wow!

[winterbadger]

I got onto the Royal Oak Foundation's spam list somehow, I think because I bought my mum a membership at one point.

They are currently advertising an eight-day tour of five stately homes in Hampshire and Sussex, preceded by two nights and a posh dinner in London. Total price? $6,150 (a $300 discount from the operator's normal price).

All of the houses are normally open to the public (one is a country-house hotel and another is a National Trust property). The tutelage by the pet historian who comes along must be pretty special for this to be worth $600+/night!

Comments

[winterbadger]

Squerryes Court (Kent)
Ashdown Park (East Sussex)
Petworth House (West Sussex)
Tylney Hall (Hampshire)
Stratfield Saye (Hampshire)

the tour operator's website also lists
Parham Park (West Sussex)
The Vyne (Hampshire)

but maybe if you're getting the tour $300 cheaper through Royal Oak you don't get those! ;-)

Interestingly, the main photo in the email is of Osterly Park in Middlesex, which is not a listed stop on the tour.

[silme.livejournal.com]

I've actually not been to a lot of them since they're not that old. I'm such as SCA snob. :) But I've been to Petworth, Parham Park and The Vyne. (Parham has a great Elizabeth I portrait, and it's on the way to other interesting places in Sussex.)

Doreen is right. Come over, stay with us and we'll get you to those places or a lot more interesting ones for far less money. ;)

[winterbadger]

Yeah, I rather raised an eyebrow at their calling something built in the 1890s a "historic" home. 100+ years old, yes, but in England, that doesn't count for as much as it would in, say, Ohio.