Lake District
& Wales

London Victoria on a Friday afternoon is a fine place to begin a week-long adventure. The Britannic Explorer is waiting, and there is time to explore the train properly before departure: your private suite, the botanically inspired dining carriages, the Wellness Suite and the bar, which is stocked with an impressive range of small-batch gins. Afternoon tea arrives as the city falls behind, and this one has a distinctly Cumbrian character. Chef Simon Rogan has drawn on his home county for inspiration, and the result includes Kendal mint cake and Grasmere gingerbread alongside the more traditional components of a proper British tea.

The train travels through Cambridgeshire, Lincolnshire and South Yorkshire as the afternoon gives way to evening. A treatment in the Wellness Suite is worth considering, as is a cocktail in the bar while the landscape opens up around you. As night falls, dinner is served. Simon Rogan and Head Chef Alexander Wyn Lewis have designed a menu that puts exceptional seasonal British produce at the centre of every plate, cooked with real ambition and genuine skill. The Observation Car provides the natural ending to the evening, with music and dancing keeping things lively until the train settles quietly overnight on the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway, in the heart of Bronte country.

An early departure rewards those who are awake for it. The Yorkshire Dales pass the window as breakfast is served, the landscape building steadily as the train heads north. The route's finest moment comes along Morecambe Bay, where the crossing of the Arnside Viaduct brings wide tidal flats, distant Lakeland fells and the glittering bay into view all at once. Grange-over-Sands makes a pleasant setting to finish a final cup of coffee with the sea in front of you.

Ashore, the morning takes you to Graythwaite Estate, a handsome historic manor on the shores of Lake Windermere, surrounded by gardens and ancient woodland that have been carefully tended for generations. After elevenses, the grounds are yours to explore at whatever pace suits you. For those who want something more spirited, off-road Land Rover driving across the estate, clay pigeon shooting and a RIB boat ride on Windermere are all available, and the scenery for any of them is exceptional.

The afternoon brings a visit that very few people ever have the opportunity to make. Simon Rogan's farm in the Cartmel Valley is where much of what ends up on the dining car table begins its life. A guided tour gives real insight into his farm-to-table approach, and a seasonal late lunch afterwards makes the philosophy rather enjoyable in practice. The train collects everyone at Grange-over-Sands for a relaxed evening on board, with light dining and entertainment before an overnight stop on the Settle and Carlisle line.

The morning begins on one of the great railway journeys in England. The Settle and Carlisle line is regularly voted the most scenic rail route in the country, and breakfast served while crossing the Ribblehead Viaduct is a reasonable way to experience it. The Peak District follows, and the afternoon passes comfortably on board as the landscape gradually softens on the journey south.

By the time Buckinghamshire is reached, thoughts have naturally turned to the evening ahead. A short transfer brings you to Bray and The Waterside Inn, where Alain Roux has presided over one of only a handful of restaurants in the United Kingdom to hold three Michelin stars. The restaurant sits on the banks of the Thames, and the riverside room where dinner is served is a genuinely beautiful setting for food of this quality. The kitchen has been producing cooking of this standard for decades, and an evening here is the kind of thing that people plan around and talk about long afterwards. The Britannic Explorer is waiting when the evening draws to a close, and the train settles overnight in the Chilterns.

The train arrives at London Victoria in the early morning after the overnight run through the Chilterns. A transfer is waiting for those who would like to make use of it, taking you to The Cadogan, a Belmond hotel in Chelsea, where a three-course lunch with wine provides a civilised midpoint to the day. For those who prefer to spend the morning on their own terms, London is outside the door and a few hours exploring it independently is a perfectly reasonable alternative.

The Wales section of the journey begins in the afternoon, and the transition from London to open countryside happens quickly once the train is moving. A Welsh Afternoon Tea is served as the city gives way to fields, with Welsh teacakes and bara brith fruit cake making a welcome appearance. The golden hour over the English countryside is a good time to be sitting by a train window, and by the time dinner arrives the journey west is well underway. Chef Rogan's menu for the evening is another occasion in itself. The suite and a good night's sleep follow, with the Pembrokeshire coast not far ahead.

Morning light over the Pembrokeshire coast is a good reason to be awake early. After breakfast, the train pauses at Llandrindod Wells and two very different excursions present themselves. Those who want to be out in the landscape can join a guided walk through the quiet valleys of the Welsh heartlands, where the pace of life feels a long way from anywhere. For something altogether more restorative, a Welsh lavender farm offers a swim in the natural pond, time in the sauna, or a comfortable chair by a log fire with no particular agenda.

Back on board, the Heart of Wales Line takes over as guide for the afternoon. This beautiful and undervisited stretch of railway winds through the upland farming country of Carmarthenshire and Powys, the kind of scenery that passes without fanfare but stays with you. The train heads north into Eryri National Park, known to the wider world as Snowdonia, and the landscape grows steadily more dramatic as the valleys deepen and the mountains fill the horizon.

As evening falls, the train pauses for a fire ceremony hosted by wellness partners Wildsmith, a fittingly atmospheric way to mark the end of a day spent in some of the most ancient and elemental landscape in Britain. The train rests for the night near the seaside town of Barmouth, where the Mawddach Estuary opens out to Cardigan Bay.

Breakfast is served as the train crosses Barmouth Bridge, and the wide estuary below and the mountains behind make for a fine start to the morning. The Observation Car is the right place to be for that crossing. The train continues south to Machynlleth, a small town at the edge of Eryri National Park with a lively cultural identity that belies its size.

Two excursions are on offer here, and both make excellent use of the surrounding landscape. The Dyfi Wildlife Trust offers a private guided birdwatching session in one of the most important wetland and estuary habitats in Wales, where red kites, ospreys and a wide variety of waders and wildfowl can be found with an expert alongside. For those who prefer their countryside pursuits with a competitive element, the Dovey Shooting Ground in the Dovey Valley offers clay pigeon shooting with a Team GB instructor, with a catered lunch overlooking the hills to follow.

The train makes its way through Mid Wales and into Shropshire during the afternoon, the scenery easing into gentler country as the journey heads east. Dinner is served on board before the train reaches Kingham in Oxfordshire, where the evening takes an unexpected and very enjoyable turn. The Fox at Oddington, a 16th-century inn recently restored by Carole Bamford of Daylesford, is the setting for a private party. The food is classic English fare, the drinks are local ales and artisan liqueurs, and there is the opportunity to learn the art of pouring a proper pint. It is a warm and convivial end to the last full day on board.

The last breakfast is served as the train moves through Oxfordshire and into the Chilterns. Six nights, seven days, and a considerable portion of Britain seen from the comfort of your own suite. The Lakeland fells, the Ribblehead Viaduct, the Pembrokeshire coast, the Heart of Wales Line and a fire ceremony at dusk in Snowdonia are not a bad set of memories to be reflecting on over a final coffee. London Victoria arrives, as it always does on the last morning, rather sooner than anyone would like.

Itineraries and timings shown may be changed for seasonal or operational reasons.