Pack your project bag and polish your sleuthing skills—something woolly this way comes! It's time to follow the thread on a devilishly delightful knitting adventure through the English countryside. Our Merry Band of Travelers will roam from London’s elegance to the cozy corners of Devon and Cornwall, where yarns aren’t the only things spun. Stay in storybook settings, wander moody gardens, tour castle ruins perched on cliffs, and visit woolly wonders from Blacker Yarns to Wool on the Exe. Each day brings new clues and scenic delights, with a mystery unspooling stitch by stitch. Expect High Tea, heritage sheep, seaside walks, and perhaps… a touch of treachery. Your needles are your tools. Your pattern is a puzzle. And the game is afoot—cast on carefully!

To Register 

A Registration Form and a non-refundable $1000 deposit are required to join the trip. Once you submit your online registration and deposit payment is received, your spot on the tour is secure. See our Terms & Conditions HERE.

Have questions? Please contact us at info@rowantreetravel.com

This tour has been announced a "Go!" 

Unless otherwise stated, our regular Terms and Conditions apply to this trip and for any cancellations (click here to see our Terms and Conditions).

Tour Activity Level 

We would describe this trip as a Retreat.

Mobility Comfort Level = 2+

We will be wandering through villages, markets gardens and historic buildings

Review our Tour Activity and Mobility Comfort Levels here.

Travel Insurance 

Rowan Tree Travel highly recommends purchasing travel insurance. You may purchase through our preferred partner Arch RoamRight by clicking here or through your own provider.

Arranging Your Flights 

In order to gather easily for the tour, we provide an arrival and departure "window" at a major transportation hub - typically an international airport at your destination country. Flights scheduled outside the provided windows may result in additional transportation costs and missed tour activities. For this reason, we greatly appreciate your cooperation in booking travel that accommodates our specifications. Please do not purchase airfare until the tour is guaranteed by RTTF to go forward.

Please Note the Following 

Rowan Tree Travel reserves the right to alter any part of this itinerary in order to address weather conditions, unforeseen circumstances or to improve the participant experience.

 The game begins as you arrive in London, where the fog hangs heavy with secrets and the whisper of a nefarious plot. Your first challenge is to make your way by train to Reading, and settle in at our charmingly upscale hotel where everything feels just right. The day is free for rest or optional local exploration—perhaps a quiet Thames-side walk or a visit to the storied ruins of Reading Abbey. We reconvene in the late afternoon for High Tea at the hotel. Here, you'll receive your Yarn Kit, carefully assembled to prepare you for the days ahead. The mystery begins tomorrow—but tonight, enjoy the calm before the clues. 

We take the train to Exeter—peaceful cathedral city, or the setting for a future crime? No one knows. After a brief stop to stretch our legs, snag a spot of lunch and perhaps some yarn at the nearby yarn shop, we climb aboard our private coach to journey through Devon’s winding lanes. Our first destination: Greenway House, Agatha Christie’s iconic summer residence. The house may be stately, but a sense of looming intrigue hangs in the air.

As dusk approaches, we arrive at our broodingly beautiful  Castle in Cornwall-home for the next few days. Storm clouds gather and our knitting mystery deepens as we convene over our welcome dinner: the mystery is unveiled, setting the stage for the twists and turns ahead. You’ll receive your first clue, and perhaps, your first suspect. With each stitch of your knitting, you’ll be drawn further into a web of secrets. Dinner is served... but will you be able to finish your meal without revealing something sinister?

Our morning visit to Blacker Yarns reveals the birthplace of your mystery knitalong kits—lovingly spun, possibly cursed. The afternoon brings us to the ruins of Tintagel Castle, where legends of Arthur and betrayal hang thick in the Cornish air. Optional diversions to St. Nectan’s Glen may uncover more than just mossy waterfalls. As the sun sets, dinner is served back at our Castle retreat. No one is safe. Especially the quiet ones with sharp needles. 

Today we venture to Buckland Abbey—part monastery, part Elizabethan manor, and former home to Sir Francis Drake, explorer, national hero and state-sponsored pirate. After wandering the hallowed halls of the Abbey, we head for daylight and  the stalls at Tavistock Pannier Market. Local wares? Or clues in disguise? You decide. Tonight, over a suspiciously hearty supper, the plot thickens. Someone drops a stitch… or a secret.

We head out to The Lost Gardens of Heligan, where the once-abandoned gardens have now been restored to their former glory. Yet, beneath the vibrant flowers and winding paths, there may be something more sinister hiding. We return via the smugglers’ village of Polperro, its crooked lanes whispering tales of treachery. Back at our Castle home, the table is set for our last dinner at the Castle. Identities will be revealed. Allegiances shattered. Will you solve the case? Or will someone get away with murder?  

We flee Cornwall—discretely, of course—and take the train from Exeter to London. Our hotel offers sanctuary (and perhaps a last scone). But there's one last act to witness: The Mousetrap, Agatha Christie’s timeless theatrical thriller, now in its record-breaking 70th year. 

The tour concludes. But for those who’ve survived the suspense, the stitches, and the scones—well done. You may depart via London airport with your wits intact… and your knitting complete.

Heather loves designing and leading knitting and fiber tours. She’s fascinated with local traditions, unique yarns, and the modern twist added to both by current designers. Her ever-widening exposure to both has led to a long queue of patterns and a dramatic accumulation of stash!  She’s also been trying her hand at new wooly endeavors like felting and spinning. When not knitting, traveling or planning your next trip, Heather tends her small flock of chickens and ducks, volunteers in her local thrift shop, and spends time with her two dogs, her family, and friends in Dunbarton, NH.

Sydney is a knitter, spinner, crocheter, dyer, and felter. She loves to explore how different local cultures work with fiber.  At one time Sydney managed Quail Hill Farm including sheep for fiber and meat as well as pigs, goats, horses, donkeys, too many cats and dogs, plus various types of poultry. She took her sheep wool from shearing to dying, using her own dye plants, to spinning to knitted garments.  Sydney grew up in NYC and Switzerland and is fluent in French, Italian, and German. She worked for many years as a French teacher and mentor in Waldorf Schools. Before that she worked as a financier on Wall Street and she now uses those skills for strategic planning at Rowan Tree.