour of York Minster, one of the world’s most magnificent cathedrals, for those who wish to join us, and we’ll help you plan your day, but otherwise, the day is yours.

We particularly recommend taking a hop-on, hop-off sightseeing bus tour, if only to orientate yourself. Otherwise, some of the better-known attractions include the internationally renowned National Railway Museum, the Jorvik Viking Centre, which brings Viking York to life, and the York Castle Museum, which tells the story of York, its history, art, and culture. We also highly recommend lunch or afternoon tea at Bettys, a veritable Yorkshire institution.

Whatever we do, we will meet back at the railway station for a late afternoon train back to Harrogate and an end-of-tour dinner at our hotel.

Today's driving is about 30 miles/50 km

D8 Wednesday, 21 July

Raby Castle

Our final visit is to Raby Castle, a 14th-century castle built by the powerful Neville family and one of the most impressive castles in England. In 1626, the Nevilles sold it to Henry Vane, whose 23-year-old son was elected Governor of Massachusetts and was elected Governor in 1636 – it is still the Vane family home.

There would have been a garden in the Middle Ages to provide herbs and plants for medicines, but it wasn’t until the 18th century that a formal garden was established. Today, although much altered, many original features remain, including a White Ischia Fig tree which was brought to Raby in 1786, two fine old yew hedges, the ornamental pond originally constructed to provide water for the kitchen garden, and the gateway made in the early 18th century for Shipbourne Church.

We’ll have lunch at Raby, and stop for tea and cake at The Redesdale Arms, about halfway on the drive back to the Hampton by Hilton Hotel, Edinburgh Airport, where the tour ends and where we expect to be by 18:00.

Today's driving is about 200 miles/320 km