The Art & History of
Glasgow & V&A Dundee

Day 1

We meet at our pick up point in Wilmslow and travel by private executive coach up to Scotland. On arrival in Glasgow we visit the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, Scotland’s most visited museum and home to one of Europe’s greatest civic art collections. We then check in at the 4* Westerwood Hotel at Cumbernauld for a four night stay on half board basis.

Day 2

Our Blue Badge guide meets us at our hotel this morning and accompanies us throughout the day. During our guided tour of Glasgow this morning, we visit St Mungo’s Cathedral. Consecrated in 1197, the medieval cathedral is home to one of the finest post war collections of stained-glass windows in Britain. We then visit the unique House for an Art Lover, which opened to the public in 1996 and was inspired from Mackintosh’s competition entry of 1901. The attraction incorporates a permanent exhibition of decoratively furnished rooms, realised by contemporary artists and crafts people, which allow visitors the opportunity to compare the original drawings against each completed room. This afternoon we visit the Hunterian Gallery, safeguarding the Mackintosh Collection, which comprises 800 drawings, designs and watercolours, as well as a small but important archive. Whilst at the Hunterian Gallery, you may choose to visit Mackintosh House on an individual basis, which is a reconstruction of the principal interiors from the original Glasgow home of the architect. Rooms on display include the hall, dining room, studio drawing room and main bedroom where Mackintosh’s distinctive and contemporary style is evident.

Day 3

We are driven to Dundee and visit the newly built V&A Dundee - Scotland’s first design museum. We have a guided tour on arrival. After free time for lunch we visit the Verdant Works Museum, which is set in a converted mill and depicts the industrial history of Dundee and the way of life of the city. There may be time to visit RRS Discovery and learn the story of Shackleton and Scott.

Day 4

We firstly visit the village of Tarbet, a picturesque village once described by Queen Victoria as being blessed with ‘splendid passes, richly wooded with the highest mountains behind’, where there is an included cruise on beautiful Loch Lomond. We continue with our Blue Badge guide to Helensburgh to visit Hill House. Sitting high above the Clyde, Hill House is considered one of Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s finest domestic creations. The feel of the house, which was decorated with the help of Mackintosh’s wife, is of restrained elegance combined with dazzling architecture.

Day 5

After checking out of our hotel this morning and before returning home we visit Dumfries House for a guided tour followed by included tea or coffee, and shortbread. Designed 250 years ago by renowned 18th century architect brothers John, Robert and James Adam, Dumfries House is an imposing Palladian mansion nestled within 2,000 acres of scenic countryside in Ayrshire in south-west Scotland. It contains a fine collection of Chippendale furniture designed for the house. Today the house is widely acknowledged as one of the most architecturally significant stately homes within the United Kingdom. We then travel back to our original pick up point, taking carefully selected comfort stops en route.

We stay four nights on half board basis at the 4* Westerwood Hotel (www.qhotels.co.uk) in Cumbernauld near Glasgow. Set in its own 400 acres of woodland, the hotel is excellently situated for the itinerary. Facilities at the hotel include a restaurant, bar, indoor swimming pool, sauna, Jacuzzi, steam room and a gymnasium. All rooms are en suite and feature television, hairdryer and tea & coffee making facilities.

Single room supplement £99

Insurance £24

Entrance fees to places visited as part of the itinerary (National Trust properties free to NT members)

Gratuities

All excursions & guided tours included