Tuesday, July 13: Departures from the U.S. Both United and British Air offer two daily non-stops from Houston to London. We suggest the evening departures, which arrive at London Heathrow around noon.

Wednesday, July 14: Arrivals and transfers to Oxford. Our contemporary hotel (it opened in July 2019) is nestled in the heart of Oxford city center, within walking distance of the iconic city's attractions. Opening night dinner is included.

Thursday, July 15: This morning we discover Oxford and its world-famous university with our expert guide, an Oxford graduate with degrees in Modern Languages and History. She has written a couple of books focusing on insightful and intriguing walks that bring Oxford to life.

This evening you will have the option of attending Garsington Opera Festival's Der fliegende Holländer conducted by Douglas Boyd, artistic director of the festival.

The venue has glass sides offering breathtaking uninterrupted views across the landscape. In addition to the 600-seat auditorium, there are five private boxes with the opportunity for private dining on the Upper Terrace. You can have a pre- or post-event drink at the bar on the Lower Terrace while enjoying artworks displayed in the New Gallery. The Opera Garden — directly adjacent to the Opera Pavilion — is designed to bloom specifically during the Opera season.  A complimentary bus is available for ticket holders to take a short journey to the Walled Garden. Originally designed in the 18th century, the Walled Garden has been rebuilt in true Chiltern style, by knapped-flint paths and brick with buttressed Yew hedges. It is divided by two floral-lined avenues to create four garden rooms: the Green Theatre, Croquet Lawn, Flower Garden, and a Kitchen Garden designated for organically grown fruit and vegetables.

Friday, July 16: Visit Kelmscott Manor, the historic summer home of designer, writer, and political activist William Morris (self-led visit, with volunteer room stewards in most rooms to answer any questions); and Buscot Park, an 18^th-century mansion set in formal gardens and parkland. Its renowned art collection includes Old Master paintings by Rembrandt, Rubens, Botticelli and Murillo, and a particularly fine collection of works by Victorian artists including Dante Gabriel Rossetti, G .F. Watts, and Edward Burne-Jones’s 'Legend of the Briar Rose’ series. Lunch is included.

This evening (and other evenings when you are not attending a performance at Garsington), you will have the opportunity to attend Evensong at Christ Church, featuring world-class choral music spanning Renaissance polyphony to modern masterworks.

Saturday, July 17: Free day for you to visit Oxford's museums:
Britain’s oldest public museum, the Ashmolean Museum for art and archeology; Oxford University Museum of Natural History; Pitt Rivers Museum for natural history, archeology, and ethnography; and Story Museum for literary insights on classics, some penned by Oxford alumni. Given sufficient interest, we can arrange an optional specialty tour focusing on Oxford’s women, Oxford’s Jewish heritage, or the city’s extraordinary gargoyles and grotesques.

Tonight's opera at Garsington is Handel’s Serse conducted by David Bates, artistic director of the early music ensemble Nuova Musica.

Sunday, July 18: Visit Blenheim Palace, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, home to the Duke of Marlborough and the birthplace of former prime minister Sir Winston Churchill. A rare and precious example of English baroque, the palace boasts statues, tapestries, sumptuous furniture, priceless china, and giant oil paintings in elaborate gilt frames. Its vast, lavish gardens and parklands include the majestic Water Terraces, the Duke's private Italian Garden, the Rose Garden, the Churchill Memorial Garden and the hidden oasis of plants that is the Secret Garden. The iconic view of the Grand Bridge and Queen Pool lake in the palace parkland was once described by Lord Randolph Churchill as "the finest view in England". Lunch is on your own in Oxford.

Tonight's offering at Garsington is Verdi's Falstaff.

Monday, July 19: The Scenic Cotswolds part 1: Chipping Campden, Snowshill Manor and Garden, Broadway, and Winchcombe. This world-famous region is justly celebrated for its rolling hills, honey-colored stone villages, and rich medieval history. Our first full day there takes us to Chipping Campden, Broadway, Winchcombe, and Snowshill Manor and Garden. The latter is a treasure trove of quirky and curious objects assembled by artist and architect Charles Wade, set within delightful gardens. Wade used his own skill as an artist and architect to design the garden: it is an extension of the manor, set out in a series of rooms with far-reaching views and unexpected delights, including a historic miniature of Wolf’s Cove, a Cornish fishing village. Snowshill was the filming location for the winter scenes in Bridget Jones's Diaries. Lunch is included.

Tuesday July 20: Scenic Cotswolds part 2: Burford, Bibury, Cirencester, Bourton-on-the-Water, Lower Slaughter. We continue exploring villages with honey-colored stone houses, churches, and lanes that look unchanged in three hundred years. Bourton-on-the-Water is known as the Venice of the Cotswolds for its low stone bridges over the River Windrush. Bibury's Arlington Row — originally built as a wool store and later turned into weavers' homes — is widely considered one of UK’s most photographed sights; it was the filming location for a number of movies, including Stardust. Lunch is on your own in the historic market town of Cirencester, often called the capital of the Cotswolds.

Wednesday, July 21: Depart for London, visiting Waddesdon Manor en route. Built in the 1880s as a weekend retreat for Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild, the French-inspired château was built for beauty, for a collection, and for entertaining. It houses Baron Ferdinand's extensive collections of English 18^th-century portraits by artists like Gainsborough and Reynolds, as well as French 18^th-century boiseries, Savonnerie carpets, Gobelins and Beauvais tapestries, furniture, Sèvres ceramics, books, Dutch paintings, and Renaissance treasures. One of the highlights of the collection is the extraordinary musical automaton elephant, dating from 1774 and made by the French clockmaker H Martinet. The Victorian-style gardens boast ornate fountains, impressive statuary, and an ornate Rococo-style Aviary. Lunch follows the guided tour.

We continue to London to the Rembrandt Hotel, located in Kensington, within a 10-minute walk of the Victoria & Albert Museum, the Natural History Museum, the Science Museum, Hyde Park, Harrods, and the Royal Albert Hall. From here, District, Circle, and Piccadilly Tube lines take you straight to the City of London and the West End, allowing you to discover the city's picturesque landmarks and other world-class museums such as the British Museum, the National Gallery, the Tate Britain and the Tate Modern.

Thursday, July 22: Discover London at your leisure.

Friday, July 23: This morning we take a backstage tour of the Royal Opera House, gaining a unique insight into the many secrets and spaces of the ROH. We see areas that are normally off-limits to the public, including rehearsal studios, costumes, and production workshops. In the evening, we all attend Madame Butterfly, the revival of the acclaimed 2003 production by Moshe Leiser and Patrice Caurier. "The Franco-Belgian duo drew inspiration from traditional Japanese art—its architecture and ukiyo-e landscape prints—and Japanese mentality to create a solid production where the drama of the text and the excellence of the music shine equally, achieving the perfect balance between horror and beauty." (quoted from https://www.liceubarcelona.cat/en/articles/madama-butterfly-conflict)

Conducted by Henrik Nánási, the cast includes Hrachuhí Bassénz as Cio-Cio-San, Seok Jong Baek as Pinkerton, Lucas Meachem as Sharpless, and Jennifer Johnson Cano as Suzuki. BTW, Cano studied in Houston and has appeared several times with HGO; Lucas Meachem will perform the role of Amonastro in HGO's Aida in January-February 2027 while Nánási will conduct the HGO’s Der Rosenkavalier in April-May 2027!

Saturday, July 24: Discover London at your leisure. We'll all get together for our final meal, probably high tea, assuming some will want to attend this evening's performance of Strauss's Elektra at the Royal Opera. The cast includes Ausrine Stundyte, Sara Jakubiak, and Violeta Urmana. Chief conductor and artistic director of the Czech Philarmonic Semyon Bychkov conducts.

Sunday, July 25: Departures for the U.S. or extra days in London.

Garsington landscape pictures to the right are by Verity Milligan for Garsington Opera (downloaded from the image library at https://garsingtonopera.org/press)