Tour members gather in Toronto for our flight to Manchester.

We arrive at Manchester Airport and transfer to Harrogate, a Victorian spa town at the heart of Yorkshire. The evening begins with a welcome dinner at our hotel. 

DoubleTree by Hilton Harrogate Majestic Hotel and Spa – 8 nights
 

We spend the day winding through the Yorkshire Dales, the landscape that inspired James Herriot’s beloved stories of rural life. Our visits include Ripon Cathedral, with its Saxon crypt dating to the 7th century and one of England’s oldest, and the medieval Marmion Tower in West Tanfield. Further along the dale, Holy Trinity Church in Wensley marks the spot where Herriot’s fictional wedding was filmed. On our way back we pass through Burnsall, a picturesque village on the banks of the River Wharfe, before stopping at Greenhow for views across the Nidd Valley.

York is one of England’s most beautiful medieval cities, with 13th-century walls and cobbled streets that have changed little over time. We first explore the Shambles, a narrow street lined with timber-framed buildings that once housed the city’s butchers. Then we visit York Minster, one of the largest Gothic cathedrals in Northern Europe, where we take in the Undercroft, Treasury and Crypt, and its remarkable medieval stained-glass windows. We’ll be free to explore the city at our own pace before returning to Harrogate.

Today we follow James Herriot’s footsteps through the Dales, passing views of the River Swale and the Norman castle of Richmond. We visit Askrigg, known as Darrowby in the TV series “All Creatures Great and Small”, before continuing to Cringley House and the Wheatsheaf Inn in Carperby.. Bolton Castle, built in 1399, served as both a luxurious country home and a defensive fortress, and its rooms tell the story of both. Kitchens, dungeon, solar, nursery, armoury and the Great Chamber all survive, scarred by over 600 years of history including the Pilgrimage of Grace, Mary Queen of Scots’ imprisonment and a Civil War siege.
 

We head across the North York Moors, stopping at Goathland, where the TV series Heartbeat was filmed. After lunch in Whitby, we continue along the coast to Scarborough, then inland through Pickering to Helmsley, where the ruins of Rievaulx Abbey, founded in 1132, make for a striking photo stop.

Crossing Blubberhouse Moor, we reach Bolton Abbey Priory, a 12th-century ruin on the banks of the River Wharfe. A walk along the river through woodland and moorland paths gives a feel for this quiet corner of the Dales before we board the Embsay and Bolton Abbey Steam Railway. We depart from the historic Bolton Abbey station and ride past a 16th-century tower and St. Wilfrid’s Church.

Today begins at Harewood House, one of the region’s finest 18th-century estates, set within gardens of equal distinction. In Halifax, we discover Piece Hall, the sole surviving northern cloth hall of its kind, a testament to the hand-woven textile trade that defined pre-industrial Yorkshire. We also visit St. John the Baptist Church, which has stood for over 900 years and holds an extraordinary collection of surviving features within its walls. We pass through Haworth on our way back, home of the Brontë sisters.

Castle Howard, one of Britain’s grandest historic houses, sits in the Howardian Hills just outside York. The 18th-century house holds world-class collections and is surrounded by ornamental gardens, woodland and lakeside walks and a walled rose garden. We return to Harrogate with the afternoon to explore the Victorian spa town on our own.

We leave Yorkshire and head for the Lake District, stopping first at Sizergh Castle. Home to the Strickland family for over 750 years, it has one of the finest Elizabethan interiors in the country. Levens Hall follows, the family home of the Bagots, a mansion built around a 13th-century pele tower with a collection of Jacobean furniture and fine paintings accumulated over generations. Its gardens are among the most remarkable in England, a topiary collection of over 100 individually shaped pieces that has been growing and evolving for centuries. 

Low Wood Bay Resort and Spa – 4 nights

A scenic cruise on Lake Windermere is followed by a visit to Hill Top, the farmhouse of Beatrix Potter, the beloved author and illustrator of Peter Rabbit. Just up the road, we wander through Hawkshead, one of the most picturesque villages in the Lake District, with whitewashed buildings, archways and quiet courtyards. We continue to Dove Cottage in Grasmere, the poet William Wordsworth’s home from 1799 to 1808, the years he considered his most inspired and productive.