NICHOLAS’ OWN PRIVATE TOURS 2025

For this year, apart from the tours on which I lecture for other companies, I have arranged the following Short Breaks to places which I personally have enjoyed. Parties are limited to 15 people, welcoming both couples and single travellers.

Co Durham
HEADLAM HALL
11th-15th May 2025

Headlam is a handsome, privately owned country house, which appears in Simon Jenkins Thousand Best Houses. We have stayed there more than once. The surrounding countryside has many places to visit including Raby Castle, the home of Lord Barnard set with panoramic views of the unspoilt Tees valley. Nearby are the Bowes Museum, as well as a most unusual destination a former Roman Catholic seminary at Ushaw. Recently the subject of an award by the Historic Houses Association, it has a staggering chapel by AWN Pugin and an extraordinary Library. Two other houses on the list are Aske and Rokeby. Both comparatively little known, the latter for its Chippendale furniture and the former as the home, amongst other gems of the Rokeby Venus.

ENGLAND, OFF THE BEATEN TRACK.

This is England today. This is Raby Castle, there, on the horizon, in Teesdale adjacent to the Scottish Border.

Of course, if you look for, in your short break, the thrum of city life, night clubs, theatres and shopping, then Headlam Hall is not for you. Definitely not.

At Aspect Events, which is my company, we offer you a more tranquil vacation.

Headlam is a rugged 18^th century country house hotel, owned by the Robinson family, much patronised by shooting parties. It is comfortable, offering good food, set adjacent to the family farm, parkland and its own golf-course. Should you want a spa, there is also a spa.

From Headlam, we have organised special expeditions,firstly to Raby, the ancient seat of Lord Barnard. Recently the subject of a thorough renovation. It is a showpiece of how an ancient dwelling can be invigorated for the 21^st century. Its contents are no less breathtaking from Meissen porcelain to Hiram Powers marble of the “Greek Slave” exhibited at the Great Exhibition of 1851.

Close by is the astonishing Bowes Museum. Astonishing, because in the unlikely setting of Teesdale is a French chateau marooned on the hillside with panoramic views of the dale. The creation of John Bowes (as in Bowes-Lyon) and his French wife it was built in the 1870’s. It now contains their collection, not only of French artefacts including Sèvres porcelain, but also the Lady Ludlow collection of English porcelain and one of the best fashion displays outside of the capital. In the recent past exhibitions of Dior and Yves St Laurent have been held here. And, of course, the silver swan.

Quite different is Ushaw. Ushaw is a stern stone building outside Durham.

It was built as a seminary for the training of priests for the Roman Catholic Church. But what treasures are to be found within its solid walls! Most notable is the chapel designed by no less an authority than Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin. Some of the fitments were exhibited at Crystal Palace in 1851. The Library contains rare volumes brought from the previous seminary at Douai in France, when the order was supressed in 1793.

For those enthusiasts for the work of Andrea Palladio, there can be no better example in the North of England but Rokeby. Built by Sir Thomas Robinson, (he designed a wing of Castle Howard for his brother-in-law, the Earl of Carlisle) it is now owned by the Morritt family. It is little changed architecturally which makes it of particular interest. Here was originally housed the “Rokeby Venus” by Velazquez, now in the National Gallery, where it was slashed in 1914 by a suffragette wielding a meat-cleaver.

Aske is comparatively little known. It is privately owned by Lord Zetland, and is specially open ed for us. Lawrence Dundas, the ancestor of the family, made a large fortune supplying goods to The Army at the time of the Jacobite rebellion of 1745 and the subsequent Seven Years War. He was a great patron of the artist Johann Zoffany with whom he was painted in his house in Arlington Street with his grandson, surrounded by his collection, some of which remains in the house. His other great patronage was to Thomas Chippendale, the great cabinet-maker.

For all details of this tour please contact me, Nicholas Merchant, on 01423340017 or email merchantn@btconnect.com

For prices and booking form please download the Word Document below:

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A few days in the Scottish Borders
BURTS HOTEL, MELROSE
30th June – 4th July 2025

Melrose is a neat Scottish border town centred on the ruins of its Abbey. Nearby is Burts Hotel, a cosy inn where our parties have stayed on a number of occasions. Because there are so many fascinating places to visit in the vicinity it is an ideal place to stay.

The tour takes in not only, as you might expect, Sir Walter Scott’s home at Abbotsford, but also the seemingly little-known mansion of Bowhill. Part of the Buccleuch inheritance it is stuffed to the gunwales with treasures ranging from paintings be they family portraits or old masters, to porcelain, French furniture to Chinese wallpaper, and probably most spectacular in the entrance hall, the tapestries of the “Triumph of Caesar” Also on the list is Paxton House (Chippendale Furniture and 18^th century paintings), Thirlestane, Mellerstain and ancient Traquair. All set in the rolling countryside of the Borders, unspoilt and green.

For all details of this tour please contact me, Nicholas Merchant, on 01423340017 or email merchantn@btconnect.com

Click the buttons below to download the full itinerary, prices and booking form.

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A chance to stay in one of Britain’s finest Castles
EASTNOR CASTLE
29th September – 2nd October 2025

In the unspoilt Herefordshire countryside lies this romantic 19th century castle of the Hervey-Bathurst family.
A rambling Gothic Mansion with interiors by A W N Pugin better known for his work on the Houses of Parliament, is still owned by the family. We offer you a chance to stay in its sumptuous bedrooms and dine in its magnificent Gothic dining room. All have been elegantly redecorated by the present owner and his wife, Lucy.

From here we venture to nearby Madresfield Court surrounded by its moat, and with a breath-taking Arts and Crafts Chapel. Furthermore we go to Hellens
an ancient manor house and Church, with connections, somewhat surprisingly, with Axel Munthe.

Not to be forgotten are the Royal Worcester Museum and the Cathedral, where we shall visit the Library and some salient monuments in the nave.
A very special few days, unlike any other Country House Visit.

For all details of this tour please contact me, Nicholas Merchant, on 01423340017 or email merchantn@btconnect.com

Click the buttons below to download the full itinerary, prices and booking form.

Some Yorkshire Houses and Gardens
CROWN HOTEL, BOROUGHBRIDGE
6th-9th October 2025

Based in the busy market town of Boroughbridge, one-time halt on the Great North Road, we are ideally placed for our various destinations. There is a definite horticultural emphasis for this tour with a visit to the RHS garden at Harlow Carr, as well a privately owned garden near York rarely opened to the public. Hutton Wandesley offers two gardens. At Newby Hall you have the pleasure of both house and garden, for here is the Christopher Wren House of the Compton family along with its renowned gardens. This most elegant house has interiors by Robert Adam, a unique Gobelins tapestry room and a gallery of Ancient Sculpture brought back from the Grand Tour, unique in its original setting. Private Lunch in the Orangery.

For all details of this tour please contact me, Nicholas Merchant, on 01423340017 or email merchantn@btconnect.com

Click the buttons below to download the full itinerary, prices and booking form.

ITINERARY

BOOKING FORM

Here we have a selection of Travel Editions tours for 2025, as well as one for Hebridean Island Cruises where I shall be the lecturer.

TRAVEL EDITIONS TOURS

Villas and Gardens of the Côte D’Azur
30th March – 7th April 2025

Menton, where we stay on this tour, is virtually untouched by the glitz and gloss of nearby Monte Carlo. Always favoured by the English it enjoys one of the most benign climates on the coast. So benign that gardens like Serre de la Madone and the Hanbury Gardens at Ventemiglia are lush whenever we go. Of the Villas, that of Eileen Gray, E1027 is unique, whilst the Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild is the epitome of fin de siècle France. Sumptuous gardens and splendid art collection.