Off the beaten tour path, some spend big on the 'duke experience'

Chinese visitors tour the grounds of Chatsworth House in Derbyshire, the stately home and seat of the Duke of Devonshire. [Photos By Ian Daisley /UK Countryside Tours]

For years, the image of the Chinese visitors to Britain has been linked with the tour bus. Groups of up to 60 are ferried around, spending no more than a few hours at iconic sites, from the Houses of Parliament to the fabled Northern waterways that inspired Chiang Yee's A Chinese Artist in Lakeland.

Bus tours still dominate inbound Chinese tourism in Britain, as most are first-timers looking for value and the comfort and convenience of Mandarin-speaking guides with local knowledge.

However, as the Chinese become richer and more well-traveled, increasing numbers of private groups are heading to Britain - many for the second or third time - and some have lots of money to spend.

"These are the kind of people that say, 'In Italy, we can do dinner at the Vatican - what can you do to match that?' So I phone up Windsor and ask if we can do dinner at Windsor Castle," says Jim Dixon, director of UK Countryside Tours, as he recalls one visitor's request.

For the right price, anything is possible, he says, and popular demands often fall under what he calls the "living like a Duke" experience.

The lives of British nobility have long intrigued foreign visitors as well as fans of period dramas, such as adaptations of Jane Austen novels or Downton Abbey.

Jay Smith, managing director of Beiwei 55, a British tour operator that offers Mandarin-speaking guides, says more Chinese visitors are looking for the British lord and lady experience.

"Shooting and hunting is something we've had in the past," he says. "An enquiry we had relatively recently was for a country house tour, to meet the owners, discuss how they run their estate, how they make money, how they came into that land."

Royal treatment

Dixon says, at the premium level, Chinese travelers may arrive at London's landmark luxury hotel The Dorchester and dine at one of its restaurants, such as China Tang, which has three Michelin stars. They may then go on to have the "Duke's London experience", hitting small, bespoke shops after hours where British nobility buy their clothes and hunting gear.

"There's a bookshop called Heywood Hill Books that is owned by the Duke of Devonshire. They make libraries for people," Dixon says. "So a billionaire will go there and say, 'I'm interested in horse riding, the history of Hong Kong, and legal work - build me a library.'"

Visitors may then hop on a helicopter and fly up to Derbyshire's Chatsworth House, the opulent residence of the Duke of Devonshire used as a location for films including 2005's Pride and Prejudice and 2008's The Duchess. There, they will dine with the duke, if he's available, in a room lined with priceless art.