Single person supplement £299
We return to Scotland with this ever-popular tour of royal places which are household names to us. Sit back, relax, and let us deal with all the arrangements and traffic so you’re free to enjoy everything!
Photo Credits – The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo, All other copyrights acknowledged
We generally try to depart between 8am and 9am, and exact times will be confirmed in the final timings itinerary which arrives about a week before travel.
We send this close to travel so we can plan for any major traffic issues which sometimes arise due to road works etc.
Tuesday 29th July 2025
Our aim at Pennywood Tours is to give you a relaxing and carefree time where we do all the work so you can sit back and enjoy the trip.
To this end, all tours are escorted by a group leader who will check you on board and make sure you can find your allocated seat. We’ll seat you with the person/people you are booked with but if you know of anyone else on the trip who has booked separately please let us know in advance and we’ll try to seat you all together. The coach will be a super deluxe vehicle with a toilet and is incredibly comfortable.
Our Group Leader will advise you of all the details of travel times, stops, when to return to the coach etc. so you will be in no doubt about what and when. He or she will be available for any additional questions you may have.
We will do our best to stick to our itinerary but you will understand that when there are traffic jams or adverse weather conditions, we may struggle to do everything as planned but we will let you know what information we have in these situations when we have it.
We look forward to seeing you and welcome any questions you may have by contacting us at info@pennywoodtours.com or on 01622 434 981.
To break up our journey, we take a gentle drive to our staging hotel, the 4* Old Swan Hotel in Harrogate.
On the way we take in Belton House. This was meant to be a bolt hole for the infamous Mrs Simpson after the abdication but, not liking the place, she went on to France. Within this lies another story – to be retained for the trip!
Today we travel to the 4* Apex City Quay Hotel in Dundee.
On the way we’ll stop at National Trust’s Cragside. Illuminated by hydro-electricity and powered by hydraulics, this pioneering home was filled with Victorian gadgets for efficient modern living. Man-made lakes, tumbling waterfalls and swathes of rhododendron combine to form the surrounding fantasy mountain landscape imagined and engineered by inventor and arms manufacturer Lord Armstrong and his wife Lady Margaret.
As well as the fascinating house, there are extensive gardens and a wider estate featuring the Rock Garden, Pinetum, Formal Garden, Clock Tower, Gorge, Powerhouse and Waterwheel, Pumphouse and Archimedes Screw.
On our first full day in Scotland we continue our journey through beautiful landscape to our northernmost latitude to visit Balmoral. Favoured home and place of passing for our late Queen, we mostly see the outside setting of the castle, which is idyllically set amongst a stunning landscape. Relatively uncommercialised, it is easy to imagine her late majesty walking in the grounds.
In the afternoon we visit Glamis Castle, childhood home of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and birthplace of HRH Princess Margaret. Glamis may have been the inspiration for Shakespeare’s play: Macbeth.
The gardens at Glamis are spectacular, with an Italian Garden and Walled Garden, which supplies the Castle Kitchen. There are Douglas firs in the Pinetum and a Macbeth Trail with wooden sculptures carved from Estate-sourced wood.
This morning we visit Scone Palace which has been the seat of parliaments, the crowning place of Scottish kings and once housed the Stone of Scone.
Yet more spectacular gardens await including a copper and green beech hedge maze which is planted to look like the Mansfield family tartan!
The Palace of Holyroodhouse stands at the end of Edinburgh’s Royal Mile and is the King’s royal residence when he visits Scotland.
There’s much to see at the palace including the State Apartments, Mary Queen of Scots’ Chambers, Throne Room, Great Gallery and the beautiful Darnley Jewel. Outside there’s the delightful gardens with a Physic Garden, seasonal planting and the ruins of Holyrood Abbey.
Overnight we will stay in the excellent 4* Double Tree by Hilton at Queensferry, though this is subject to change as, at the time of going to press, we are still seeking prices for a more central hotel.
An easy day today with a later start and a morning visit to The Royal Yacht Britannia. This lovely ship sailed over 1,000,000 nautical miles on 968 state visits with the Royal Family for more than 40 years There are five decks with stories of life at sea for both the Royal Family and the 220 Royal Yachtsmen who served on board.
In the evening, we will attend The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo, probably for the 6:15pm performance, allowing us to be back at the hotel before 10:00pm.
Starting from humble beginnings, from a small show called “Something About a Soldier”, today The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo is a magnificent sound and light spectacular involving hundreds of military and cultural performers from around the globe.
In recent years, Alnwick has gained fame through the work of Jane Percy, Duchess of Northumberland, who has designed a rather remarkable garden, regarded as the most ambitious in the UK since the Second World War, and well worth a visit.
There’s so much to see in this incredible modern garden including the Ornamental, Serpent and Rose Gardens, Grand Cascade, Bamboo Labyrinth and Cherry Orchard as well as the amazing Treehouse café and world famous Poison Garden.
It will also provide a nice break in the middle of the day for lunch!
In the evening, we return to the Old Swan in Harrogate.
We’re not aware of a royal connection here but it was visited by Franklin D Roosevelt who described Easton as: ‘A dream of Nirvana … almost too good to be true’ but this was before the ravages of WWII when it served as a barracks and was so badly damaged that the original hall had to be demolished.
Easton has been owned and managed by the Cholmeley family since 1561. The gardens evolved over the centuries but, after the ravages and impact of two world wars, wild had its way. Sycamore, elder, blackberry bushes and ragwort took over and grew in abundance – the whole site was enveloped, and any traces of the gardens hidden from view.
In the early 2000s, Ursula Cholmeley and her team of gardeners recognised the opportunity to restore the gardens and, two decades later, the Walled Gardens have been nurtured back to life and are a joy to behold.
On leaving Easton, we should return to our start points in time for a late tea.
Please note, all venues will require walking, possibly with steps and steep slopes, which may be slippery and uneven. You should be prepared to dress appropriately for the weather.