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

Children letting animals at Chatsworth House's farmyard.[Photos By Ian Daisley /UK Countryside Tours]

The cost? Without baring all, Dixon says, "dinner is 20,000 pounds ($26,200) before you throw in the helicopters and all the rest of it."

Cheaper alternatives include staying at country estates like Wedderburn Castle in Scotland or Haddon Hall in Derbyshire, he adds.

"Bed and breakfast starts at 3,500 pounds a night," he says of the Scottish castle. "When you walk in, there are muddy boots, the gillies are ready to take you fishing, and the food is traditional Scottish fine dining: lamb and wild salmon."

Country estates will often provide Chinese translators, and Haddon Hall will soon show Mandarin Jane, a theatrical performance based on Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre narrated in Mandarin. The residence has a strong claim as the inspiration behind the book's Thornfield Hall.

Something unique

In Manchester, while large Chinese tour groups file around Manchester United's Old Trafford stadium and museum during the day, the more discerning Chinese visitors will wait for nightfall when the red carpet is rolled out. This may include a champagne reception, putting on a pair of David Beckham's boots, getting coached "by a legend" or eating dinner with a former player.

"There are certain people who can pay the bill for the electricity to stay on at night, for the catering team, the bar staff and the tour guides to stay late, to bring in an ex-player, to open up certain parts of Old Trafford and its museum - certain people can pay for that," says Jason Leach, business development executive at Manchester United Museum and Stadium Tour. "Everything is achievable for the right person, at the right price."

Leach says bus tours are still commonplace, although requests from Chinese for a bespoke experience have quickly picked up. In the past year, he's cracked open the champagne for eight groups of Chinese VIPs.

"We've noticed over the past few years a slight change: People may well have been to the UK before, they're coming back a second time, and they're after something a little bit more unique," Leach says. "It's not something we advertise on our website, neither the English nor the Mandarin website has any promo stuff on it. It really is a case of the question needs to be asked. It might cost them the price of a holiday again, but they can afford it."