Hands
On Country Tour
This is perhaps our most popular tour. It basically has a bit of everything,
history, great scenery, chocolate box villages and time to get out
of the bus and experience what you are seeing. There is great scope
to customise this suggestion and one of the beauties with a private
tour is that you can improvise on the day.
As with all our example custom tours, this is just an idea to build
upon. The great thing about a custom tour is that you choose when
you want to go and how long you spend at each destination |
Thatched
Cottage at Avebury |
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Vehicles,
Driver/Guides + Scope Of Private Tours
FCMBS
have a range of touring vehicles with capacities ranging from 8 to
16 seats. We charge a flat fee per vehicle, (not person) for the day,
this includes the bus and services of the driver guide.
Admissions to attractions are not included. |
The
day is yours, the only rules are imposed by UK law - no smoking on
buses and driving hours and breaks governed by UK law.
Otherwise you're free to go where you want to go, when you want to
go.
Time is always the enemy, even though a typical tour will be 10-11
hours in duration. |
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Hands On Country Tour - Example Template For Customisation
You'll want to see the countryside in daylight, so it makes logistical
sense to leave your hotel around 08:00 for this tour. (We'll assume
this departure time in this example).
Stonehenge
Stonehenge is the entrance point to the countryside touring area of
this tour. This is the point we get off the main highways and enter
the country roads and villages.
It will be around 09:45 when we get to Stonehenge. On the way you
will have got to know the driver/guide, who will have given you a
thorough briefing on things Neolithic.
Equipped with this information you should be able to get maximum enjoyment
from your visit. |
The
driver/guide will offer to accompany you into the monument at no extra
charge. An audio guide comes with admission, but many of our customers
appreciate a human showing them around. The driver/guide will be glad
to take group photos as well as act as a guide. For those of you into
the mystic side, the guide will involve you hands-on in tracing earth
energies using dowsing forks.
Most people take an hour at Stonehenge, its a good place to grab a
coffee before boarding the bus.
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Stonehenge
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Stonehenge
to Lacock
Assuming we leave Stonehenge around 10:45, its about an hours drive
to our lunch stop at Lacock. We traverse Salisbury Plain. We are in
sheep country, you will see a lot of sheep today. Many of the villages
that we visit and pass through are 'wool villages'.
After driving through a British Army tank range we start going through
the unspoilt English villages. Thatched cottages, Norman churches,
black and white wooden fronted medieval houses line the road. We venture
down single track roads for some of the journey so you really are
off the tourist track in the middle of the countryside. |
An
impressive sight is Caen Hill Locks.
Built in the early 19th century, just before the railways the Kennet
and Avon canal links the Thames and Avon's rivers, enabling coast
to coast river travel from London to Bristol.
Perhaps we'll see a narrowboat using the locks that climb Caen Hill
on the 3 hour ascent/descent. Many will want to take a closer look.
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Caen
Hill Locks |
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On towards Lacock we may make photo stops at a photogenic thatched
cottage complete with gardens lovingly sculptured by the resident
gardener and a great viewpoint over the Avon valley with Lacock in
the valley below. |
Lacock
Lacock is an old wool town where all the buildings in the village
are more than 200 years old, much of it much older. It is not a museum
piece, but a living working village with school, post office, church,
tithe barn, bakery and several pubs.
The village is owned by the National Trust, all the occupants including
the pubs rent from the National Trust. The National Trust controls
strictly the village environment, apart from vehicles it could be
back a few hundred years ago, no streetlights, no aerials, only approved
'authentic' colour schemes. |
With
this olde worlde feel, Jane Austen and some Harry Potter films are
just examples of films shot here.
This is also the local village of Camilla Parker Bowles, the wife
of Prince Charles. Her daughter was recently married at the church
in the village.
Adjacent to the village is Lacock Abbey, one of the few abbeys to
survive the Reformation in Tudor times and used for amongst others
for the school scenes in Harry Potter.
Our driver/guide will invite you on a walking tour of the village.
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George
Inn Lacock |
We heartily recommend you take lunch in the George Inn, a 13th century
pub, the oldest licenced pub in England. Its refreshingly free of
the tourist trail, many of the customers will be locals. Apart from
the excellent home cooked food chalked up on the boards at reasonable
prices, the pub itself has much of interest.
In the yard are stocks, (so don't drink too much) and the original
medieval fireplace inside has a dog wheel, where a specially trained
small dog once fanned the flames.
There is also an information board illustrating some of the films
shot here like Harry Potter and a small museum of box cameras. The
first ever photography that took place happened right here where you
eat and drink.
Our driver/guide will help you through the menu, in England faggots
are something that you eat! |
Castle
Coombe
Assuming we leave Lacock around 13:15, its just a short journey to
Castle Coombe.
There is no longer a castle at Castle Coombe, but down in the coombe
(steep river valley) is the lovely Cotswold village, Castle Coombe.
The single track road we use to access the village means the big bus
tours can't come here, as a result its a relatively unspoilt gem -
much quieter and authentic than the more famous Cotswold villages
further north.
We leave Castle Coombe around 14:15
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Castle
Coombe |
Avebury
Our last scheduled stop of the day would be Avebury, about a 45 minute
journey from Castle Coombe. The scenery changes again to more open
countryside with rolling hills and ridges. We pass a White Horse on
the hillside and some racing stables before arriving at Avebury. |
We
think Avebury vied with Stonehenge at the time of the Neolithic in
terms of importance. We pass Silbury Hill, Europe's largest man made
mound and Neolithic burial mounds before travelling down the 'Avenue
of Stones' to Avebury itself.
The Marlborough Downs here are the source of the largest stones at
Stonehenge, about 20 miles south.
Avebury is a larger henge than Stonehenge. Relatively unvisited, you
can walk among and touch the stones here, unlike Stonehenge.
Our driver/guide again will offer a walking tour.
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Avebury
Stone Circle |
Avebury also has a worthwhile Saxon village within it, complete with
Dovecote, thatched cottages and pubs, Manor House, historic church
and much else besides.
We leave Lacock around 15:45, passing through Marlborough and passing
Windsor before arriving back at your London accommodation around 18:00
to 18:30 depending on the location of your hotel. |
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