2025 - Kings, Pies & Legends

Itinerary

Tour Highlights

• Hotel for 4 nights with dinner & breakfast
• Tea/coffee after dinner
• Included Excursions as stated:
• Entrance to Burghley House 
• Visit to Melton Mowbray with Pork Pie Making demonstration with tea / coffee and a small tasting
• Visit to Lincoln
• Entrance to International Bomber Command Centre
• Entrance to King Richard III Visitor Centre with tea/coffee & talk
• Visit to Leicester Cathedral with intro talk
• Porterage
• Use of Leisure Facilities

Pies, Kings & Legends

Day 1 - Relax and enjoy the scenery on the way to Lincolnshire with a comfort stop-time permitting, in lovely Stamford, widely regarded as one of the finest stone towns in England. The pretty facades of the town are favourites with film and television producers. Stamford was used as Meryton in the 2005 Pride & Prejudice film and has also appeared in Middlemarch. Continue to your hotel for your 3-night stay with DBB

Day 2 - 4 At leisure with three included excursions

INCLUDED EXCURSIONS
BURGHLEY HOUSE & MELTON MOWBRAY PORK PIE MAKING DEMONSTRATION
Visit the magnificent Elizabethan Burghley House (entrance included). Still a much loved family home and favourite film location (Rosings Park in the 2005 version of Pride & Prejudice), the palatial house is home to an historic collection of paintings, ceramics and works of art. Enjoy a self-guided tour of Burghley's dramatic State Rooms and the surrounding 'Capability' Brown parkland, Garden of Surprises and the Contemporary Sculpture Garden. 

Later on head to Melton Mowbray, the bustling market town known as the ‘Rural Capital of Food’ boasting a culinary heritage that few can match. Famous delicacies including Melton Mowbray pork pies and Stilton cheese can only be made in this locality, thanks to protected status. After some time at leisure, head over to St Mary's Church for a demonstration of 'How to Make a Melton Mowbray Pork Pie with a potted history'. Learn the art of hand-raising a traditional Melton Mowbray Pork Pie in a fun and informative atmosphere. A cup of tea and a taste of a Brockleby's pork pie complete the experience. 

LINCOLN & INTERNATIONAL BOMBER COMMAND CENTRE
One of Europe's finest cathedral cities, Lincoln has a vibrant and contemporary edge, rich in history combined with independent boutique shopping, great arts and culture and a wealth of places to eat and drink. The city is walkable for visitors with good mobility - the main shopping and tourist area stretches from St Marks Shopping centre in the south up to the Cathedral Quarter - known locally as 'Uphill'. Steep Hill, voted Britain's Great Street, connects 'downhill' and 'uphill' Lincoln. Yes, it is steep as its name suggests, but well worth the walk! Later there is a visit to the International Bomber Command Centre (IBCC), which opened in 2018 just south of Lincoln and is a memorial and interpretation centre telling the story of the RAF Bomber Command. A place of recognition, remembrance and reconciliation, the centre features a 31-metre tall spire and memorial walls with the names of all those who lost their lives serving or supporting Bomber Command during the Second World War. 

KING RICHARD III'S LEICESTER
Your journey this morning takes you into the centre of Leicester for an included visit to the excellent King Richard III Centre. Using great storytelling, beautiful design and 21st century technology, the centre tells the moving story of the king's life and death and reveals how one of the greatest archaeological detective stories ever told ended in a Leicester car park. The King Richard III Visitor Centre stands on the site of the medieval friary of the Grey Friars where the king’s remains were buried over 500 years ago and examines the huge events that led to his hasty burial and eventual rediscovery. Enjoy a cup of tea and the 'King under the Car Park' talk and later head across Cathedral Gardens to nearby Leicester Cathedral to visit the Tomb of King Richard III with a short introductory talk.

Day 5 - After a relaxed breakfast, it is time to head south with a suitable stop en-route on your way back to interchange. Arrive home later on this evening. Back to top

Accommodation

Your Hotel

THE BARN HOTEL, MARSTON Nr Grantham
Located in the heart of the beautiful Lincolnshire countryside, approximately one mile from the A1, this comfortable 3* hotel offers an onsite leisure club with a spa, fitness centre, swimming pool, sauna, steam room and jetted hot tub.

The comfortable guestrooms have free high-speed WiFi, spacious desk, ironing facilities, safe, flat screen TV and tea / coffee making facilities. There is a stylish bar and restaurant as well as some outdoor seating area.

There is a lift in part of the hotel and there are also ground floor rooms.    

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