Literary Tour of South East England

Day 1 -  Morning flight arrival at London International airport. You will be met and transferred to your Kent hotel. We spend the next six days visiting the County of Kent, known as “The Garden of England” with its lush fields and pretty villages. This afternoon we visit Leeds a fairy tale Castle over 1000 years old, set on two islands in the middle of a lake and surrounded by beautiful landscaped gardens.  Early evening ‘Welcome Cocktail Reception’ with tour briefing. Dinner and overnight Spa Hotel, Royal Tunbridge Wells, Kent.
Day 2 –Breakfast. Morning tour of Tunbridge Wells including the Pantiles. We drive via Groombridge (The Bennett’s home in the film ‘Pride & Prejudice’) to Hartfield in Ashdown Forest. Stop at A.A. Milne’s home now a souvenir shop to the author. Proceed to Lewes to view Monk’s House home of Leonard and Virginia Woolf until 1969.  Charleston was the home and country meeting place for the writers, painters and intellectuals known as the Bloomsbury Group.  Dinner and overnight Spa Hotel
Day 3 –After breakfast we drive to the historical city of Rochester overlooking the Thames estuary where we walk down the old high street with its Dickensian connections.
We drive through the Weald to the home of Sir Winston Churchill Chartwell and the place from which he drew inspiration from 1924 until the end of his life. Drive through the ancient village of Chiddingstone (814 AD); a The unique row of timbered houses, that contains a village shop, a lovely church, and a thriving school and, tucked away in one corner in the lea of Chiddingstone Castle, is the Castle Inn. Dinner and overnight Spa Hotel
Day 4 –Breakfast. To Canterbury; Chaucer’s Canterbury Tale. The magnificent Cathedral, dating from the eleventh century is the seat of the Archbishop of Canterbury and contains Royal tombs and glorious 13th century stained glass. We visit the medieval town of Rye, perched upon a sandstone hill at the estuary of the river Rother that has watched over the Romney Marches, guarding the coast from foreign invasion. Visit Lamb House that dates from 18th century. Home to writer Henry James from 1898-1916. Later home of authors EF Benson and Rumer Godden. Then on to one of the most beautiful gardens in England Sissinghurst created by Vita Sackville-West in the 1930s around a Tudor mansion.   Dinner and overnight Spa Hotel
Day 5 –Breakfast. Visit a Kent village library and in Swanley with a good general town library. Knole House birthplace of novelist and poet Vita Sackville-West. Continue to Bateman's Rudyard Kipling and his American wife Carrie’s home from 1902 to 1936, reflects the author's strong associations with the East. Dinner and overnight Spa Hotel
Day 6 –Penshurst Place for a private tour by Viscount De L'Isle who have historical links with Hampden-Sydney College Virginia. Gravesend St George’s Church and the Statue of Pocahontas statue and her resting place. We drive out along the River Thames to see the Virginia Quay Monument – departure place of the three ships Susan Constant, Godspeed and Discovery on 20 December 1606. Overnight Holiday Inn London Bloomsbury
Day 7 –Stratford upon Avon the delightful market town at the edge of the Forest of Arden is the birthplace of the world’s best-known writer, William Shakespeare. Walking tour of Oxford including Magdalen College, The site of William Morris's first workshop, University Science Area, the City Walls, Sheldonian Theatre, Ashmolean Museum, Martyr's Memorial, Christ Church College, and Bodleian Library. We see C.S. Lewis's former home 'The Kilns' and the beautiful Holy Trinity Church, Oxford, which was Lewis's final resting place. Tolkien and C.S.Lewis and other friends formed a group called the Inkling that met regularly the Eagle and Child pub, known as the Bird and Baby. Overnight Holiday Inn London Bloomsbury
Day 8 –Today we enjoy a guided city tour of London including the British library. As the historical capital of the English-speaking world, London has produced many of the greatest writers in the English language. London’s long literary history includes writers such as Shakespeare, Defoe, Keats, Dickens, Orwell, Conan Doyle, Conrad, and Virginia Woolf. Visits to the London of Dr. Johnson, the coffee house, and related Romantic and Victorian sites, such as Hampstead Heath and the Keats House Museum and Dickens’ haunts. Overnight Holiday Inn London Bloomsbury
Day 9 –  Transfer to airport for return flight to USA

 

Included in the per person price: 8 nights hotel accommodation; 8 breakfasts;  5 dinners; tour guide; motorcoach; airport transfers; entrance fees to Leeds Castle, Monk House, Charlerston, Dickens Centre, Chartwell, Canterbury Cathedral, Lamb House, Sissinghurst, Knole House, Batemans, Penshurst Place, Shakespeare Birthplace, Oxford College, Bodleian Library, British Library and 2 Kent County Libraries.

Price per person	Price	Dates	No. of Persons
Literary Tour of SE England Tour # : LL5707 Rooms : Twin	£ 1018.00	July 10 2008
Literary Tour of SE England Tour # : LL5807 Rooms : Single	£ 1262.00	July 10 2008

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