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Kingston Lacy, Dorset
THE ROYAL OAK FOUNDATIONHOUSES & GARDEN TOUR
Great Country Houses & Gardens of Dorset
Monday, May 30 to Friday, June 3, 2016
St. Giles, Dorset
Kingston Lacy, Dorset
Dear Members and Friends,
Royal Oak is pleased to offer an exclusive private view of some of the most glorious houses and gardens of Dorset. The tour will take place at the height of the spring flowering and is timed around the Royal Horticultural Society’s Chelsea Flower Show. We will enjoy a series of special private visits to some of Dorset’s most magnificent private homes with tours led by the owners, including a lunch with the Earl of Shaftesbury at his home, the beautiful St Giles House. The National Trust has arranged a wonderful tour of Kingston Lacy, one of Dorset’s greatest houses and landscapes. We will be staying at Plumber Manor throughout, a fine Jacobean country house, still owned, and now run as a country house hotel, by the same family that built it in the early 1600s.
Our tour manager, James McDonaugh, is from an old Dorset family and has designed this unique tour for The Royal Oak. He studied philosophy & theology at Oxford University, before going on to the Courtauld Institute of Art to study art history and completing his Masters in English Baroque architecture at the Courtauld in 2003. He has led tours of English country houses for a decade and also lectures on European programs for the Courtauld, the Art Fund and The House of Lords. James will provide background lectures on the coach on the great estates we will visit, their families, history, art and architecture. He led the highly successful Royal Oak tour of Wiltshire and Somerset in 2014.
Tour package costs are inclusive of accommodation, all receptions and meals, guided tours, and local transportation and starts at $4,875 per person (double occupancy). There is a required $500 per person tax deductible donation to Royal Oak in support of the National Trust’s Wiltshire and Dorset Region. This tour is limited to twenty people.
I hope very much that you will join us for this extraordinary tour of the glorious houses and gardens of Dorset.
Yours Sincerely,
Lynne Rickabaugh, Royal Oak Board Chair
MONDAY, MAY 30 LONDON TO DORSET AM Private transfer from London to St Giles House
1.00 PM Private lunch at St Giles with the Earl of Shaftesbury
2:30 PM Private tour of St Giles House: the private home of the Earl of Shaftesbury, which he has recently magnificently restored. The 17th century house contains wonderful tapestries, family portraits and a magnificent early 18th century library that belonged the ‘Philosopher Earl’. The 7th Earl was one of the great reformers of the 19th century and helped Wilberforce abolish slavery in England. This will be followed a walk in the beautiful landscaped grounds (the house is not open to the public)
5:00 PM Private transfer to our hotel Plumber Manor
7:00 PM Welcome drinks
8:00 PM Private dinner at Plumber Manor
TUESDAY, MAY 31 KINGSTON LACY
9:00 AM Depart hotel by private transfer
10:00 AM Private visit to Kingston Lacy with the National Trust’s dynamic Regional curator James Grasby: home of the Bankes family for more than 300 years, this grand 17th-century house contains some of the most lavish interiors of the National Trust’s properties. The outstanding art collection includes paintings by Rubens, Van Dyck, Titian and Brueghel, with the largest private collection of Egyptian artefacts in the UK. We will also visit the beautiful grounds, which include a restored Japanese tea garden
Depart for a charming local village
1:00 PM Lunch at a delicious gastro-pub
4:00 PM Return to the hotel and rest
7:00 PM Depart the hotel by private transer
8:30 PM Private champagne reception and dinner at a charming 18th century Dorset farmhouse hosted by the owner:
This charming Dorset farmhouse is located in rolling chalk-land and contains an important collection of English portraits by Reynolds, Lawrence, Cotes and Hoppner. Dinner will be in the baronial hall in front of the portraits
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 1 SHERBORNE CASTLE & ABBEY
10:00 AM Depart the hotel by private transfer
10:30 AM Private visit to Sherborne Castle and Abbey: built by Sir Walter Raleigh in 1594, Sherborne reflects a glorious variety of decorative styles from over 400 years of English history. It has been the home of the Digby family since 1617, and in 1753 ‘Capability’ Brown created one of his finest landscapes with a 50-acre lake, magnificent specimen trees, borders and sweeping lawns. We will tour the house privately, including the old 13th century castle and then visit the gardens
12:30 PM Tour the gardens independently
1:00 PM Private lunch in the ‘Orangerie’ at Sherborne Castle
4:00 PM Return to the hotel
7:30 PM Private dinner at Plumber Manor
Athelhampton, Dorset
Earl of Shaftesbury
THURSDAY, JUNE 2 SMEDMORE, ATHELHAMPTON & INWOOD
9:30 AM Depart the hotel by private transfer
10:30 AM Private visit to Smedmore House: with a tour given by the owner and famous historian Dr Philip Mansel. This splendid house sits in a beautiful setting and in the words of Lord David Cecil is “breezy friendly and romantic, fresh with the smell of the sea”. Dramatic views of the coast contrast with the intimate walled gardens whose layout has changed little since 1620 when the house was built by the present owner’s ancestors
12:30 PM Private lunch at Smedmore House
3:30 PM Visit Athelhampton House: one of the outstanding manor houses in England. The late medieval great hall with tall oriel window is uniquely fine amidst the harmonious Tudor additions with their Ham stone mullions and heraldic carved beasts. The 20-acre secret garden is a superb example of a 19th century Italianate garden, especially the court of yew pyramids. That formal court leads to
other secret gardens, recently planted with a wide variety of species, and a romantic riverside walk. It won the 1997 HHA/Christie’s Garden of the Year Award
5:30 PM Return to the hotel
7:15 PM Private champagne reception and dinner at Inwood House with a tour given by the owner Count Richard de Pelet: this little known Victorian house and estate straddles the Somerset/Dorset border and is filled with magnificent treasures including complete 18th century rooms, possibly from the London houses of The Duke of Cumberland and the Cadogan family. There are also interesting pieces from the Grosvenor family collections, including an excellent collection of pictures and chinoiserie decorative arts
FRIDAY, JUNE 3 CRANBORNE MANOR
10:00 AM Depart by private transfer (with bags packed)
11:00 AM Private visit to the gardens of Cranborne Manor: originally built as a hunting lodge in 1207 and later acquired by the first Earl of Salisbury in c. 1605. It
was completely rebuilt from 1610-1640 and during the period c.1700-1860 it was used by two tenant farmers, the present gardens being their farmyards. Further repairs were done by the 2nd Marquis of Salisbury and the Cecil family have lived there ever since. The gardens, originally designed by John Tradescant, are some of Dorset’s most beautiful and we will have the very rare privilege of having them all to ourselves
12:30 PM Lunch at local pub
RETURN DRIVE TO LONDON VICTORIA
Orangerie at Sherborne Castle, Dorset James McDonaugh of Art Tours
TOUR ACCOMMODATIONOur accommodation for the tour is Plumber Manor. Plumber was once a private manor house and is now run as a very comfortable hotel by the family who built it in the early 17th century. It is surrounded by beautiful countryside and boasts a superb chef.
TRAVELPlease note that the tour costs do not include trans-Atlantic or other transportation to and from London, where the tour will begin and end. Participants are responsible for making their own arrangements for this travel, although Royal Oak is glad to advise as much possible.
Sherborne, Dorset
BOOKING INFORMATION GREAT COUNTRY HOUSES & GARDENS OF DORSET, MONDAY 30 MAY TO FRIDAY 3 JUNE PRICE: $4,875 PER PERSON SINGLE ROOM SUPPLEMENT: $215 ROYAL OAK DONATION: $500 (PAYABLE DIRECT TO THE ROYAL OAK FOUNDATION)If you are not a member of the Royal Oak Foundation the tour price increases by $175 per person.
To join, visit: royal-oak.org/join
Smedmore, Dorset
PRICE INCLUDES
• Accommodation with breakfast for four nights in Dorset’s finest Country House hotel, Plumber Manor
• Seven private visits including a private lunch at St Giles, a private lunch at Smedmore, a private dinner at
Inwood, and a private dinner at a Dorset house
• 5 lunches (3 of which will be held privately) with three courses, wine, water and coffee
• 4 dinners (all of which will be held privately) with three courses, wine, water and coffee
• The services of architectural historian and tour manager James McDonaugh
• Services of all other on-site experts
• All ground transport by private luxury coach as per the itinerary
• All other site entry costs, taxes and tips
This tour is operated by Art Tours Ltd. To reserve your place on the tour, please complete and mail or email the
completed Booking Form on the following pages to:
Katie Groves, Art Tours Ltd, 2 Ordnance Mews, London, NW8 6PF.
Email: [email protected]
A 20% non-refundable deposit is required to secure your place on the tour.
PAYMENT: Art Tours cannot accept payment by credit card. Payment can be made by USD check [made out to ‘Art
Tours Ltd’] or by bank wire. Please contact Art Tours for bank wire instructions.
PLEASE NOTE: The $500 donation to the National Trust’s Wiltshire and Dorset Regions should be sent direct to Royal
Oak and not Art Tours Ltd. To make your donation, contact Robert Dennis at 212.480.2889 ext. 201 or
CANCELLATIONS: To cancel your place on the tour, please contact Art Tours directly. Please see the attached terms
and conditions for their cancellation policy. The tour is subject to a minimum number of participants. Art Tours Ltd.
And Royal Oak will work as hard as possible to ensure the tour can go ahead. If the tour cannot go ahead for this reason,
or due to other factors beyond our control, then your deposit will be refunded. So that reasonable notice can be given
to clients who have already booked, all bookings must be received and final numbers for the tour must be confirmed by
28 February 2016.
PLEASE NOTE: This tour involves a good deal of walking and standing in gardens so please contact Art Tours Ltd. if you
have any concerns over mobility.
Contact Art Tours Ltd. by phone on: +44 (0)207 449 9707
Athelhampton, Dorset
20 West 44th Street • Suite 606 • New York, NY 10036 • royal-oak.orgFor more information on our travel programs, contact Chelcey Berryhill at (212) 480–2889, ext 212 or [email protected].
View from the Ginko lawn at Sherborne Castle, Dorset
