A LITERARY TOUR of ENGLAND & WALES
13 day tour inc. arrival/departure days
This stimulating and unusual tour focuses on England and Wales, which
inspired the works of some of the English language's greatest exponents. We
visit their homes, track down locations readily recognisable in their works
and generally obtain a flavour of the times in which they were writing. We
also visit the amazing book town of Hay-on-Wye. Splendid scenery, stupendous
historical sites, a feast of culture and the opportunity for some marvellous
specialty shopping make this a simply lovely holiday.
One departure only: July 27 – Aug 08, 2003
Price: $1990. Single supplement: $ 375
DAY ONE - SUNDAY
You'll be met at the airport of arrival and be delivered to our West
London Hotel. The remainder of the day is yours to recover from the rigours
of your flight. The hotel is situated in an attractive neighbourhood of the
city so you may enjoy local exploration, or take the underground to a city
centre area. Dinner is not included tonight.
DAY TWO – MONDAY
We leave London, following in the footsteps of Chaucer's pilgrims. Before
taking leave of the city, we'll visit the historic and literary significant,
Southwark neighbourhood. Here you'll visit Shakespeare's re-created Globe
Theatre, see ancient coaching inns that featured in Dickens's works, and see
the actual site of Chaucer's Tabart. Our next destination is the small city
of Rochester. It was here that Dickens lived out his last day, writing and
using locations in the city as settings. This is a remarkably pretty city
with a 13th century castle and lovely cathedral.
DAY THREE - TUESDAY
Our day in the counties of Kent, the 'garden of England', and East Sussex
is full of literary potential. There are so many sites here that it may
prove difficult to choose! But we will, taking account of tour participants
interests. There's Kipling's Batemans, the 'Winnie the Pooh' woods of AA
Milne, houses connected with Henry James and Virginia Woolf, Churchill's
country home of Chartwell, Charles Darwin's Downe House and Groombridge
Place with its Arthur Conan Doyle connections (renamed 'Birlstone Manor in
'The Valley of Fear') and collection.
DAY FOUR - WEDNESDAY
We may continue with our Conan Doyle theme if there's a particular
interest, with a visit to his grave site in the pretty All Saints Church at
Minsted. What will certainly be included today are the somewhat gentler
sites of Jane Austen's house at Chawton and the nearby Gilbert White house
(his mid 1700s 'Antiquities of Selbourne' was basically the first modern
book on nature). We'll also try to see Winchester and Austen's memorial in
the cathedral.
DAY FIVE - THURSDAY
The counties of Hampshire, Wiltshire and most especially Dorsetshire, are
ones where time literally seems to have stood still since the days of local
writes Jane Austen and Thomas Hardy. We'll be travelling through small
villages and towns used by both as settings for stories. We'll also be
visiting Hardy's own home and that of Lawrence of Arabia (T E Lawrence)
before we continue on our touring towards our accommodation base on the wild
Dartmoor!
DAY SIX - FRIDAY
This is a day where writes of great mystery and crime stories have their
day! Daphne Du Maurier at Fowey, Agatha Christie at the seaside resort
Torquay and Conan Doyle's moors (with a visit to the High Moorland visitor
centre at Princetown) are on our agenda. If we've time, we'll also see the
setting that inspired 'The Hound of the Baskervilles' at Buchfastleigh. This
is a lovely day, exploring Devon's literary connections and naturally having
time for a clotted cream tea!
DAY SEVEN - SATURDAY
'A tale of two cities' might be an apt way to describe today. The
Georgian splendour and Roman antiquity of Bath is first on our touring
agenda following a drive through rural Somerset. This was a city enjoyed by
the social set of the 18th and 19th centuries, a setting for Jane Austen,
Sheridan ('The Rivals') and loved by Dr Johnson amongst many, many others.
Thence to the merchant adventurers port city of Bristol. It was here that
Robert Louis Stevenson first clapped eyes on "long John Silver'. We'll
visits Clifton Downs and the amazing Clifton gorge and stop before leaving
the city and crossing to Wales.
DAY EIGHT - SUNDAY
Dylan Thomas is undoubtedly the wrier most associated with Wales and
we're dedicating a whole day to visiting his beloved Wales. You'll follow
the Dylan trail through Swansea, visiting the Dylan Thomas centre Swansea,
then continue on to Laugharn, where he lived beside the sea, worked in a
small wooden boat house and was eventually buried. This was his inspiration
for 'Under Milkwood' and it retains its rather special charm.
If DAY NINE - MONDAY
Of course, Thomas was but one in a long line of literary greats that this
proud Celtic nation has produced. Many have written in the Welsh language
but other great writers in English have been .
Richard Llewellyn (who authored 'How Green was my Valley'), Roald Dalh,
who lived in Cardiff, Bruce Chetwin, and most recently, Harry Potter creator
, J K Rowling who hails from the border town of Chepstow. We'll see sites
connected with most (and some breath taking scenery along the Wye Valley)
and also investigate some rather older Welsh literature amidst the Roman
ruins of Caerleon. It is not always known that Merlin the Magician did
exist, and was Welsh, and that this region has strong claims to King Arthur
and his legendary knights of the Round Table. This afternoon is the time
when book lovers satisfy their wildest dreams! We spend in the used book
capital of the world, Hay-on-Wye. Here almost every second shop is a
bookstore - and so is the castle and so is the old local cinema! Books,
books, books. Everything and anything from the rare antiquarian to the
obscure print. From ancient newsprint to long forgotten magazines. you're
not a Dylan Thomas fan before you come, you will be after today!
DAY TEN - TUESDAY
There'll perhaps be a little more time in Hay before we leave and cross
the border to England. A morning's pleasant touring though the honey-coloured
villages of the Cotswolds brings us Stratford upon Avon. Here' there'll be
time to explore the main Shakespearean sites such at the birthplace, Ann
Hathaway's cottage, and in our humble view, the infinitely more interesting
home of his mother, Mary Arden. Leaving Stratford, we continue south to
Oxford with a stop at Winston Churchill's tomb at Blenheim en route.
DAY ELEVEN - WEDNESDAY
The city of the dreaming spires has been home to some of the greatest of
all English writers from the religious tracts of John Wesley, through the
inspired works of C S Lewis and Lewis Carroll to the modern day Colin
Dexter, creator of the unforgettable Inspector Morse. And then there's T S
Elliot , J R Tolkein, W Auden, John Keats and simply too many other to
mention! We'll vist Christchurch college, and most memorably, it's great
dining hall where the walls are adorned with portraits of the great. Then
we'll follow the 'Alice in Wonderland' walk and have fun spotting places and
faces which later became part of Alice's adventures, see places connected
with C S Lewis and recognisable in the film 'Shadowlands', and also see
other film sites readily recognisable from the Morse TV series. Theatre
Option: Oxford boats one of the countries oldest theatre and depending on
schedule there may be an opportunity to go to the theatre tonight.
DAY TWELVE - THURSDAY
We will meander towards London today, following 'old father' Thames
though splendid countryside. En route we've a few magical literary moments
to share, such as visiting John Milton's cottage, finding where Toad, Ratty
and Mole enjoyed messing about on the river in Kenneth Graham's 'Wind in the
Willows', and seeing book locations from Jerome K Jerome's 'Three Men in a
Boat'. An undoubted highlight will be finding Thomas Grey's original setting
for his 'Elegy in a Country Churchyard' and if there's time, perhaps see
where H G Wells set out on his fortune after writing 'Mr. Polly'.
DAY THIRTEEN - FRIDAY
Departure day. But why not stay in London for a day or two more to enjoy
a London literary weekend. You can attend a couple of plays, perhaps go to
the Globe to see how theatre in the 1600s was viewed. There are London's
literary museums or houses to be seen (there are properties you can visit
connected with Keats, Dickens, Carlyle and Dr Johnson. We'd be very pleased
to help out with any extension arrangements you'd like to make. |
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