Time: 9.00am depart, return 6pm approximately

Cost: NT members £38, non-members £46, lunch £6.95 extra

Sandham Memorial Chapel, Burghclere, is famous for the magnificent pictures of the Great War by Stanley Spencer, followed by an early, light lunch at the Carpenter’s Arms, Burghclere.  Or you can bring a picnic.

Highclere Castle (also known as Downton Abbey) hardly needs introducing.  The home of the Earl and Countess of Carnarvon it was rebuilt in the C19th in the Jacobethan style with Italianate motifs by Charles Barry, the architect of the Houses of Parliament.  The park was laid out according to a design by Capability Brown (moving the village in the process).  The castle became the home to many Egyptian artefacts collected by the 5th Earl, an enthusiastic amateur Egyptologist.  By 2009 the castle was in urgent need of repair, much of which has been funded by the revenue from filming and from the tourists the filming has brought to the estate.  The family live in the castle during the winter, and return to their original home, a cottage in the grounds, during the months when the public visit.

The approximate timetable is:

9am depart Buckingham, arrive Burghclere 10.30.

11.45. Light early lunch at the Carpenter’s Arms (very close to the Chapel) at a cost of £6.95 a head.

Depart 12.45 for Highclere to arrive there at 1pm.  Entry to the castle itself is 1pm – 3pm.

Depart Highclere 4pm (hoping to miss the worst of Oxford’s rush-hour) though we can stay longer if needed.

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Date: Tuesday 21st May 2019 (please apply by 7th May)

Time

9.00 am depart, return 6.30 pm (approx.)

Buckingham Bus Station (opposite Community Centre Entrance)

Cost             

NT members £32.50, others £43.30.  Lunch not included

We start at The Vyne, near Basingstoke- a Tudor palace, built for Henry VIII’s Chancellor, subsequently given a classical portico and a palladian staircase, and bequeathed to the National Trust in 1956.  We will be given a tour of the house, which re-opened in October after a two-year long restoration project.  There is also the Brewhouse tea-room serving home-made cakes and light lunches – or you can take a picnic.  www.nationaltrust.org.uk/the-vyne.

After lunch we visit Whitchurch Silk Mill which is the oldest silk mill in the UK still in its original building.  A gem of industrial heritage in beautiful, rural Hampshire, a Georgian water mill that weaves silk using 19th century machinery. www.whitchurchsilkmill.org.uk

Click here for an application form