We take the early morning HSS to Scotland and drive south to our overnight hotel, in Coventry, in the Midlands.

From the East Midlands we proceed south to Oxford, where we spend a couple of hours around lunchtime. Afterwards it’s a straight drive south through Berkshire and Hampshire to our tour base in West Sussex.

We have time to enjoy a leisurely breakfast and perhaps a walk in the grounds of the hotel, before we travel the short distance into the Downs to visit the Weald & Downland Open Air Museum. This is a collection of nearly fifty historic buildings dating from 13th to 19th century - timber-framed houses from Kent, a market hall from Hampshire, a Victorian school, and much more.

There are rugged tables surrounding a small lake and we put them to good use with a picnic lunch prepared for us by the hotel.

We spend the afternoon in Arundel visiting the majestic 1,000 year old castle and checking out the charming shops, tea shops and pubs.

A full day in Portsmouth, England’s most historic port. We have an introductory tour with a pass to visit the three famous ships now resident here - the Mary Rose, HMS Warrior 1860 and Nelson’s flagship, HMS Victory.

The rest of the day is free to explore - you may like to visit the birthplace of Charles Dickens - the choice is yours.

Back into Portsmouth this morning, this time to catch the ferry, and sail out of the historic harbour to the Isle of Wight. We concentrate on the north of the island with a memorable visit to Queen Victoria’s Osborne House and the famous yachting port of Cowes, looking out over the Solent.

We begin with a couple of hours in Chichester this morning. Later you can leave the coach to spend the afternoon just ‘pottering about’ in the quaint little town of Arundel, or stay on board and travel east, through seaside towns to Brighton. The coach will pick up again in Arundel in the late afternoon.

We leave Sussex this morning and drive north to our half-way house, just to the south of Birmingham. Our route then takes us through the lower Cotswolds with a stop in Cirencester around lunch time.

With less traffic on the road today we should make good time as we return to Stranraer to catch the evening HSS back to Belfast.