Day 1: Arrive in the Cotswolds. Your base could be one of many suitable villages or towns depending on your taste. Or you could stay in two different places or more. The programme for the following few days would vary accordingly, so that the following is just one of many possible itineraries. You may want to follow the itinerary under your own steam, or you might want a driver or a guide.

Day 2: If staying in a town or village, perhaps a short orientation tour on foot. Continue to one of the finest villages ­ for example, Painswick, the Queen of the Cotswolds. Enjoy this beautiful village on foot, before continuing on to the nearby Rococo Gardens and then the Slad Valley, made famous by Laurie Lee in Cider With Rosie. Continue to Cirencester, Britain's second Roman town, and Bibury, famously desribed as the most beautiful village in England by William Morris. Afternoon tea before returning to base for overnight.

Day 3: Visit the small but historic village of Winchcombe. Discover this interesting village on foot, before visiting nearby Sudeley Castle, burial place of Katherine Parr, sixth and last wife of King Henry VIII. After lunch (perhaps at an excellent local pub), continue to Hailes Abbey, and then, by contrast, to medieval Tewkesbury, on the River Severn, with its magnificent abbey church and timbered houses. Return for overnight stay.

Day 4: Visit the golden villages of the North Cotswolds ­ Broadway, Chipping Campden, with its fine wool church, the Slaughters, and Stow-on-the-Wold, with its unusual square and its antique shops. Lunch in the oldest inn in England. In the afternoon, perhaps visit Hidcote Gardens or Snowshill Manor, or Batsford Arboretum, or Sezincote House (with its unusual Mughal architecture), according to opening hours and your preferences. Return for overnight stay.

Day 5: A full day in Bath, with its tiers of Georgian houses, visiting the complete English village at Lacock en route, OR Drive to Oxford for a walking tour of the colleges in the morning, followed by a visit to Woodstock for lunch and a visit to Blenheim Palace, ancestral home of the Churchill family. Overnight stay.

Day 6: departure.

Your holiday includes: All accommodation with breakfast, comprehensive route instructions, maps, and guide or driver where requested. Lunches, dinners, and theatre booking (at the Royal Shakespeare Company theatres in Stratford, for example) can also be included on request.