Cornwall by Britannic Explorer
London → Cornwall
The Cornwall by Britannic Explorer is a four-day, three-night luxury sleeper-train odyssey that traces the most dramatic landscapes of southern England — from the rolling chalk downs of Wessex and the heritage steam tracks of Somerset, along the famous Riviera Line hugging Devon's glittering coast, and deep into the wild, sea-girt peninsula of Cornwall. Boarding at London Victoria in the mid-afternoon, guests settle into beautifully appointed private suites and never need to leave the train to sleep or dine, yet step off to explore St Ives, Penzance, Fowey and Bruton at their own pace.
The Britannic Explorer is Belmond's first luxury sleeper train on British rails — a lovingly restored rake of heritage carriages reimagined with contemporary interiors, a Victorian apothecary-inspired cocktail bar, and a fine-dining restaurant guided by three-Michelin-starred chef Simon Rogan. Every meal, every beverage, and every scheduled excursion is included, so the journey is as effortless as it is unforgettable.
Cornwall itself is the great draw: England's southwesternmost county, bounded by the Atlantic on the north and the English Channel on the south, is a land of fishing villages, Celtic heritage, world-class contemporary art, subtropical gardens and a coastline of breathtaking severity. To arrive by sleeper train — waking as the tracks round Teignmouth Sea Wall with the sea shimmering outside your cabin window — is to experience it as it deserves to be experienced.
- ✦Riviera Line at dawn — the train runs along the breaking waves of the Dawlish Sea Wall
- ✦Private after-hours tour of Hauser and Wirth Somerset with dinner at Da Costa in Bruton
- ✦Choice of St Ives art scene or Tremenheere Sculpture Gardens with James Turrell installation
- ✦Private Cornish wine tasting with views of St Michael's Mount at dusk
- ✦Three nights entirely on the train — no hotels, just sleeper suites on scenic heritage sidings
- ✦All-inclusive fine dining by three-Michelin-starred chef Simon Rogan
- ✦Morning exploration of Fowey estuary by private boat or on foot
Day-by-Day Itinerary
Day 1 — London Victoria to Bishops Lydeard
Guests board at London Victoria Station in the mid-afternoon. As the train pulls away through the southern suburbs and out into the open countryside of Surrey and Hampshire, a traditional Cornish Afternoon Tea is served — finger sandwiches, scones with clotted cream, and Cornish delicacies curated by Simon Rogan's kitchen team. The route passes through the North Wessex Downs and the market towns of Frome and Taunton before the train joins the West Somerset Railway, one of England's longest preserved heritage lines. Cocktails are served in the bar carriage as evening falls over the Somerset hills, followed by a four-course dinner with matched wines. The train rests overnight on a quiet section of the heritage line near Bishops Lydeard, the perfect prelude to the Cornish miles ahead.
Day 2 — Bishops Lydeard to Fowey (via the Riviera Line and Cornwall)
Breakfast is served as the train rejoins the national network and heads south-west. The route's showpiece moment arrives on the Riviera Line between Exeter and Newton Abbot, where the track hugs the red-sandstone cliffs and sea wall at Dawlish and Teignmouth — one of the most photographed stretches of railway in Britain, with waves occasionally breaking against the windows. The line then skirts the southern fringe of Dartmoor National Park before entering Plymouth and crossing the Tamar into Cornwall. Three-course lunch is served as the train passes St Austell and Truro on its way to the far west.
In the afternoon guests choose between two excursions. The first option is an exploration of St Ives, the whitewashed fishing port and artistic hub that has inspired painters since Turner and is home to the Tate St Ives gallery perched above Porthmeor Beach. The second option is a guided tour of the extraordinary Tremenheere Sculpture Gardens near Penzance — a sub-tropical valley garden set in an old Cornish estate and featuring a monumental light installation by American artist James Turrell, concluding with a private Cornish wine tasting overlooking the iconic silhouette of St Michael's Mount. Guests rejoin the train at Penzance for the short evening run to Fowey, where the carriages are stabled overnight on a secluded riverside track above the Fowey Estuary — a tranquil setting lit by the lights of the medieval town on the far bank.
Day 3 — Fowey to Bruton (East Somerset)
The morning is given over entirely to Fowey and the surrounding area. Guests choose from coastal hikes on the South West Coast Path, private boat tours of the estuary and its drowned creek-valleys, or bespoke explorations of the medieval wool town of Lostwithiel a few miles upstream. Fowey itself is one of Cornwall's best-preserved harbourside towns — a tangle of steep lanes, fifteenth-century churches and independently owned galleries, long associated with the novelist Daphne du Maurier, who lived at nearby Menabilly. A three-course lunch is served as the train makes its way back through Cornwall and Devon and north into Somerset.
The afternoon brings one of the journey's most talked-about moments: an exclusive private visit to Hauser & Wirth Somerset in the small market town of Bruton, after the gallery's public closing time. One of the world's most respected contemporary art galleries — its Somerset outpost set in a converted eighteenth-century farmstead with a walled garden by Piet Oudolf — it regularly shows works by Phyllida Barlow, Mark Bradford and Louise Bourgeois. Guests are welcomed with a champagne reception before a private after-hours tour, followed by an exclusive dinner at Da Costa, the gallery's acclaimed restaurant. The train rests overnight on the East Somerset Railway.
Day 4 — Castle Cary to London Victoria
A final breakfast is served in the dining car as the train covers the last miles back to London. The journey concludes with arrival at London Victoria Station in the early morning, leaving guests with four days' worth of memories — and the distinct feeling that the finest way to discover England is, after all, by train.
Destinations & Highlights
Cornwall
England's most south-westerly county is a place apart — separated from the rest of England by the River Tamar and defined by its Celtic heritage, ancient standing stones, and a coastline of extraordinary drama. The Cornish Riviera, as the south coast is called, is lined with subtropical gardens made possible by the warming Gulf Stream, while the north coast faces the full force of the Atlantic. Mining, fishing and tin-smelting shaped the landscape for two millennia; the Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Today Cornwall is celebrated for its food scene — clotted cream, Cornish pasties, fresh-caught crab and an emerging wine industry — and for a thriving contemporary arts culture centred on St Ives and Penzance.
St Ives
Perched on a narrow peninsula between two bays, St Ives has been a magnet for artists since the late nineteenth century, when its clarity of light, whitewashed fishermen's cottages and crystalline harbour drew painters such as Walter Sickert and James McNeill Whistler. The Tate St Ives, opened in 1993 and dramatically expanded in 2017, overlooks Porthmeor Beach and holds a permanent collection focused on the St Ives School — Barbara Hepworth, Ben Nicholson, Naum Gabo — alongside major temporary exhibitions. The adjacent Barbara Hepworth Sculpture Garden preserves the artist's studio and garden exactly as she left them. The town's narrow cobbled streets lead to a harbour still busy with fishing boats and lined with galleries, craft studios and seafood restaurants.
Tremenheere Sculpture Gardens
A hidden gem of the Cornish west, Tremenheere is a privately owned valley garden near Penzance, sheltered from the Atlantic winds by ancient woodland and planted with palms, tree ferns, banana plants and Himalayan rhododendrons that thrive in Cornwall's mild maritime climate. Scattered through the garden are large-scale works by internationally significant artists. The centrepiece is James Turrell's Tewlwolow Kernow, a sky space built into the hillside through which visitors observe the sky's changing qualities of light — an intimate, meditative experience unique in Britain. The garden's upper slopes offer direct views across Mounts Bay to the dramatic tidal island of St Michael's Mount.
Fowey
Fowey (pronounced 'Foy') is one of Cornwall's most beguiling harbour towns, clustered on a steep hillside above a deep natural estuary where ocean-going cargo ships still berth. Its fourteenth-century church, Tudor block-house and tightly packed medieval streets have remained largely unchanged for centuries. The novelist Daphne du Maurier lived at Menabilly nearby and set several of her most famous novels — including Rebecca and Frenchman's Creek — in this landscape. The estuary itself is a paradise for boating, with wooded creeks, tidal sandbanks and the quieter town of Polruan visible on the far bank.
Bruton & Hauser and Wirth Somerset
Bruton is a small Somerset market town on the River Brue that has, improbably, become one of England's most talked-about cultural destinations. The arrival of Hauser & Wirth Somerset in 2014 — housed in a cluster of converted farm buildings with gardens designed by the legendary Dutch landscape architect Piet Oudolf — transformed it into a destination in its own right. The gallery shows the work of major international artists, from Louise Bourgeois to Rashid Johnson, and its restaurant Da Costa has won independent acclaim for food rooted in the surrounding Somerset landscape. The town's medieval packhorse bridge, fifteenth-century dovecote and independent shops add to the allure of an afternoon here.