In early July, the wheels on the Britannic Explorer, the first ever luxury sleeper train in England and Wales, will begin to turn as it leaves London Victoria for its first calling on the way through to Penzance in Cornwall.

The new three-night train route is indicative of what owners Belmond call “slow luxury”, a concept the hospitality company has been championing since it relaunched the world-famous Venice Simplon-Orient-Express in 1982, alongside the handsome British Pullman, with its 11 brown-and-cream carriages, some of which date back to the 1920s.

Two other train routes will be served by the Britannic Explorer in addition to its Cornish line: one up to the Lake District, taking in the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway and Penrith; and another into Wales via Llandrindod Wells and Porthmadog.