Scotland: Charles Rennie Mackintosh and Gardens of the Clyde
26th Jun 2026
Key Highlights
- A visit to Hill House, Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s finest domestic creation
- The spectacular house and gardens of Mount Stuart on the Isle of Bute
- The impressive herbaceous border at the Walled Garden at Geilston
- Afternoon Tea at the Willow Tea Room a Charles Rennie Mackintosh masterpiece
Summary
Charles Rennie Mackintosh is arguably Scotland’s most famous architect and designer of the 20th Century, and his works were influential in European design movements such as Art Nouveau and Secessionism. Living most of his life in Glasgow, there are many buildings around the city that are to Mackintosh’s architectural design, including the Glasgow School of Art, Queens Cross Church and the Daily Record Building. Later in life, Mackintosh focussed more on his work as a watercolour artist painting a wide collection of landscapes and flower studies.
No Mackintosh tour would be complete without a visit to the Willow Tea Rooms in Glasgow, where we will enjoy a traditional afternoon tea, and we also visit his finest domestic creation at Hill House, which sits high above the River Clyde with commanding views of the Firth, its air of restrained elegance still appealing to modern tastes.
Other highlights include the Burrell Collection, which includes medieval art, tapestries, alabasters, stained glass and European paintings, the Walled Garden at Geilston with its impressive herbaceous borders and Glenarn with its superb collection of Asiatic shrubs. We also sail across the Firth of Clyde for a visit to Mount Stuart, one of the largest High Gothic houses in Britain, which offers the perfect combination of architectural grandeur and captivating gardens, along with the unique Ascog Fernery, a tiny piece of sub-tropical jungle on the Isle of Bute.
What's included
- Accommodation
- Meals as per itinerary
- Entries to all sites as per the itinerary
- Services of a professional tour manager
- Comfortable coach travel throughout
Day by Day Itinerary
We depart by coach from our designated pick-up points for a tour of some of the architectural work of Mackintosh from the outside including Queens Cross Church, the Daily Record Building and the Glasgow school of Art. In the afternoon we then head to the south of Glasgow for a visit to the Burrell Collection. When Sir William Burrell and his wife, Lady Constance, gifted his collection of over 9000 works of art to Glasgow, the city acquired one of the greatest collections created by one person. William Burrell had been an art collector since his teens and the collection is made up of a vast array of works of all periods from all over the world. You can wander round important collections of medieval art, tapestries, alabasters, stained glass and English oak furniture, European paintings including works by Degas and Cézanne, an important collection of Islamic art and modern sculpture including works by Epstein and Rodin.
Later we continue to our comfortable hotel where dinner is served this evening.
Meals Included:Dinner
Departure Routes
| Location | Pickup Time | Dropoff Time |
|---|---|---|
| Aberdeen | 07:00 | 20:45 |
| Montrose | 07:45 | 20:00 |
| Arbroath | 08:05 | 19:40 |
| Dundee | 08:30 | 19:15 |
| Perth | 09:00 | 18:45 |
| Kinross | 10:00 | 17:45 |
| Dunfermline | 10:15 | 17:30 |
| Edinburgh | 11:00 | 17:15 |
| Glasgow | 12:15 | 16:00 |
** Please note that all timings are approximate and subject to change. Final timings and pick-up points will be confirmed with your joining instructions approximately 10 days prior to departure. **
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