Villas and Gardens of the Cote d'Azur by Rail Tour

What's Included

• Return standard class Eurostar and TGV from St Pancras to Nice via Paris

  The tour includes return travel by standard class Eurostar and TGV from St Pancras to Nice via Paris.

• Seven nights' bed and breakfast at the four-star Hotel Napoleon, Menton, based on shared occupancy of a twin room

  Accommodation for seven nights at the four-star Hotel Napoleon in Menton is included, with a bed and breakfast arrangement based on shared occupancy of a twin room.

• Small cold plate at the hotel on arrival on the first night and a farewell dinner at the hotel on the last night

  A small cold plate is provided on arrival at the hotel on the first night, and a farewell dinner is included on the last night.

• One lunch at Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild

  The tour includes one lunch at the Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild.

• Full coaching itinerary

  A full coaching itinerary is included in the tour.

• Entrance fees

  Entrance fees to the various sites and attractions are included.

• Talks and accompanied visits by Nicholas Merchant, Former Chairman of the West Yorkshire Art Fund

  The tour includes talks and accompanied visits by Nicholas Merchant, Former Chairman of the West Yorkshire Art Fund.

• Tour manager throughout

  A tour manager is provided throughout the duration of the tour.

What's Not Included

• Eurostar Plus/1st Class upgrade on Eurostar/TGV. On Eurostar this constitutes upgraded seating and light meal with complimentary drink with upgraded seating only on the French railway leg

• Supplement for flying from Manchester - £120 per person

Mode of Transport

Travel by Eurostar from St Pancras to Paris and onwards to Nice by TGV. On arrival, transfer to the hotel for a seven-night stay on a bed and breakfast basis. Return TGV to Paris and onwards by Eurostar to St Pancras.

Accommodation

Hotel Napoleon, Menton: This comfortable four-star hotel is located on the seafront, close to the Old Town of Menton, and offers an outdoor pool, fitness room, lounge bar and courtyard garden. The modern mountain-view bedrooms have private bathroom facilities, air conditioning, TV, minibar, free wi-fi and tea/coffee making facilities.

MORE INFO

YOUR TOUR LECTURER: NICHOLAS MERCHANTNicholas Merchant is a freelance lecturer on the Decorative and Fine Arts. He lectures extensively throughout the United Kingdom and Europe as one of the accredited lecturers of the Arts Society formerly National Association of Decorative and Fine Arts. In addition he has lectured in the United States, South Africa and recently by zoom to New Zealand.

His wide knowledge of the Decorative Arts has been acquired through initially working for some of the leading auction houses including Sotheby’s and Phillip’s (now Bonhams) where he qualified as a Valuer through the Chartered Institute of Valuers (now Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors). Utilising his knowledge and love of his subject he subsequently was involved in the book-trade, specialising in reference books on the decorative and fine arts. His own business in this area introduced him to many of the leading antique dealers both in the United Kingdom and overseas. This business, likewise, took him not just to the principal London exhibitions but to Paris, Frankfurt and New York.

In 2004 Nicholas joined the panel of, the then, National Association of Decorative and Fine Arts and has since acquired a reputation as a lecturer whose convivial style of addressing his audience is guaranteed to entertain and inform. Nicholas not only lectures for the Arts Society but also for some of the principal cruise lines, such as Noble-Caledonia and Hebridean Princess, travelling notably to Germany, Italy and the Adriatic. The Baltic he has visited on a number of occasions, even conducting his own tour to St Petersburg. On each occasion Nicholas prepares power-point presentations relevant to the destinations. He also leads several tours for Travel Editions each year.

He was, until recently, the West Yorkshire representative for the Art Fund helping to raise money to keep art treasures in Britain. He now lectures extensively on-line not only in the UK but to New Zealand and South Africa. He is also the Northern Representative of the Friends of the British Antique Dealers Association.

Nicholas’ hobbies include book-collecting, travel, the history of country houses. other tours led by Nicholas Merchant.We are delighted to have received this feedback from Ms Pamela Richardson who has taken over 30 of our tours......''It took precisely one day back in a cold, damp, dark London in late October to realise why wealthy Britons and Queen Victoria headed for the Cote d’ azur for the winter. Nicholas Merchant, our eminent lecturer, regaled us most mornings with stories of beautiful gardens, extraordinary villas and their often illustrious owners. I was most looking forward to Lawrence Johnston’s Serre de la Madone in the hills above Menton and the pink tinted Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild at Cap Ferrat. They didn’t disappoint. I’d done the Tour before, in the spring of 2015, so knew the direct route to the loggia of the villa Ephrussi where I sat, sheltered from the sun, to read A Life by Maupassant and to wait for the fountains to erupt and dance to the strains of Verdi, Mozart, Offenbach and Strauss. As the fountains cascaded up and down and from side to side to the music I was reminded of the poem Absence by Elizabeth Jennings, ‘Nothing was changed, the gardens were well-tended, The fountains sprayed their usual steady jet’. It was and they did, just as beautiful in the last days of autumn as it had been in the spring. Menton is an ideal base for the daily excursions and the hotel was good. Serge Bertini, our knowledgeable and endlessly patient Tour manager guided us daily from villas to gardens with a visit to Fondation Maeght to see the modern art collection. This is a delightful Tour. Would I do it a third time? You bet I would!''......