2015 UK Antique Tour

Singapore Airlines (some passengers arranged their own flights and met us in London). Departed Sydney airport early evening, changeover in Singapore.

Arrived Heathrow – Terminal 2 – early morning, met driver “Skippy”, drive to Windsor Castle then on to Goring-on-Thames for morning tea by the river; drive past Stonehenge; visited Salisbury – cathedral and antiques stores. Arrived Newbury, Elcot Park Hotel late afternoon

Mercure Newbury Elcot Park Hotel
Hungerford Antiques Fair and antiques centres and shops; Marlborough antiques centre; at leisure in Bath during afternoon; drive back to Newbury via Avebury (ancient stones) and pub dinner at the Waggon & Horses

Lincoln Hotel |
Boot fair (very small but quaint) – Hungerford | Bristol – SS Great Britain iron ship; journey through beautiful Cotswolds along the Fosse Way (through Tetbury, Cirencester, Bourton-on-Water, Lower Slaughter, Stow-on Wold, Stratford-on-Avon) visiting 2 antiques centres, arrived Lincoln early evening – hotel opposite cathedral

Lincoln| Antiques Show | afternoon in Lincoln
The Lincolnshire International Antiques and Home Show – 3000 inside and outside stalls. One of Europe’s biggest Antiques and Home shows; Lincoln is a delightful roman town with great shopping and eating places.

morning in Lincoln; drive through Cotswolds; visit to Battle of Britain air museum; lunch and afternoon in Horn castle visiting antiques stores and one of the world’s most stocked stores overflowing with ‘stuff”; group dinner at Tapas restaurant in Lincoln

Morning in Lincoln; Doddington Hall – Elizabethan mansion for lunch; Newark antiques centres; Hilton Nottingham for 3 nights

Newark Antiques Fair – over 4000 exhibitors; Sherwood Forest and the Major Oak tree; Nottingham late afternoon – Nottingham not great at first impression but got better the more we explored

Nottingham cave tour; trip through Nottinghamshire into the Peak District of Derbyshire to visit antiques shops in Matlock; returned to centre of Nottingham early evening and a trip (for some) to the Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem – oldest inn in England (1189 AD)

|arrived York at 12.30 and stayed until 4pm, 2 antique centres, street performers and lunch by the River Ouse; arrived Manor House Hotel, West Aukland, County Durham at 6pm

boot fair was cancelled but found a Antiques fair at the impressive Bowes museum| birds of prey display at Walworth Castle and back to hotel, weather has been much better last few days

DURHAM Manor House Hotel|
Country dealers in the town of Barnard Castle | drive by Raby Castle (built 1626) with fields full of deer; fantastic scenery on the way to Whitby a coastal fishing and holiday towns, fish and chips; drive through historic Durham town; pub dinner at Eden Arms close to hotel in West Auckland

left hotel at 8.30 for Gainsborough antiques centre – biggest in Europe; arrived Cambridge Quy Mill Hotel and Spa (3 miles outside Cambridge) late afternoon

Cambridge
Day in Cambridge for some of the group; others went antiquing to Risby, followed by a visit to Ely Cathedral, Waterside Antiques centre; pub lunch at the Lazy Otter; Cambridge city centre for late afternoon visit and punt, pub dinner

drive to St Albans for short break and antique stores; Hampton Court for 4 hours (some of the group visited local antique centres; drop off at Kensington hotel for some of the travellers the rest went on Skippy’s (driver) personal drive around London taking in many of the tourist sites, back to hotel early evening (Holiday Inn Kensington -2 nights)

Saturday and Sunday in London are unstructured as travellers do their own thing – the hotel is ideally placed for the London tube system and buses. Everyone went to Portobello Road – world’s biggest antiques market which is just 3 miles away…. then for the rest of the day the many attractions of London were waiting to be discovered.

At leisure in London in the morning; a few of the group went to Europe by train, some stayed on in London and the rest flew out of Heathrow in the evening to arrive back in Australia Tuesday morning (not sure what happens to Monday – lost at 35,000ft). That’s it for another year. Fancy coming in 2016?