Castles · Tour

Windsor Castle, Stonehenge and Oxford with Christ Church

Three stops, and the one that sets this day apart is the last: Christ Church, the Oxford college whose chapel is also the cathedral of the diocese, and whose dean heads the college by virtue of that office. Windsor starts it. The town is known above all for its links to the royal family, and the castle towers over the rest of it: the ancestral home of the English and later British monarchy and the largest inhabited castle in the world, a family home for kings and queens for almost 1,000 years and one of the official residences of His Majesty The King. Over 10.5 hectares it takes in the State Apartments, furnished with some of the finest works in the Royal Collection, many still standing where Charles II or George IV first put them. Entry is a booking option. Stonehenge is next, with 4,500 years of history and an interactive audio map to unravel it, also a booking option. The exhibition centre holds 250 ancient objects and the remains of a man who died 5,500 years ago. Oxford has the walking part of the day. An expert guide leads the way through the cobbled streets of the City of Dreaming Spires, which holds the unique accolade of having architecture from every period back to Saxon times. The route takes in the Bodleian Library, one of the oldest in Europe and the second largest in Britain after the British Library with more than 12 million items, and Christ Church. The colleges of the university are seen from the outside. The coach leaves Victoria Coach Station at 8am, boarding from 7.30, and the day ends by Victoria Station.