7:30am start to join Day 1 of the UK & Ireland Panorama tour with Trafalgar Tours.

Leaving London we headed west out of London for Oxford, passing Buckingham Palace. As we passed Hyde Park we saw the horse head sculpture comemorating all the animals injured or killed during WWII.

We then headed north to Oxford, thorugh the Cotswolds and Coventry, Oxford, Banbury, Shottering, Stratford Upon Avon, Nottingham, Sheffield and on into York.

The Cotswolds are a range of hills in southwestern and west-central England, an area 25 miles across and 90 miles long. The area has been designated as the Cotswold Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

At Shottering we stopped for the 'tour photo' and a photo op of Anne Hathaway's childhood home then onto Statford Upon Avon to visit William Shakespeare's birth home and explore the lovely village.

Our travels took us through rural areas (dairy, hay making, horse studs) as well as coal fired power stations and wind farms and roadside estates and the odd medieval castle. We were also in the area of The Great Britain Space Centre.

Arriving into York we unpacked and proceeded to pre-dinner drinks followed by a 3 course meal.