This morning starts with an LGBTQ+ tour of the Victoria and Albert Museum--the first museum in the UK to host such tours--and then a tour of Tite St in Chelsea. Today Tite St is the most expensive street in London, but in the 19th and early 20th century, it was the street of artists, including Whistler, Wilde, and Sargent. It is too early to confirm, but the tour will probably be led by Devon Cox, author of Street of Wonderful Possibilities, about Tite St, and Devon and Professor Lear hope to arrange tea in the Wildes' house. After lunch, we will visit two less well-known but splendid historic houses of Wilde's time in Kensington: the house of the painter Lord Leighton, with its fabulous tiled Arab Hall, and the house of Punch cartoonist Linley Sambourne, a perfectly preserved Victorian interior, where Constance Wilde certainly visited. This evening is free: explore London's rich theatre offerings--or opera, ballet, or music....

Today we will take an excursion out of London to visit Bletchley Park, the secret campus where gay hero Alan Turing led the team in WWII that broke the Germans' encryption system. On return to London, you have a free afternoon for more museums and shopping, and a free evening for more entertainment.

In the morning today, Professor Lear will give us his well-known LGBTQ+ tour of the National Portrait Gallery (as he says, "the gayest portrait gallery in the world"). After lunch, we will move East and South for a queer tour of Shakespeare's Globe Theatre (or a tour of queer Shakespeare's Globe Theatre?) and a visit to the Gilbert&George Centre. This evening Professor Lear will try to arrange to have Ian McKellen greet us at his pub, but if his performance schedule doesn't permit, Professor Lear suggests that you join him at the Blackfriar, London's most beautifully preserved Victorian pub--and an important location in the movie Maurice.

Today we take off for the bus tour part of our trip--and for the great houses that are perhaps our main theme. Our first stop is in Oxford, where we take a walking tour with plenty of history, straight (e.g. Lewis Carroll or JRR Tokien) and gay (e.g. TE Lawrence), including a visit to Oscar Wilde's college--also the most beautiful Oxford College--Magdalen (pronounced 'Maudlin'). After some free time for lunch in Oxford's lovely 18th century covered market, we go to visit our first Stately Home, Blenheim Palace. One of the few non-royal houses in England allowed to be called a palace, Blenheim was given by Queen Anne to her first great crush, Sarah Churchill and her husband, the great general Marlborough (victor among many other places at Blenheim). Here too there is a bit of straight history too, since it is here that her descendant Winston Churchill (perhaps an ally....) spent his childhood.

Mercure Oxford Eastgate Hotel: a comfortable modern hotel in a 17th century Inn, overlooking Magdalen tower.

Today we drive from Oxford to Bath, but we make 2 major stops along the way. The first is to visit Madresfield, a house that has been passed down by inheritance since 1192--the second longest in England after the Tower of London! More to the point, this is where the Brideshead Revisited story really took place—but with far more gay scandal than there is in the novel! After lunch, we proceed south and stop at Gloucester Cathedral, to visit the tomb of one of England's gayest kings (and the one who suffered most for his sexuality!) Edward II. In the evening, we arrive in Bath.

Francis Hotel Bath: an elegant modern hotel in a historic building, right on Queen's Sauare—the heart of this lovely, historic city.

This morning we take a walking tour of Bath, a beautifully preserved Regency city--which Jane Austen who writes about it frequently would still recognize--and then visit Beckford's Tower. William Beckford is not famous today, but he is one of the great gay figures in British history, and he was a hero to people like Lord Byron and Oscar Wilde, who have eclipsed him. He was a man of extraordinary talents and wealth whose gay scandal forced him to live in internal exile here in Bath: it's a fascinating story and a monument worth visiting. The afternoon is free to enjoy Bath or visit the Roman Baths—the oldest still functioning thermal baths in the world. Note: the Bath Jane Austen festival has not yet been scheduled for 2026, but it will probably be taking place at this time as well.

This morning we drive to Brighton, where we take a tour of England's favorite beach city and learn about its gay side, past (with lots of Wildeana) and present. After lunch, we visit two nearby country houses of the Bloomsbury group: Charleston Farmhouse and Monk's House. Monk's House was the country house of Leonard and Virginia Woolf. This is where she wrote most of her major works, including the gay-themed ones like Mrs Dalloway; sadly, it is also where she committed suicide. Across the downs lies Charleston, long the house of 2 artistic collaborators, Virginia's sister Vanessa and her gay life-partner and baby-daddy Duncan Grant, as well as many other Bloomsbury figures and a long string of Duncan's lovers. The house is so full of art that it seems almost alive, even today! This evening is free to explore Brighton's gay life and the 'lanes', its charming historic shopping area.

Doubletree by Hilton Brighton Metropole: a charming modernized Victorian hotel right on the seafront—with a dramatic Wildean history of its own!

Today, on our way from Brighton to London, we visit two of England's great houses: Knole and Sissinghurst. Knole is the largest of all Stately Homes and has a storied history, starting with Cardinal Wolsey and (Bloody) Queen Mary. Its main LGBT story is in the early 20th century, when it was the childhood home of Virginia Woolf's lover Vita Sackville-West—and it serves as the setting for much of Woolf's novel (and love letter to Sackville-West?) Orlando. The tragedy of Sackville-West's otherwise non-tragic life was that, as a woman, she could not inherit Knole, so she had to content herself with buying a nearby ruined castle, Sissinghurst, where, while she and her husband carried on their open marriage and same-sex love-affairs, they developed their famous gardens, which should be splendidly in bloom in May! In the evening we return to London