We depart the Blackmore Vale and head to our hotel in Portsmouth with a stop for lunch. We aim to get to our hotel for mid-afternoon where you will have time to freshen up before dinner. The Langstone Quays Resort is located on the North Shore of Hayling Island with stunning views over the estuary and Chichester harbour and has a Gym, Indoor Pool, Sauna, Steam Rooms and Jacuzzi.

Day 1: After breakfast, we will visit the Weald & Downland Living Museum home to BBC’s “The Repair Shop”, which houses a fascinating collection of rescued rural buildings set in a beautiful 40-acre site within the South Downs National Park.  There are over 50 buildings to explore and many of the exhibit houses are furnished to recreate historic domestic interiors. Discover the stories of the people who lived and worked in them over a 1,000-year period ­ from Anglo-Saxon to Edwardian times. There are domestic and craft demonstrations, including cooking in our Tudor kitchen and blacksmithing in our Victorian smithy. The museum also contains historic gardens, farm animals and farming heritage and beautiful woodland, pasture and wildflower meadows.

Day 2: Today we will visit one of the largest inhabited and complete castles in England, Arundel Castle. The Castle was founded at the end of the 11th century by Roger de Montgomery, Earl of Arundel and is the family home of the 18th Duke of Norfolk. Steeped in almost 1,000 years of history, the finely preserved castle rooms including the Baron’s Hall, 14th Century Catholic Fitzalan Chapel, Regency Library and Victorian bedrooms and the Norman Motte and Keep. Its extensive gardens are a masterpiece of horticultural design. Displays of the tropical borders are at their finest in late summer.

Day 3: Following breakfast, we will visit the Wey and Arun Canal which is a partially open, 23-mile-long canal. We will board a canal boat and have a 1.5 hour trip on the restored section of the canal passing beautiful countryside.

In the afternoon we will travel to Parham House and Gardens. Parham is one of the country’s finest Elizabethan Houses, complete with a Great Hall and Long Gallery. Its tranquillity and timeless beauty have changed little over the centuries. The gardens consist of beautiful Pleasure Grounds and a four-acre Walled Garden. There are stunning herbaceous borders, a glasshouse, vegetable garden, orchard and a 1920s Wendy House.

Day 4: After breakfast, we say our farewells and start the return journey home. A stop for lunch and then a leisurely journey back to Blackmore Vale arriving late afternoon/early evening.

Included:

• 4 nights dinner, bed and breakfast at The Langstone Quays Resort, Hayling Island
• Complimentary drinks throughout your journey

Depart Stalbridge: 09:00  –  Return Stalbridge: 19:00 approx (All itineraries are approximate and subject to change)