Deene Park
Deene Park
BURGHLEY HOUSE
Rockingham Castle Courtyard
Denne Park
Boughton House
Magnificent Burghley House – with welcome talk and lunch
Rockingham Castle – a family home for 450 years
Boughton House – an 18th century mansion inspired by the Palace of Versailles
Deene Park – including lunch
Grimsthorpe Castle – dating back to the 13th century
Join Nicholas Merchant, Former Chairman of the West Yorkshire Art Fund Fundraising Committee, who will draw on his expertise in antiques to deliver a convivial short break exploring some of the great country houses of the East Midlands, complete with illustrative and illuminating lectures. Based on lovely Rutland Water in England's smallest county, whose motto "multum in parvo" (much in little) sums up its appeal, this delightful tour visits some of the East Midlands finest country houses, including Elton Hall, Boughton House, Burghley House, Deene Park House, Grimsthorpe Castle and more.
Available Departures |
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| 08 - June - 2025 | £ 1299.00 | Travel Info Book Now |
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Provisional Timings |
Day 1: Arrive independently at The Barnsdale from 15.30 and enjoy a cream tea in the hotel’s conservatory. This evening there will be a welcome drink, private dinner with wine and an introductory talk by Nicholas Merchant: ‘Some Houses of Northamptonshire and Lincolnshire’.
Day 2: Burghley House and Grimsthorpe Castle.
Our first visit is to the magnificent Burghley House where there will be a welcome talk by the Curator John Culverhouse, followed by a free-flow visit of the house. A light lunch will be included here, and this afternoon it is on to Grimsthorpe where we will have a guided tour. The House has been in the Willoughby de Eresby family for 500 years and some parts of it date back to the 13th century. Dinner at the hotel.
Day 3: Elton Hall and Deene Park.
A morning visit to Elton Hall for a guided tour. An extraordinary part-Gothic house, Elton Hall has been and continues to be the home of the Proby family since 1660. This afternoon light lunch and tour of Deene Park, an interesting house occupied by the Brundenell family since 1514. The Brudenell family developed Deene Park from a medieval manor into a Tudor and Georgian mansion. Evening talk from Nicholas Merchant: ‘A French Palace in the English Countryside’ followed by dinner at the hotel.
Day 4: Boughton House and Rockingham Castle.
Morning guided tour of Boughton House, the great 18th century Versailles-inspired mansion of the Dukes of Buccleuch. After a light lunch here (included), we continue our tour with a visit to Warkton, St Edmund Church, site of the mausoleum of the Dukes of Montagu located within the grounds of Boughton House. For our final visit we have a guided tour of Rockingham Castle, standing high on a hill overlooking the expanse of the Welland Valley. Having been in the same family for 450 years, the house contains fine Elizabethan portraits, contemporary paintings, and in the garden the ‘elephant hedge’. Return to the hotel for approximately 18.00.
NB: Exact order of excursions may vary according to local conditions and tour manager's discretion.
Please note the maximum group size on this tour is 25 passengers.
INCLUDED
NOT INCLUDED
The Barnsdale, Rutland Water
Converted from an historic farmhouse The Barnsdale Hotel is now part of The Signet Collection and had a renovation in 2023. The three-star hotel offers comfortable accommodation, excellent food and a warm, friendly welcome. All bedrooms are en-suite and individually furnished with TV, telephone, tea/coffee making facilities, hairdryer and have views of the surrounding countryside or the picturesque courtyard. Facilities at the hotel include a restaurant where dinner will be served each evening.
Complimentary car parking is available at the hotel.
The Barnsdale Website
Nicholas Merchant
Nicholas has been a lecturer and group leader for tours in the UK and France for Travel Editions for close to 15 years. Prior to Travel Editions, he ran his own book business, worked for Sotheby’s and was the West Yorkshire representative for the National Art Fund. His knowledge, wit and erudition illuminate any visit and his tours are informative, interesting and, above all, entertaining.
Please note that all our UK tours start and finish at the relevant hotel.
You can normally check in from 3pm onwards but hotels will always be happy to store your luggage if you arrive earlier in the day.
For full details of how to get to the hotel, directions and the nearest train station, please click on the hotel website or call our office for details. These will also be sent automatically with your confirmation.
The welcome reception and first evening dinner / talk will commence at about 6pm - full details will be sent with your joining instructions about 10 days prior to the arrival date.
I thoroughly enjoyed doing this tour a second time, and unusually the second time was best. Six superb houses, and it’s the array of objects inside which impresses. Nicholas was on fine form; hugely informative with an astonishing knowledge. He has developed a personna and wit on top and would make a great presenter of the Antiques Roadshow or Flog It! I also must congratulate the competent Axelles’s initiative in getting the sixth-former pouring thimble-fulls of wine (occasionally) to put the bottles on the tables and let us serve ourselves. The Barnsdale Lodge, more commercial than before, is still very good. I will come again next year.
Review by Hamilton who travelled 09-June-2024
Travel Editions feedback:
We are delighted that the tour was such a success and look forward to welcoming you back onto it again next year. We do hope that we can be of service again soon and hope you enjoy your next tour Land of The Prince Bishops in July .
I enjoyed the tour very much. We visited a range of country houses all interesting in different ways. The guides in the houses were all excellent, very knowledgeable, as was Nicholas. My only complaint was that I had to leave the tour early because of the rail strike. I had intended to stay an extra night but had to miss that.
Review by Lewis who travelled 16-July-2023
We thoroughly enjoyed our trip, everyone was most helpful. under flight, train, ferry, our bus driver was excdellent
Review by Anonymous who travelled 16-July-2023
Overall, a very pleasant and interesting trip.
Review by Anonymous who travelled 16-July-2023
An excellent, well organised tour with six interesting properties to view, all with fascinating histories. Thank you Nicholas for preparing us with a lot of information on each house in advance.
Review by Anonymous who travelled 16-July-2023
Hotel was very good. However some concern about safety . locked in room, had trouble finding contact number, when I eventually did no one on reception. If there had been a fire I would have been in serious trouble.
Review by Pope who travelled 16-July-2023
Will choose Travel Editions again.
Review by Smith who travelled 16-July-2023
Review by Anonymous who travelled 14-August-2022
Tour and tour manager were very good overall and the places visited very interesting. Unfortunately there was not always time to visit the gardens as well. The only downside was with the hotel when they tried to charge for the extra night's pre-paid accommodation on the morning of departure.
Review by Anonymous who travelled 14-August-2022
Excellent support by Nicholas Merchant.
Review by Anonymous who travelled 14-August-2022
This was the best hotel we have stayed in with your company. All meals were very good. Two houses a day was a bit too much. Perhaps one could be offset by a visit to a garden, church or something a bit different.
Review by Anonymous who travelled 14-August-2022
Review by Anonymous who travelled 14-August-2022
Our tour guide, Nicholas Merchant, was quite excellent. Efficient, extremely knowledgeable and lots of fun. Can't fault him !
Review by Oak who travelled 10-July-2022
Review by Anonymous who travelled 10-July-2022
Barnsdale Hotel was good. The food was excellent, the staff excellent let down by shabby rooms and communal areas. I believe a refurb is to take place in the autumn,
Review by Anonymous who travelled 10-July-2022
Our tour was extremely well organised and Nicholas proved to be a very knowledgeable guide. It was such a privilege to find some of the houses we visited had been opened just for our group so nothing was rushed or crowded.
Review by Lord who travelled 10-July-2022
Review by Anonymous who travelled 10-July-2022
We were very pleased with all aspects of the holiday. The train journey we have rated Satisfactory was our own travel to the destination and not part of the package!
Review by Anonymous who travelled 10-July-2022
Hotel was a vast improvement on the Old Hall , Buxton. A nice mix of people with 3 singles. Deere Park guide not the best and talked for too long. Best guide at Boughton - she was very clear and extremely knowledgable. Getting too old for 3 days - 2 in future.
Review by Heydon who travelled 10-July-2022
The hotel was very comfortable and staff helpful and considerate. arrangement that were made following Covid rules were all satisfactory. The houses on the tour were varied and most interesting. Nicholas was again a friendly and knowledeable tour manager. full marks Travel Editions
Review by Davies who travelled 15-August-2021
The shower in our hotel room was filthy, and I can send you a photo I took. Some of the rooms has been upgraded but ours had not - we suggest that in future you should only use the upgraded rooms.. At dinner the size of the vegetarian main courses were so small they would just about have qualified as a starter. However the food was well cooked and presented. The tours could be improved by scheduling more time for the morning tours, have a later lunch, and then have shorter time for the afternoon tours which were to smaller properties. The day after the tour we walked around Stanford which is a very interesting place to visit as an alternative to lesser stately homes. Nicholas Merchant is a very good tour manager who combined a personal manner, humour, sound admin and a good working relationship with all of the tour venues.
Review by Hadfield who travelled 15-August-2021
Well organised by Nicholas. Good to have two experts per visit Nicholas and the House Guide. Would be better to have the evening talk about a visit on the actual evening prior to the visit. Good to have Private visits to properties. Good not to change hotels each day. Somethings need to be tweeked to actually allow time to visit the gardens as marketed eg the inverted mound/water feature at Boughton. Hotel was lovely but the receptionist on the day of arrival was appallingly off hand - she was under pressure because of last minute staff shortages, but that is no excuse. By the last day we had cultural indigestion and brain overload. Lovely coach driver.
Review by Gradwell who travelled 15-August-2021
The weather was disappointing as it was so cloudy most of the time which detracted from the spectacular grounds, gardens and views. But inside was fine. I was very glad to see the monuments in Warkton church. We stayed on for two days to visit the other churches with relevant family monuments. All were open and easily accessible. We should have been able to visit the church at Rockingham but that had been kept closed for no longer required Covid reasons. I still feel that the tour should have included St. Martin's, Stamford, for the Burghley monuments as these are splendid, easily accessible, and exemplify some of the finest Tudor monuments that preceded those of the 18th. century at Warkton. Deene church is also open but not the Brudenel's chapel although they are fully visible through their railings and, as the church is now deconsecrated, one can stand on the pews to have an uninterrupted view. There is a gateway from where the coach parked straight through to the churchyard. The death and life masks of Balaclava Cardigan and his Horsey wife, which are in the house, are precisely reproduced in their marble effigies. But the actual church has never been redecorated since it closed whereas the others are in a fine state. The introductory lectures that Nicholas gave were very useful.
Review by Boswell who travelled 15-August-2021
Nicholas Merchant was an excellent tour manager as well as art lecturer. Having been told of my recent hip operation, he was extremely helpful, considerate and discreet when informing guides about my condition. Luckily I was able to go round all of the great houses that we visited. The lunches were also unexpectedly excellent.
Review by Williams who travelled 15-August-2021
An excellent trip.Nicholas was a superb guide….his subject knowledge and sense of humour are fantastic.Every property visited was brought to life.The hotel was very comfortable and the meals were delicious.
Review by Douglas who travelled 15-August-2021
Our first Travel Editions Tour, hopefully will not be the last! Tour was superb, the houses, the guides, the lunches and Nicholas was excellent. We found the hotel disappointing, poor choice of menu for dinner- 2 choices - not really a choice at all. The view from our bedroom was lovely, the room was clean, towels good quality. The shower was AWFUL- probably the worst shower we have had anywhere in the world. The bathroom generally needed updating. The hotel admin left something to be desired! We learnt so much, took lots of pictures as a reminder of a truly wonderful experience
Review by Edwards who travelled 15-August-2021
Excellent throughout. Good group size loved the hotel properties visited varied in style and all very interesting Tour manager inspired confidence and dealt with any problems without fuss looking forward to our next trip.
Review by Goodall who travelled 11-July-2021
Review by Read who travelled 11-July-2021
Our room was small and cramped, in fact the smallest double rooom in the hotel. We manged as there were no rooms spare.Apart from that the hotle was excellnt bt in temds of location , facilities and serevice. The tour was just what we needed. Infomative and light hearted with some splendid venues and helpful guides. Our tour manger was knowledgeable and had a lovely sense of humour. He also knew when we had enough infomation!
Review by Hardie who travelled 11-July-2021
Excellent tour. A great tour guide - knowledgeable, amusing and helpful with customers who needed.support. I liked the hotel - grest food, great staff and nice befroom. Altogether enjoyable.
Review by Bull who travelled 11-July-2021
I must have blinked and missed the flight/train/ferry.
Review by Grant who travelled 11-July-2021
I paid to have a double room for single occupancy and the room was pretty small and overlooked the restaurant so was not quiet. Nicholas was excellent and the hotel staff were terrific as the whole covid rules had to be obeyed. If it had not been for the accommodation I would have given the tour 100%
Review by Anonymous who travelled 11-July-2021
There were several issues with the hotel mainly concerning the dining room. The system for ordering food was more complicated than it needed to be. Several staff appeared to need training, at breakfast the hot food was brought to the table before fruit/cereals were finished. Some mornings service was very slow. In the evenings plates were scraped at the table, and bread removed without asking, On the extra evening after the tour ended my evening meal was inedible. The General Manager said I would be refunded, but that did not happen. There was a service charge added to the bill which was non negotiable. The hotel also did not provide newspapers, saying it was against Covid regulations which is not true. There were no local shops where a newspaper could be purchased. No problem with the room. Overall the hotel was disappointing.
Review by Kenyon who travelled 11-July-2021
The evening meals at Barnsdale Lodge were excellent. We were very lucky with the weather.
Review by Anonymous who travelled 11-July-2021
Enjoyed tour but there was a lot to take in overall in 3 days. Food excellent and enjoyed stay in hotel (pity about the faulty fire alarm on two early mornings!)
Review by Anonymous who travelled 18-August-2019
An excellently organised trip. However,in room 10 getting into the shower was very hard work! A handle to hold on to would have helped! We hope to travel with Travel Editions again.
Review by Ormell who travelled 18-August-2019
This is our second tour with Travel Editions and it was a delight. Very well organised, full of interest and not too taxing. We shall certainly book another UK tour hopefully next year.
Review by Anonymous who travelled 18-August-2019
A highly enjoyable few days - couldn’t fault it. Nicholas was a delightful host who wore his learning lightly and with humour and Oscar was a great coach driver . Looking forward to my next trip in November to Amsterdam - this will be a hard act to follow.
Review by Anonymous who travelled 18-August-2019
This has been the best Travel Editions tour we have been on. The venues were excellent and on the whole the in-house guides were well informed. Nicholas, as always, was excellent in his presentations and management of the tours. Of particular praise was the Barnsdale Lodge Hotel. The staff were very friendly and helpful; it was good to see that the menu was effectively unchanged for a group visit (as often happens & is not as good); the rooms were quite acceptable and the whole ambience was good. I took time out to complement the staff personally which is rare for me.
Review by Robson who travelled 18-August-2019
Nicolas is a lovely guide who judged his presentation so well. The hotel is very nice even in 37C heat!
Review by Anonymous who travelled 21-July-2019
Glorious weather - brilliant tour manager - no one on mobile phones - lovely houses. Best till last - wonderful day/gardens. A lot of standing around in full sun - guides at Rockingham should have taken better care of us and spoken in the shade (there was some)
Review by Platt who travelled 21-July-2019
We thought the tour overall was excellent. We have given Poor for the accommodation because the room was dire. This is the second time we seem to have got a much worse room than the other party members on a TE break. Otherwise the food at the hotel was excellent as were the staff. Nicholas M very well organised and we had a great coach driver.
Review by Wright who travelled 21-July-2019
An excellent 3 days. Good company, good food, good visits, good weather and our charming (and extremely knowledgeable) host -Nicholas. Northamptonshire, an gem of a county. We saw it at it's best.
Review by Anonymous who travelled 21-July-2019
Very good but with hindsight a little out of my depth as far as history is concerned.
Review by Anonymous who travelled 21-July-2019
Always a pleasure to tour with Nicholas Merchant and the Barnsdale Lodge is excellent!
Review by Anonymous who travelled 21-July-2019
A most enjoyable holiday
Review by who travelled 22-July-2018
Review by who travelled 22-July-2018
A really enjoyable tour. What a lovely hotel - I shall look out for more tours based there. Nicholas Marchant is an excellent leader and lecturer. We are looking forward to "Gothic Splendours in September.
Review by King who travelled 22-July-2018
We found the coach rides slightly uncomfortable; rocking from side to side on country roads. Local guides inevitably varied in quality; some were more interested in retelling family history than in architecture or contents; the best were at Rockingham and Broughton. Please don't take these comments as indicating that we were dissatisfied with our overall experience. Far from it. The tour came well up to the standards of comparable companies.
Review by who travelled 22-July-2018
As ever, Nicholas Merchant proved an excellent guide, his knowledge is formidable and he has such a friendly manner as well as good leadership skills. The coach drivers took great care. Next time I would avoid Apethorpe: English Heritage are not very helpful and there were distasteful Jimmy Saville connections.
Review by Pounder who travelled 20-August-2017
A delightful trip with the added bonus of good weather and good company. Nicholas was an amusing and informative guide, and I shall certainly travel with company again. Thank you.
Review by Mrs Gillian Van Der Steen who travelled 16-July-2017
Never got to see Belton House -Nat.Trust offiicals not very visitor friendly - most rude ... It later seems that just 11 of our party of 22 had a tour - they did not see Silver.... We stayed an extra night and were told 8 people were staying to dinner - the hotel reserved a table for 8 accordingly. on going down for dinner the reserved table was full --- 12 persons had stayed - as luck would have it the restaurant was not full and the extra 4 - including we two - were able to dine.
Review by Mrs Dorrie Collins who travelled 11-June-2017
Nicholas Merchant was an excellent guide throughout the tour. Interesting selection of country houses but visit to Belton house disappointing entirely due to lack of communication by National Trust about the house opening hours
Review by Mr William Joscelyne who travelled 11-June-2017
We liked the hotel - the food was good and the provision of wine with it was much appreciated. The light lunches provided were very suitable and Nicholas Merchant looked after us very well as usual. An enjoyable holiday.
Review by Dr G Stephenson who travelled 11-June-2017
National Trust administration/contact on the day needs improvement !. Insufficient places were provided by the hotel to allow all those who stayed for the extra day to sit together at dinner
Review by Mr Gordon Chard who travelled 11-June-2017
Just one minor blemish on Sunday, there was a long wait between starter and main course even though menu choices had been made when checking in. Otherwise the usual high TE standards - our first UK and fifth in total tour .
Review by Mr Francis Lucraft who travelled 21-August-2016
Some guides in great houses get carried away by their enthusiasm to tell one about every picture, ancestor and marriage. Greater freedom would be good in houses where there is information or a steward in each or most rooms
Review by Mr W Bingham who travelled 12-June-2016
Excellent hotel, tour guide very knowledgeable which made the visits to the various houses all the more interesting.
Review by Mrs Rosemary Beal who travelled 12-June-2016
Nicholas Merchant was the ideal person for the holiday, plenty of information,polite, knowledgeable and enthusiastic. He made the holiday a first class experience. We were very placed on this holiday.
Review by Mr Stephen Smith who travelled 23-August-2015
I would say Very Good for sightseeing tours and overall impression if given the option. The size of the group was just right for travel house tours and getting to know fellow guests. I am looking at the brochure for other tours.
Review by Mrs Patricia Barr who travelled 23-August-2015
A brilliant Holliday many thanks a point to note is the hotel uses some of their ground floor rooms for clients with dogs so animals may have slept in the bedroom Our room definitely had a doggy smell which is not very nice I think you should be made aware of this practice
Review by Mr David Young who travelled 23-August-2015
All went very smoothly and satisfactorily.
Review by Mrs J Stone who travelled 19-July-2015
I asked when booking, and again before we went if the hotel had a lift. I was told it had, but there was no lift there. Fortunately the hotel were able to change us to a ground floor room. They also had to alter dining arrangements, so that we could eat downstairs.
Review by Mrs Isabel Lofts who travelled 19-July-2015
communication from the tour office to the hotel and tour leader seemed poor and the fact that I booked in for an accessible room with a walk in shower and to put my mobility scooter onto the coach to use when possible was not passed on. All sorted amicably in the end!
Review by Mrs Diana Powell who travelled 14-June-2015
Accommodation was very good
Review by Mr Warwick Bayley who travelled 14-June-2015
Another well organised tour. Excellent food. Nicholas as usual a delight. We both enjoyed it. Many thanks.
Review by Mr James Croall who travelled 14-June-2015
Very enjoyable and interesting short break in a part of the country I didn't know beforehand.
Review by Mrs Diana Amies who travelled 14-June-2015
Hotel bathroom cleaning before our arrival was not adequate. Hotel meals had very inadequate vegetables.
Review by Mr David Winter who travelled 14-June-2015
Review by Mr James Oldroyd who travelled 14-June-2015
Please note that the bus broke down twice en route to us in the morning. As it happened this didn't really matter but it was unimpressive. Otherwise tours and the hotel were excellent.
Review by Mr Peter Holland who travelled 08-June-2014
Review by Dr G Stephenson who travelled 08-June-2014
We very much enjoyed the holiday. Our one adverse comment relates to the quality of the food at diner, the main courses were poor. On our last night after the tour had finished we eat in the hotel restaurant and the food was very good there.
Review by Mr Graham Blackwell who travelled 08-June-2014
An excellent few days in the lovely countryside of England. The only slight disappointment was the quality of the food. I am not particularly fussy but the choice of evening meal was poor and the meal itself was of a poor standard. A pity as otherwise everything would have been perfect!
Review by Mrs B Eales who travelled 08-June-2014
Travel Editions feedback:
Thank you for your comments but frustrated to read about the quality of the food which we will be taking up with the hotel. A constant quality control is required with our UK hotels with regards to food, compared to our Europe tours....
