Arrive in London on suggested flights and make your way to the hotel. Renaissance Tours or your travel agent can assist you with your flights and other travel arrangements, including travel insurance (a condition of travel), accommodation before or after the tour and a room category upgrade.

In the evening, join your tour leader Robert Reason and fellow travellers for a welcome briefing and dinner at the hotel.

(D)

This morning, enjoy a guided tour of Red House, located on the outskirts of London, which was the home of Morris and his family and one of the meeting places of the Pre-Raphaelite artists. Tudor Gothic in design, the house was created by Morris’s long-time collaborator architect Philip Webb, with the interior furnishings designed by Morris and Edward Burne-Jones.

Afterwards, visit the William Morris Gallery on a curator-led tour. Explore the gallery’s comprehensive collection, from Morris’s work as a designer and craftsman to his environmental and social activism.

The evening is at leisure.

(BL)

After breakfast, visit the Victoria and Albert Museum, the largest decorative arts museum in the world. Discover the William Morris collection with a private guided tour of Morris’s textiles, wallpapers, book covers and tapestries from his early designs through to the patterns now synonymous with his name.

Enjoy lunch at leisure in the museum’s Morris Room, decorated by Morris as an unknown young artist, where the room’s plasterwork and wallpaper show hints of designs that would later make him famous.

In the afternoon, travel to Leighton House for a private tour through the former studio-home of Victorian artist Frederic Leighton. Considered a ‘private palace of art’, paintings and sculptures by Leighton and his contemporaries are hung throughout the elaborate home, which is embellished with Islamic tiles, a golden dome and intricate mosaics.

Later, visit the Holy Trinity Church, known as ‘the Cathedral of the Arts and Crafts Movement’ for its impressive interiors, which include a large stained-glass window designed by Morris and painter Burne-Jones.

Return to the hotel in the late afternoon for an evening at leisure.

(B)

Today, visit Emery Walker’s House and the William Morris Society which offer a glimpse into the lives and legacies of the Arts and Crafts movement’s most influential figures. Emery Walker’s House is a beautifully preserved Georgian terrace that was once home to the typographer and printer. The interiors, filled with original furnishings and textiles, reflect the close collaboration between Walker and William Morris. A short walk away is The William Morris Society, showcasing his designs, writings and the enduring impact of his philosophy on art and social reform.

Continue to Oxford with its iconic spires and historic libraries. Tonight, there is an opportunity to join the Evensong service at the Exeter College Chapel, which displays the original The Adoration of the Magi tapestry.

(BL)

Travel out of Oxford to Kelmscott Manor, the summer home of Morris and his family. After some time to explore the home, walk to the picturesque village of Kelmscott.

There, visit the Mediaeval St George’s Church, saved from Victorian ‘restoration’ by Morris’s passionate activism. The churchyard is home to the final resting place of Morris, his wife and two daughters.

Afterwards, explore Buscot Park, the family home of Lord Faringdon, with a guided tour. Previously owned by Australian tycoon Robert Tertius Campbell in the mid-19th century, the 18th-century house is surrounded by an Italianate water garden, designed by Harold Peto. Amongst the artworks of the Faringdon Collection is Rossetti’s Pandora, Burne-Jones’s series The Legend of Briar Rose and Rembrandt’s Pieter Six.

Return to Oxford for an evening at leisure, with the option to attend the Evensong service at Christ Church Cathedral.

(BL)

This morning, attend a talk with Robert at the Oxford Union, where murals designed by the Pre-Raphaelites, including Morris, Burne-Jones and Dante Gabriel Rossetti, depict scenes from the Arthurian legends.

Afterwards, journey through the English Cotswolds to Cheltenham for a guided tour of its renowned Art Gallery and Museum. Discover the stunning collection of Arts and Crafts jewellery, pottery, embroideries and silverware.

Continue northwards and arrive in Kidderminster in the late afternoon. Tonight, dinner is at the hotel’s restaurant.

(BD)

Depart Kidderminster to explore Wightwick Manor, a Victorian home decorated with Morris designs and over 150 works of Pre-Raphaelite art, including a portrait of Morris’s wife, Jane,  by Rossetti.

Venture into the Lake District and travel past some of England’s largest lakes and mountains, through the romantic wilderness that provided inspiration to writers and poets including Beatrix Potter, Samuel Taylor Coleridge and William Wordsworth. Arrive in Windermere in the early evening and enjoy dinner at the hotel.

(BLD)

Begin the day travelling across Lake Windermere on a Victorian-styled steam yacht gondola and visit Brantwood, the home of the 19th century critic John Ruskin, overlooking Lake Coniston. Enjoy an introductory talk about the home, followed by time to view the estate’s gardens and interiors.

After lunch, travel to Blackwell House, a masterpiece of 20th-century design with sweeping views of Windermere. Built by architect Mackay Hugh Baillie Scott, the home retains many of its original decorative features with tiles, stained-glass windows, metalwork and furniture created by leading designers of the Arts and Crafts movement.

Return to the hotel in the late afternoon for an evening at leisure.

(BL)

Today, drive across the border into Scotland. First, stop south of the border at Carlisle, a city with over 2,000 years of settlement history. Enjoy a guided tour of the 900-year-old Carlisle Cathedral, famous for its East Window, the largest and most complex stained-glass window of the English Gothic style in England.

After some time at leisure for lunch, visit the Tullie House Museum and Art Gallery, which focuses on Pre-Raphaelite art.

Upon arrival in Glasgow, enjoy dinner at the hotel’s restaurant.

(BD)

Begin the morning with a talk by Robert. Then, discover the ‘Glasgow Style’ gallery at the Kelvingrove Art Gallery Museum, featuring the works of Glasgow architect and designer Charles Rennie Mackintosh and his contemporaries.

In the afternoon, visit the Hunterian Art Gallery, the oldest public museum in Scotland where the Mackintosh House exhibition allows a look into the meticulously reassembled interiors of the architect’s home in Glasgow.

Later, enjoy afternoon tea in the Willow Tea Rooms, a recreation of the most famous of Glasgow’s ‘turn of the century’ tearooms. Commissioned by Miss Cranston during the Temperance Movement, almost all aspects of the interior were designed by Mackintosh and his wife Margaret Macdonald, from the wall panelling to the cutlery, menus and even the waitresses’ uniforms.

(B)

This morning, visit the Mackintosh Queen’s Cross, the only church designed by Mackintosh, with Gothic-inspired windows and Art Nouveau detailing. Afterwards, travel north to Hill House, considered Mackintosh’s finest domestic architectural work built for Glasgow publisher Walter Blackie in 1902. In addition to the architecture, the furniture and fittings of the home were also designed by Mackintosh and Macdonald, with Mackintosh’s signature ‘Glasgow Rose’ stencilled throughout the interiors.

Spend some time at the Mackintosh Club in the town of Helensburgh before returning to Glasgow.

In the evening, celebrate the conclusion of the tour with a farewell dinner with Robert and fellow travellers.

(BD)

Tour arrangements conclude after breakfast.

For those returning home today, make your way to Glasgow Airport for suggested flights to Australia or New Zealand.

(B)