Christmas to The Manor Born

About this excursion

£99 per person) This is an opportunity to enjoy a leisurely Christmas lunch in a beautiful Manor House.

We’ll meet our guide at 10.30am for morning coffee and biscuits in the ancient market town of East Grinstead. From here we continue in the coach and enjoy a light morning tour of winter landscapes in the Ashdown Forest just right to whet the appetite for a memorable manor house lunch. When you arrive at Saint Hill Manor, set in 59 acres and one of the finest sandstone manors in Sussex, you’ll be greeted with a glass of sherry in the mahogany and marble hall.

We sit down for Christmas lunch in a beautiful room decorated by Winston Churchill’s nephew. Two courses with tea or coffee will be served with all the trimmings at tables dressed for the season.

And here’s the great thing, when most venues want you to leave, for our Christmas Lunch the afternoon is yours. Stay at the table and enjoy a good chat or find a comfy chair for a rest. There’s also an enjoyable manor house tour laid on and the opportunity to take a stroll in the garden after lunch on this memorable Christmas trip.

Although undeniably grand the manor is built on a very pleasing scale – far more intimate and cosy than a stately home. A tour of Saint Hill Manor is rather like being shown around with the estate agent’s keys. This is a tour more about people than possessions – a fascinating succession of people have lived here. Saint Hill Manor was built in the 1790s by a Scottish MP, became the HQ for China missionaries and in the 20th century became the home of a string of very glamorous people. From an American heiress and socialite married to the US Ambassador to an M&S heiress and the handsome polo playing Maharajah of Jaipur, whose bride Ayesha was, said Clark Gable, the most beautiful woman he’d ever met. The last person to live here was the acclaimed author and founder of Scientology L Ron Hubbard. In his study you will enjoy a demonstration of his self-playing Mellotron organ.

There’ll be tea or coffee and mince pies served at the end of the afternoon – just before we head for home at around 4.45pm.

The cost includes luxury transport, morning coffee, your two-course lunch with tea or coffee, manor house tour + tea and mince pies before we leave . Of course, we shall be including some Christmas treats too.

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