England

Exceptional beauty, charming hotels, great food, outstanding guides! What more is there?

England/Scotland in early June was our 22nd VBT Tour. We had five days of riding in some rain. The tour before us and the one after had much better weather. When the skies cleared the scenery was quite nice and the small villages charming. All the hotels were in good locations. Due to the long hill climbs, this tour deserves the Moderate rating. If you are not a strong rider, get an e-bike. This is a new tour and there are some minor kinks that need to be worked out. The pre and post trips are very good.

We thoroughly enjoyed the tour. Nice combination of pedaling in pastoral settings and activities that included a day-and-a-half in Oxford, lovely Burford (the meat pies at The Royal Oak are a must!), Blenheim Palace, cream tea in Bourton-on-the-Water, the Hidcote Manor Gardens, and a tour of the Roman Baths. We stayed the extra day in Bath and explored - it was very nice! The undulating hills of the Cotswolds were a nice challenge on road bikes. Residents and (car) drivers were pleasant and courteous. The bonus is we had amazing weather - mid to high 60°s, sun, clouds, and no rain (okay, a very slight shower one afternoon for 20 mins.!) Our tour leaders - Conor and Mick - terrific guys that really made the tour so pleasant!

Enjoyed the guided trip to the Cotswold region of England. The towns were quaint and had a little bit familiarity from the dining hall in Oxford (Harry Potter) to the Bampton Dowager house (Downton Abbey) to Blenheim Palace ( Churchill). We’ve seen this special spots on tv and at the movies but to see them in person was really fun. Wonderful, friendly, professional guides. And did I mention the biking was great?

What a fantastic trip this was. This was my 6th time going to England, but my first for the Cotswold region and what an extraordinary time it was. The food was fantastic, everywhere you looked the views were spectacular. It was fantastic trip which I would do again in a heart beat.

My husband and I did this self-guided tour in early September and absolutely loved it. Country Walkers did an impeccable job taking care of every detail--booking hotels, moving our suitcases between hotels, and, best of all, the "route notes" book was so detailed and had everything we needed from step-by-step directions and restaurant suggestions to history and ideas for things to do. It felt like a wonderful adventure following the famous paths through sheep pastures and little forest thickets, past gardens and ancient churches, and climbing over or around all the different gates. It was often overcast and misty in the mornings, but the mid-day sun burned it all away. Our highlights are choosing to stop for an hour to check out the Hailes Abbey Museum and rubbing elbows with some locals at the only pub in a tiny village. So many great memories! We liked the intimate experience of doing a self-guided trip and the independence (without the planning!) that it provided. We spent some extra days in London at the end of our trip...that was just icing on the cake.