Queen Victoria and the Isle of Wight

Following breakfast we travel the short distance to Osborne House & Gardens. With views onto the Solent, this was Queen Victoria’s favourite home, which boasts the most impressive formal gardens on the island.  These include a recently restored walled garden and an attractive tree-lined walk to the Swiss Cottage, built as a spectacular Wendy House for the Royal children. Here we will enjoy a guided tour of the Gardens, conducted by one of the gardening staff. After lunch in the Terrace Restaurant (included) we continue with a guided tour of the House. Here we will see the sumptuous state rooms, whose furnishings reflect the passions, taste and style of Victoria and Albert, and the family rooms, including the bedroom where Queen Victoria passed away on 22 January 1901.

Later we will visit the Swiss Cottage, the large Wendy house which Victoria and Albert’s nine children loved to play in, and take the shuttle down to the beach, another favourite haunt of the royal children.

We then return to our hotel.

This morning after breakfast we depart on a sightseeing tour of the island, beginning with Carisbrooke Castle, a quintessential romantic castle, which has been an Elizabethan artillery fortress, a king's prison and a royal summer residence. Here we can enjoy far reaching panoramic views from high castle walls, meet the loveable donkeys and see them work, visit a fascinating museum and see the Castle’s Edwardian style garden.

We continue to The Rosemary Vineyard, one of the largest producers of English wine, with a range that includes red, white, rosé and sparkling wines as well as cider and liqueurs. We will have a tour of the winery and a talk on the processes involved followed by a tasting of selected wines. Lunch is available here (not included).

In the afternoon we drive to Godshill, a quintessential English Village which boasts some of the oldest architecture on the Isle of Wight. With its delightful medieval church, charming thatched roof cottages and a winding main-street lined with traditional tearooms, Godshill is as picturesque as it is popular. It is also known for being the site of the first ever Isle of Wight Festival, which took place at Ford Farm in 1968. We continue to Shanklin with have some free time to wander through the Old Village with its picturesque thatched cottages, traditional craft shops, tea rooms and public gardens. 

Following breakfast this morning, we begin our homeward journey, transferring to Fishbourne to catch a morning ferry to Portsmouth. We then travel north to the Savill Gardens in Windsor, one of Britain’s greatest ornamental gardens. Neither a botanical garden, nor a kitchen garden attached to a great house, it is a garden for the garden’s sake, enjoyed by horticulturalists and enthusiasts alike. It never fails to charm visitors who come to explore its 35 acres of contemporary and classically designed gardens and exotic woodland. Developed under the patronage of Kings and Queens, The Savill Garden was created in the 1930s by Sir Eric Savill. It began as a woodland garden, with native oak, beech and sweet chestnut trees, but has since evolved by incorporating many new plants over the years. Lunch is available here (not included).

Our final visit (subject to successful application) takes us to Frogmore House, which is only open to the public on certain days in August. The interests and talents of several generations of the royal family influenced Frogmore's interior as we see it today. Queen Charlotte's passion for botany is reflected in the decoration of the house. She commissioned the renowned 18th-century flower painter Mary Moser to decorate one of the principal rooms so it resembled an arbour open to the skies. The Cross Gallery was painted with garlands by Princess Elizabeth, the daughter of George III and Queen Charlotte.

For almost 20 years, Frogmore was the home of Queen Victoria's mother, The Duchess of Kent. Works by her and her daughter are on display in the house. Queen Victoria often visited Frogmore during her long widowhood and worked on her papers there. You can also see watercolours by her daughters, the Princess Victoria and Louise in the house.

Our visit ends in the Britannia Room which is furnished with a selection of items from the Royal Yacht Britannia. When the much-loved vessel was decommissioned in 1997, The Duke of Edinburgh arranged for the items to be moved to Frogmore.

We will then return to our original departure points at Heathrow and Westminster.