Discovering the art and literature of England: Jane Austen, Shakespeare, and more

Arrive at London hotel by own arrangements.

In the afternoon meet with your Program Leader for a pre-tour briefing.

This will be followed by an early evening lecture on English literature by a local specialist.

A welcome dinner will be provided in a local restaurant.

(D)

A morning visit to the Tate Gallery, where we focus on some of the most significant British artworks from the past. We enjoy learning from a specialist guide, who’ll explain the cultural and historical meanings of each painting viewed as part of the tour.

In the afternoon, we enjoy a guided tour of Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, as well as a afternoon performance.

Evening will be at your leisure.

(B)

This morning the group will transfer to Russel Square by public transport for a literary tour of the Bloomsbury area with a specialist guide visiting sites related specifically to Virginia Woolf and the Bloomsbury Group.

Afterward, we stop to see Lady Ottoline Morrell’s house on Gower Street on our way to the Charles Dickens Museum.

We will visit the home once lived in by Charles Dickens. This house is now a museum and gives an insight into the author’s life and work. This is where the author wrote Oliver Twist, The Pickwick Papers and Nicholas Nickleby. It’s where he first achieved international fame as one of the world’s greatest storytellers.

From the Dicken’s museum, it is a short walk to the Foundling Hospital which was supported by William Hogarth and Frederick Handel. Here we can visit the original building, specially filled with art to attract wealthy patrons to the charity, as well as the poignant exhibition on the lives of the foundlings. This was the UK’s first children’s charity and first public art gallery.

Afternoon: at leisure. You might like to take the opportunity to visit the Sir John Soane House Museum, filled with his eclectic collection, or the nearby Wallace Collection.

Sir John Soane’s Museum preserves the museum and library of distinguished 19th century architect Sir John Soane. At Soane’s request, the house has been left untouched since his death – almost 180 years ago.

Evening: Performance at the National Theatre. (If there is no appropriate performance, alternative arrangements will be made.)

(B)

In the morning we visit Frederick Leighton’s House, a museum in the Holland Park district of Kensington and Chelsea in London. The former home of the painter Frederic, Lord Leighton, it has been open to the public since 1929. His house is an ornate reflection of his artistic interests and contains a number of his more important works.

The afternoon will include a visit to the Victoria & Albert Museum where it will be possible to purchase lunch in the splendid tea rooms. Here you can spend as much or as little time as you like as you immerse yourself in the museum’s vast collection of decorative arts.

The Victoria & Albert Museum, the world’s largest museum of decorative arts and design, houses a permanent collection of over 4.5 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and named after Queen Victoria and Prince Albert.

Spend the evening at your leisure.

(B)

This morning we will travel by public transport to the British Library for a guided tour of the library and its amazing collection of original manuscripts.

From there we will transfer to Trafalgar Square to visit London’s fabulous National Gallery for a highlights tour. There will be time to then explore the gallery in greater depth and to go next door to the Portrait Gallery.

In the afternoon, we enjoy some free time to continue exploring the city.

(B)

This morning we leave London by private coach and head towards Tunbridge Wells via Rochester and Canterbury.

In Rochester, a local guide will help us to explore. Our tour takes in the main sites associated with Dickens.

In Canterbury, we will have a local guide for a walking tour of the main city sites associated with Geoffrey Chaucer. A visit to the Cathedral and precincts will be included.

Dinner will be in our hotel this evening.

(B)

Today we visit Chartwell House, the principal adulthood home of Sir Winston Churchill. Churchill and his wife Clementine bought the property, located two miles south of Westerham, Kent, England, in 1922. Extensive renovations simplifying and modernising the home were undertaken directly, completely transforming it when complete.

Winston Churchill was one of Britain’s most famous Prime Ministers but he was also a journalist, historian and amateur artist. This morning we visit Chartwell, his home for many years.

In the afternoon we head to Sissinghurst Castle Gardens, created in the 1930s by Vita Sackville-West, poet and gardening writer, and her husband Harold Nicolson, author and diplomat. Sackville-West was a writer on the fringes of the Bloomsbury group who found her greatest popularity in the weekly columns she contributed as gardening correspondent of The Observer, which incidentally – for she never touted it – made her own garden famous. The garden itself is designed as a series of “rooms”, each with a different character of colour and/or theme, divided by high clipped hedges and pink brick walls.

In the late afternoon, we head back to our hotel in Tunbridge Wells.

(B)

Today we visit Bateman’s, a 17th-century house located in Burwash, East Sussex, England. Author Rudyard Kipling lived in Bateman’s from 1902 to his death in 1936. His wife bequeathed the house to the National Trust on her death in 1939, and it has since been opened to the public. A local guide gives us an extensive tour of the house, after which we head to Smallhythe.

We visit Smallhythe Place, a half-timbered house built in the late 15th or early 16th century and since 1947 cared for by the National Trust. The house was lived in by the acclaimed Victorian actress Ellen Terry.

We then head to Rye, where we explore Lamb House, owned by novelist Henry James. This house was a regular haunt for many contemporary English literary figures when Henry James lived there. (B)

Today we travel to Winchester via Compton.

In Compton, we stop to the visit the G F Watts Mortuary Chapel. G F Watts was another Victorian painter enormously popular in his own day but now often forgotten. His extraordinary Mortuary Chapel is well worth a visit. A visit to his nearby house and gallery may be possible if it is open on the day of our visit.

We then continue on to Winchester, where we enjoy a guided city tour including entrance to Winchester Cathedral, where Jane Austen is buried. We also walk past the house where she died. Jane Austen did not normally live in Winchester but would have visited the city. She spent the last few months of her life here to be close to her doctor. We also explore Winchester Castle. Afterwards, we visit Queen Eleanor’s Garden, before enjoying an evening at leisure.

(B)

This morning our coach takes us on a tour of Austen country including a visit to her home of 8 years at Chawton. Here she wrote many of her best-known works on the tiny table displayed in the museum created from her former home. An introductory talk on Austen’s life and work will be included. The village of Chewton lies within the South Downs National Park.

In the afternoon, we return to Winchester for some free time to explore the city.

(B)

Today we explore the region made famous by novelist Thomas Hardy. We leave Winchester and travel south towards Dorchester and onto Lyme Regis.

A specialist guide will take us on a full day literary tour of the area. The morning’s tour will include entrance to Thomas Hardy’s birthplace and to Max Gate House. We explore the house in which Hardy was born, as well as Max Gate – the former home of Thomas Hardy. This is located on the outskirts of Dorchester, Dorset, England. It was designed and built by Thomas Hardy for his own use in 1885 and he lived there until his death in 1928. In 1940 it was bequeathed to the National Trust by Hardy’s sister and is now open to the public.

Our afternoon’s tour will concentrate on Lyme Regis and the region’s connections with Jane Austen and John Fowles. We stop to view the Cobb, the town’s famous harbour wall.

We then head to Exeter for the evening, where we enjoy a group dinner in our hotel.

(B, D)

Today we have specialist literary guide for a full day of touring the area. After breakfast, we head to Princetown, where we visit Dartmoor Prison Museum. We enjoy a specialist lecture on the literary history of the Museum, with a special focus on Evelyn Waugh, Agatha Christie, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, before heading to Jamaica Inn, where we enjoy a traditional pub lunch.

Lunch will be at Jamaica Inn made famous by the novel of Daphne du Maurier.

Time permitting there will be an afternoon visit to legendary Tintagel and the castle made famous by Mallory’s King Arthur.

Return to Exeter for the night.

A group dinner is offered this evening.

(B, L, D)

Today we travel from Exeter to Bath. On the way we visit Greenway, the home of Agatha Christie. There is an opportunity to lunch in Glastonbury.

From here, we travel on to Bath, where we join a local guide for a walking tour of the city that takes in the main sights. We visit Queen Square, the Royal Crescent, and have the remainder of the day free to explore this gorgeous city.

(B)

This morning, we visit the Holbourne Museum in Bath, which includes a talk on masterwork from the museum’s collection. The Holburne Museum is the city’s first public art gallery, home to fine and decorative arts built around the collection of Sir William Holburne. Artists in the collection include Gainsborough, Guardi, Stubbs, Ramsay and Zoffany.

From Bath, we travel to Stratford-upon-Avon via Tintern Abbey, where we will explore the Abbey’s connections with Wordsworth and Turner.

Dinner tonight will be at our hotel or in a local restaurant.

(B) (D)

Today, we explore Stratford-upon-Avon, the birthplace of Shakespeare. We have a tour of the house where Shakespeare was raised, and stop to view Anne Hathaway’s Cottage. This cottage is a twelve-roomed farmhouse where Anne Hathaway, the wife of William Shakespeare, lived as a child in the village of Shottery, Warwickshire, England. It is located about 1 mile (1.6 km) west of Stratford-upon-Avon. Spacious, and with several bedrooms, it is now set in extensive gardens.

In the afternoon, we explore the Holy Trinity Church, before having some free time to explore the city at our own pace.

We meet in the evening for dinner and a performance by the Royal Shakespeare Company.

(B, D)

After breakfast, we travel to Chatsworth House, with a guided tour of the magnificent grounds, house, and gardens.

Chatsworth House is a stately home in Derbyshire, England. It is in the Derbyshire Dales, about 3.5 miles (5.6 km) north-east of Bakewell and 9 miles (14 km) west of Chesterfield. It is the seat of the Duke of Devonshire and has been home to the Cavendish family since 1549.

Standing on the east bank of the River Derwent, Chatsworth looks across to the low hills that divide the Derwent and Wye valleys. The house, set in expansive parkland and backed by wooded, rocky hills rising to heather moorland, contains an important collection of paintings, furniture, Old Master drawings, neoclassical sculptures, books and other artefacts.

(B)

This morning we enjoy a specialist lecture on the pre-Raphaelite movement, before taking a guided tour of the Manchester Art Gallery. Later on, we visit the city’s Town Hall, and enjoy lunch at a local cafe.

In the afternoon, we visit the Lowry Centre, a theatre and gallery complex situated on Pier 8 at Salford Quays, in Salford, Greater Manchester, England. It is named after the early 20th century painter L. S. Lowry, known for his paintings of industrial scenes in North West England.

The remainder of the day is at leisure.

(B)

This morning, after breakfast, we drive to Haworth, where we take a guided tour of the Bronte Parsonage and Museum. The Brontë Parsonage Museum is a writer’s house museum maintained by the Brontë Society in honour of the Brontë sisters – Charlotte, Emily and Anne. The museum is in the former Brontë family home, the parsonage in Haworth, West Yorkshire, England, where the sisters spent most of their lives and wrote their famous novels.

Weather permitting, we can take a walk on the nearby moors to see the landscapes that inspired “Wuthering Heights”.

From Haworth, we drive on to the Lake District with a stop at the Arts and Crafts inspired, Blackwell.

Dinner tonight will be in our hotel.

After learning about the Brontes, we travel to Blackwell, where we enjoy a group dinner.

(B, D)

The Lake District was made popular in the 19^th century by the Romantic poets, particularly William Wordsworth, who later came to regret this new popularity. He felt that the tourists rather spoilt the peace of the area.

We will join the tourists as we travel around the area with our specialist literary guide. Our tour will include admission to two of Wordsworth’s homes, Dove Cottage and Rydal Mount.

In the afternoon, we take the National Trust Victorian steam launch across Coniston Water to Brantwood, the home of Victorian art critic (and well-known eccentric), John Ruskin.

(B)

Today we travel to Cambridge via Lincoln, where we spend a couple of hours visiting the Cathedral with its famous Medieval chained library.

We will arrive in Cambridge in the afternoon.

Dinner will be in the hotel or at a local restaurant.

(B)

Today we have a local guide for a full-day literary and arts tour of the area. We’ll drive through the countryside painted by Constable, visit Flatford, and take a walk through evocative Constable Country.

From there we’ll transfer to Sudbury for a visit to the Gainsborough House Museum before continuing to Grantchester. We stop here for tea and scones in the Orchard Tea Garden, which is associated with Rupert Brook and his literary friends.

Our farewell dinner tonight will be at a local restaurant

(B, D)

Our tour concludes after breakfast.

Trains from here run frequently to London and then to Heathrow, or you might like to spend a little extra time in Cambridge.

(B)