South England: the making of a new edition

Behind the Scenes

At FancyCarTours everything is about creating remarkable travel experiences for our participants. But what does it actually take to map out a new edition?

In our series Behind the Scenes – The Making of we give you an exclusive look at the process of preparing a new tour. From finding the perfect routes to planning the stops, we show how carefully the journey is put together.

In this issue we take you along on the preparation of the South England edition.

Day 1 — From Calais to London

In January 2025 we travelled to England to explore the routes for the five-day journey through South England, check the locations and set out every detail for this brand-new edition. It all began in Calais, where we boarded the LeShuttle train with the car in the morning. This was the perfect moment to see for ourselves whether the wider and lower cars that join our tour can board without trouble and without damage to the wheels. The standard carriages are not very wide, but fortunately it is possible to reserve wider ones. Check-in and the checks before boarding went very smoothly. You stay in your car during the 35-minute crossing, and before you know it you are in Folkestone.

Arriving in Folkestone, we continued to Dover. Our first stop was Dover Castle, an impressive castle with a rich history, but unfortunately it was closed to visitors. We are saving the inside of the castle for later, so its charm remains a surprise for us as well. Next we looked for our first lunch location: Broome Park Hotel, a classic country house. Beforehand we had made an appointment at every location to discuss the details of the group reservation and to look around. We were given a short tour and a look at the dining room available to us. Location 1 is approved. On to the big city: London.

From Dover we drove towards London, a ride of almost two hours. Finding a hotel in London with enough parking for our group was a real challenge, but in the end we landed at the Tower Hotel, at the foot of the iconic Tower Bridge. With a spacious car park and enough room for our group, it was an excellent choice. Rooms looking out over the Thames made the location even more special. For this edition we chose an evening tour on the Bustronome, a luxury dinner bus that takes you on a breathtaking culinary ride through the city. Once everything was arranged, we met our British friends for a bite to eat, friends we got to know on earlier tours in the French Alps and Tyrol.

Day 2 — The Cotswolds and Bath

As London slowly came to life, we left the busy city and drove towards the Cotswolds, a picturesque area in the southwest of England with historic charm. It is still quite a drive, so we decided on a direct route to the Cotswolds. We had three optional lunch locations to visit that day. The final choice was ours. Locations 1 and 2, in one of the most beautiful villages of the Cotswolds, felt like a fairy tale. Location 3 dropped out quickly, because they could not guarantee the parking spaces.

We eventually chose The Slaughters Country Inn, a beautiful spot for our lunch stop. Lunch was sorted, so the real work could begin: building a fine route through the Cotswolds. The Cotswolds is the name of a picturesque rural area, and one of the most loved stretches of countryside in England.

We had researched in advance which villages and lanes absolutely had to be included, and then linked them together. Villages we drive through include Bibury, Upper and Lower Slaughter, Bourton-on-the-Water, Painswick and Castle Combe. Where the lanes were truly too narrow or in poor condition, we filtered them out and looked for an alternative. We built a route that takes you from one iconic village to the next, full of charming bridges and old stone houses. A route that takes you back in time.

We end this day at the luxurious five-star Macdonald Bath Spa Hotel, in the historic town of Bath. We were immediately impressed by the beautiful hotel. The quality of the rooms, the breakfast, the restaurant and the service: everything was good. Check, hotel number 2 is approved as well.

Day 3 — Cheddar Gorge and Bodmin Jail

Today we built a route from Bath to Cheddar Gorge, the deepest gorge in England with a road running through it. A perfect place to position the media team for photos and film. Just after passing the gorge we drive past a small, charming shop that catches the eye: Cheddar Gorge Cheese Company. One of the few producers that still makes traditional Cheddar according to the old methods. We discovered that behind this little shop there is a real visitor centre and a cheese dairy. They welcome group visits for a tour of the dairy, always a pleasure. So we locked this in straight away as a stop on the tour.

We continued via Exmoor National Park to the rural Coach House in Kentisbury for lunch. A cosy restaurant in a country inn. We quickly had a bite ourselves and then carried on with the route. Both TomTom and Google Maps kept trying to send us along back roads that were partly unpaved or far too narrow. We took those out, of course.

We found beautiful rolling roads with wonderful views; at times you could almost imagine yourself in Scotland. The road led us to Bodmin and the next hotel. And perhaps the most interesting hotel of this edition: the Bodmin Jail Hotel. A carefully restored 18th-century prison. The hotel combines luxury with history, and the rooms, originally cells, were surprisingly comfortable. Arriving in the car park, curiosity grew as soon as we saw the building. Inside, the great hall with the cell block makes an immediate impression. The silence and the atmosphere have something mysterious about them. We check in and meet our contact. We were given a tour of the hotel and the story of its history. The impressive restaurant is set in a chapel, and we ate very well there. The rooms are nicely done, with stone walls, so it still really feels like a cell, but with a luxury bathroom and wonderful beds. We thought it a fantastic hotel and a truly unique experience. We are definitely taking this location into the edition, because it is an absolute recommendation.

Day 4 — Dartmoor, Bovey Castle and Stonehenge

After breakfast we left this remarkable hotel, because another route had to be made. This one took us to Dartmoor National Park, a beautiful stretch of nature. England is known for its narrow and often poorly maintained roads, and we cannot deny that. As soon as you leave the main roads and choose the lanes, you quickly find large potholes, gravel tracks and, above all, very narrow roads. Meeting oncoming traffic here can make for tense moments. We want to avoid that as much as possible on the tour, because in a normal car it is already a challenge, let alone with a group of low sports cars. At the same time the A-roads, which we usually try to avoid, are surprisingly beautiful here, with wonderful views and an excellent drive.

For today we again had three potential lunch locations on the list. At the first visit we were sold immediately. Bovey Castle, an imposing castle. Both the outside and the inside were impressive. The setting and the English atmosphere made it the perfect place for our group. We had not made an appointment, so we walked in on the off chance. Fortunately someone was available to talk to us and go through the options. We fell in love with the place, so we cancelled the other locations and went straight on to the next stop: Stonehenge.

Unfortunately we were too late to do a tour ourselves, because the last time slot had already passed. Even so, we were able to check the car park and lock in everything for the group reservation. It was already late and dark, it gets dark early in January, and we still had about an hour’s drive to the next hotel. The first impression on arrival seemed good. Plenty of parking and a handsome building. Inside we were a little less enthusiastic. We told each other that this was probably because of the wonderful hotels we had seen over the previous days; maybe we had simply been spoiled. But the moment we walked into our room we knew for certain: this is not the hotel we want to offer on this edition. At the last minute we went looking for an alternative nearby. Fortunately another hotel could take us, Lainston House. We arrived at a fantastic estate. What an entrance. It was immediately a much more positive experience than the first hotel.

Day 5 — The south coast

On the fifth and final day we made one more route. Along the south coast, past the famous white chalk cliffs, towards the last stop we had to see. On this route we again found the perfect photo and video points for the media team, who can capture stunning images here during the tour. For the final lunch we looked for a place that serves a typical English afternoon tea. We ended up at the Grand Hotel in Eastbourne, a location that matched our expectations exactly.

Afternoon tea is served in a stylish, elegant room: a closing lunch with style. We were allowed to taste the afternoon tea ourselves and were very enthusiastic. No doubt about it, this location goes into the tour as well.

After a wonderful lunch we drove straight to Folkestone, where the LeShuttle train took us back to Calais. They were five busy, full days, but it was a successful trip and we can say with pride: the five-day England edition is ready!