Windsor Castle, Stonehenge and Bath
Full-day seat-in coach excursion
This excursion takes you to Windsor Castle and the State Apartments, Stonehenge, a panoramic tour of the Georgian city of Bath and the Roman Baths.
In the morning we meet at the Victoria Coach Station and head towards Windsor Castle, the largest and oldest occupied castle in the world and the home of the Royal Family for 900 years. Founded by William the Conqueror, its towering walls dominate the delightful riverside town that has grown around the castle over the centuries.
At Windsor, you experience the real sense of British history. During your visit you will see the lavishly decorated State Apartments containing priceless furniture, porcelain, armour, carvings and above all, paintings, particularly the work of Van Dyck and Rembrandt.
In the light and spacious St George’s Chapel, home to the 14th century Order of the Royal Garter, Britain’s highest order of chivalry, are magnificent fan vaultings, delicate ironwork and intricately carved choir-stalls. You will also see the ceremony of the Changing of the Guard in all its colourful pageantry and splendour.
As we make our way west through the rolling green Wiltshire landscape and on to the bare uplands of Salisbury Plain, your journey takes you even further back into the mists of time to Stonehenge, a vast stone temple built some 5,000 years ago. Whilst the precise origins and purpose of this colossal structure are unknown, the ancient builders aligned the massive stones so that the midsummer sunrise dawns exactly over the Heel Stone.
And then on to Bath, Aquae Sulis as it was known to the Romans, a city renowned for its elegant Georgian architecture and its mineral-rich hot water springs. You will see Bath Abbey, the “Lantern of the West”, Pulteney Bridge, modelled on the Ponte Vecchio in Florence and the exquisitely proportioned Georgian streets and crescents. You also visit the Roman Baths that made the city famous, where the waters are still sought for medicinal purposes.