Far-from-the-Usual England & Wales 2026

13 Day Tour: August 8-20, 2026

Pricing for Far-from-the-Usual England & Wales

Tour Highlights

HIGHLIGHTS

• Hampton Court Palace
• The Real Downton Abbey–Highclere Castle
• Canterbury
• Brighton
• Bath
• Stratford-Upon-Avon
• The Cotswolds
• Liverpool
• Fab 4 Day
• Durham
• Caernarfon Castle
• New Castle
• Much More!

YOUR TOUR INCLUDES

• Roundtrip airfare from Chicago
• First Class Hotel Accommodations
• Daily Breakfast
• 7 Dinners
• Deluxe Motorcoach Transportation
• Admissions to all listed Attractions
• Roundtrip airport transfers in the Chicagoland area
• Guided by Bill Ball
• Baggage Handling
• All Gratuities

Tour Itinerary

Day One Depart O’Hare this evening for a UK trip unlike any other.

Day Two Arrive in London and head out to Hampton Court Palace—Henry the VIII’s palace from the 1500’s. (So cool, he killed to get it!) This 1000 rooms and mix of Georgian, Victorian and Tudor styling will amaze you. We return to London for the evening.

Day Three This morning we explore a little-known area of London—Little Venice. We’ll take a canal boat ride in this charming part of the city. This afternoon we have a tour of the Shakespeare’s Globe Theater. The Globe is built near the exact place that the original Globe Theater was built in 1599. The details that were meticulously followed for the recreation of the original theater will astound you. We head to Canterbury for the night.

Day Four We start our day with our first UNESCO site–the Canterbury Cathedral (of the Canterbury Tales fame). Founded in 597AD by St. Augustine, it is England’s first Cathedral. St. Augustine’s Abbey (part of the Canterbury UNESCO site) is considered to be the most important monasteries in Medieval England. We finish off the day with the Roman Museum to see Roman mosaics (in situ) and artifacts from the Roman era–many exposed by World War II activity. After our visit to Canterbury we make our way to Brighton for the night.

Day Five We explore the seaside oasis of Brighton today. We check out the oldest aquarium in the world, Victorian Architecture, the Artist Quarter and the famous Amusement Pier. We’ll also tour the Royal Pavilion—George IV’s pleasure palace by the sea. This palace is like no other Royal residence and is a must see by the sea. We overnight in Beaulieu.

Day Six Today we will explore vehicles from both land and sea. We’ll visit the National Motor Museum (Bond’s cars and Formula 1 racers are housed here) and the Sea City Museum which explores the Titanic history at one of its last ports of call. We make our way to Salisbury and tour the cathedral and see one of the best-preserved copies of the Magna Carta. The Magna Carta was first drafted by the Archbishop of Canterbury and outlines “The Charter of Freedoms” which became the antecedent for the US Constitution and the Bill of Rights as well as several other countries foundations. We overnight in Salisbury.

Day Seven This morning we explore some “TV History” as we visit Highclere Castle of Downton Abbey fame. We’ll also learn the castle’s “Real History” and it’s tie to King Tut. This afternoon we head to Bath (a UNESCO World Heritage Site) to tour the Roman Baths from 70AD, as well as the Royal Crescent—the finest example of Georgian Architecture. We overnight in Salisbury. 

Day Eight We explore the charming towns of the Cotswold’s today known for the picture postcard village scenes that we all think of when we think of England. Stone cottages and bridges make this area a fairytale land. This afternoon we head on to Stratford-Upon-Avon where we will visit the Bard’s home and gravesite in the local church. This evening, we see a performance in the theater in the land of Shakespeare. Overnight in Stratford-Upon-Avon.

Day Nine We head to Shrewsbury today–Birthplace of Charles Darwin. We’ll visit St. Chad’s (Darwin’s baptismal church). The church is said to be founded in the 500’s. It’s claim to fame is, (beside Darwin’s baptism) a round nave. We go on to visit Quarry Gardens–a sunken and stunning landscaped garden. After a stroll through the garden, we head to Wales. We swing through Wrexham—home to the Soccer team owned by Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney. Then it is on to the picturesque Portmeirion Cymru village where we overnight.

Day Ten We tour the seaside village of Portmeirion Cymru this morning. The village was conceived by Sir Clough Williams Ellis. It is believed he wanted to prove that a village could embrace the landscape without ruining its beauty. The village has been inspirational to many artists and architects such as George Bearnard Shaw, HG Wells and Noel Coward that wrote “Blithe Spirit” while staying at the village. It also was a favorite of George Harrison and even had his 50th birthday at the hotel. We move on to the site of King Charles III’s Prince of Wales investiture—Caernarfon Castle. Caernarfon is both a palace and a fortress and took over 47 years to build. This afternoon we head to Liverpool—home to the Fab Four and a UNESCO site as well.

Day Eleven It’s Beatlemania! We tour all of the Beatle sites today including Abbey Road and the Cavern where they got their start and all points in between. It’ll be a Hard Days Night–but We’ll Get By, We’ll Get By… We also visit the beautiful Royal Pump Room in Harrogate. The Pump Room housed the strongest Sulfur waters that were used for healing purposes in the UK. The Victorian architecture of the Pump Room is simply exquisite. We overnight in Harrogate.

Day Twelve This morning we visit the Royal Horticulture Society Garden Harlon Carr. This garden is second to none covering wildflower meadows, riversides, kitchen gardens and subtropical plantings. We visit the Knaresborough Railway Viaduct—a picture postcard structure. We continue on to Durham Cathedral which was named a UNESCO World Heritage site because it is the perfect example of Norman architecture. After our visit we continue on to New Castle in…New Castle. The name for the fortification is a little deceiving as it was built in the 1100’s. As we tour the city, we’ll see some of the amazing bridges New Castle is known for. We overnight in New Castle.

Day Thirteen We depart for home this morning with castles, palaces, picturesque towns and gardens, verses from Bard and lyrics from the beloved Fab Four in our heads.