This stimulating
specialty tour follows the trail of one of Britain’s favourite writers and
includes the places which inspired Jane Austen, where she lived and wrote
her most important works. Splendid scenery, stupendous historical sites, a
feast of culture and the opportunity for some marvelous specialty shopping
make this a simply lovely and well rounded holiday for the Jane Austen fan
as well as their companions.
Visit Wessex, the
counties of the west Saxons and where English history virtually begins. Not only
a feast as a literary landscape for both Jane Austen and Thomas Hardy, but this
is a place where dinosaurs roamed, where prehistoric man made it his home
followed centuries later by the Celtic tribes, who settled here before being
colonised by invading Roman armies. It is the region of major medieval cities
and some fabulous stately homes and gardens. It's timeless, it's pretty and it's
a magical three days!
DEPARTURE DATES & PRICES FOR
YEAR
2008
Tour Code
|
Tour Code |
Depart
London |
Return
London |
|
JANE |
Wednesday |
Friday |
|
JANE 1
|
7 May
|
9 May
|
|
JANE 2
|
4 Jun
|
6 Jun
|
|
JANE 3
|
23 Jul
|
25 Jul
|
|
JANE 4
|
20 Aug
|
22 Aug
|
|
JANE 5
|
17 Sep
|
19 Sep
|
|
JANE 6 |
15 Oct |
17 Oct |
Guaranteed departures selected Wednesdays. Departures on request outside this
operating season.
PRICES: GBP £360 pp twin
share / GBP £380 single room / £230 child sharing room
What your tour price
includes
-
Your
accommodation for 2 nights while on the tour is included in your tour price,
and this includes both full breakfasts and dinners;
-
Your price also
includes all entrance fees to attractions, transportation, services of
driver/guide-companion and all taxes and tips other than those you may wish
to give your guide;
-
Airport transfers
and accommodation pre and post tour are not included but can be reserved at
a specially discounted price.
TENTATIVE ITINERARY
NIGHTSTOP
DAY
ONE - WEDNESDAY
We depart London and take a
scenic route to Hampshire, “Jane Austen Country”, with a stop in Steventon,
where Jane Austen spent her first 25 years. Next, her home at Chawton is our
destination, now open as a museum. It was in this quaint village that Jane spent
the last eight years of her life, wrote and completed most of her most famous
works, Sense & Sensibility and Pride & Prejudice amongst
others. Once inside the house, we are in her world. Time and group interest
permitting, we may also see the Selbourne home of Gilbert White, the first great
naturalist.
Our next port of call
is the ancient Saxon capital of Winchester. We will begin with a guided walk
around the city; sights include the cathedral, where Jane Austen is buried, one
of England's most famous public schools and the legendary 'King Arthur's Round
Table'. If there is time, we may also visit the last monastery in England where
pilgrims may still claim the 'dole'.
Hampshire
DAY
TWO - THURSDAY
Wiltshire & Dorset touring to
Lyme Regis is today’s agenda. The counties of Hampshire, Wiltshire and most
especially Dorsetshire, are ones where time literally seems to have stood still
since the days of Jane Austen and Thomas Hardy. We'll be traveling through small
villages and towns used by both as settings for stories.
We'll introduce you to a few ‘martyrs’ (such as the trade unionists of Tolpuddle,
and those who died at the hand of 'bloody Judge' Jefferies,) shopping in the
lace and antique town of Honiton and perhaps a stop at Hardy’s cottage and
monument, all dependant upon time and group interest.
Jane Austen's Lyme Regis is the highlight of our day! We'll spend time exploring
part of Britain's 'Jurassic Park' and perhaps find a fossil or two along the
shoreline near Lyme Regis, which was a popular sea spa town and the site of many
Austen family holidays. The town of Lyme Regis looks much as it did when Jane
spent time here, and sites from Persuasion are recognizable.
Hampshire
DAY THREE - FRIDAY
Today, across the amazing
Salisbury Plain where you'll see the great prehistoric temple of Stonehenge and
a landscape simply littered with ancient burial sites.
Bath, the city of Georgian splendor and Roman antiquity is next on our touring
trail. This was a city enjoyed by the social set of the 18th and 19th centuries,
a setting for Jane Austen amongst many other writers; Austen fans will
immediately recognize many streets and squares from her novels.
We will spend some free time here so you have ample time to explore and have
time in the Jane Austen Centre and see the houses where she lived. The settings
for the novels Northanger Abbey and Persuasion can all still
be seen within a mile radius of the Jane Austen Centre. Also a must is a visit
to the famed Roman Baths and Pump Rooms, still remaining as it has through the
centuries and as described in Northanger Abbey.
If we’ve time, we
will visit the medieval village of Lacock which has hardly changed in the past
200 years. With its magnificent abbey, half timbered cottages and greystone
houses it provides a perfect setting. This lovely place, where TV ariels,
telephone wires and advertising are banned, has been used as a film set for many
popular films such as the Colin Firth/Jennifer Ehle production of “Pride and
Prejudice” and "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone". Fittingly, the local
abbey was where George Fox Talbot pioneered photography.
