Tours from/to Dover en route to/from London (half day)

Dover is in the county of Kent, the part of Britain that is nearest to the rest of Europe and, therefore, its coastline has been the most vulnerable to attack. Known as “The Garden of England” for its abundance of orchards and hop gardens, it boasts more castles and gardens than any other county in England.

A couple of hours to spare will allow you to visit either Dover Castle or Canterbury Cathedral as part of your transfer. Other options include Leeds Castle, described by historian Lord Conway as “the loveliest castle in the world”; Hever, the ancestral home of Queen Anne Boleyn; Chartwell, the country home of Prime Minister Winston Churchill, or the quintessentially English gardens at Sissinghurst.

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Leeds Castle

Leeds Castle has, in its long history, been a Norman stronghold, the private property of six of England’s medieval queens, a palace used by King Henry VIII and his first wife Catherine of Aragon, a Jacobean country house, a Georgian mansion and an elegant 20th century retreat for the influential and famous. In the 21st century, it has become one of the most visited historic buildings in Britain.
Chartwell

For over 40 years, until his death in 1965, Chartwell was the much-loved home of Sir Winston Churchill, Britain’s Prime Minister during World War II. The rooms remain much as they were then, with pictures, books and mementoes evoking the career and wide-ranging interests of a great statesman, writer, painter and family man. The hillside gardens reflect Sir Winston’s love of landscape and nature. A house has stood on the site since at least the 16th century and King Henry VIII is reputed to have stayed there during his courtship of Anne Boleyn.

Hever Castle

Hever Castle, which dates back to the 13th century, was the childhood home of Anne Boleyn, who became Henry VIII’s second wife and mother of Queen Elizabeth I. Its splendid panelled rooms contain fine furniture, tapestries, antiques and an important collection of Tudor portraits. It is also crenellated, moated, haunted and contains suits of armour and gruesome torture devices! The appearance of Hever today is largely thanks to wealthy American William Waldorf Astor, who used his fortune to restore and extend the Castle in the early 20th century.
Sissinghurst Gardens

The gardens at Sissinghurst were created in the 1930s by the poet and gardening writer, Vita Sackville-West, and her husband, the author and diplomat Harold Nicolson The gardens, overlooked by a fairytale tower, are designed as a series of “rooms”, each with its own colour scheme or theme, in which the herbaceous borders are the epitome of the English style. They are divided, one from another by high, clipped hedges and pink brick walls.