London, Bath & with will

CHR Travel

9 Days August 29- September 6, 2020 approach visiting numer- From $4982* ous English sites we have not visited on previous • Windsor Castle • London: WILL trips. On a WILL • Thames dinner cruise • British custom tour, we have Museum • British Library two-night minimum hotel • Somerset • Bath: • Roman stays. This also gives the Baths • Tea at The Pump Room possibility of more free • • Manor time than the average tour Farm • Oxford: • Bodleian Library allows. Best of all is travel- • ing with other Friends of WILL who share a kin- HIS WILL TOUR combines ship from the first day. culture, history, and visits WILL tours fill up quickly Tto settings featured in your because the group size favorite WILL-TV programs. is limited! Don’t delay, We take our unique, easy-paced reserve your seat now!

Above: Big Ben & Parliament; at right: Roman Baths Unique tours since 1986 Above: Windsor Castle; below: the flag of Itinerary ing table that will connect us to our London visit on day 8 to Blenheim Palace. We Day 1 Saturday: Central have a bit of free time for lunch and Illinois-Chicago-Flight exploring the palace more. Then on Erin Lippitz of WILLscotland welcomes to our London hotel located minutes Dalwhinnie you aboard our privateFt. William motor coach from three rails stations: Euston, to Chicago where we boardTHE HIGHLANDS our over- King’s Cross and St. Pancras. GlencoeS c o tla@ nPitlochryd night non-stop flight to London.Kinloch RannochDay 3 Monday: London Isles of @ St. AndrewsAfter a leisurely start we head Day 2 Sunday:Iona Mull Arrival- Oban to the British Museum for a private Heathrow-Windsor-LondonStirling #Edinburgh Welcome to England! WeCastle arrive guided tour of its Egyptian Sculpture Hampton Court in London’s Heathrow airport this HighclereGallery before it opens to the public. Hever Wales morning and meet our favorite tour CastleThe rest of the morning and after- Castle Thornbury manager, Victor Seedman. He takes noon is free for independent explora- us to nearby Windsor Castle for a tion. EastbourneWe will have Sudeleysuggestions about guided tour of the State Apartments. what to seeCliffs and Cheltenhamdo. While there, you may notice a French The flag on the 17th-century French writ- Optional Extension Your Tour Host Erin Lippitz, E N G L AND is WILL’s Major Gifts Director Blenheim Palace Bladon Heathrow Cogges Manor Farm 2 3 London Oxford Bath 2 Windsor Castle

# Overnight Stays (# nights) mystery stop • En Route Stops Air Flights Tour As the sun sets and the lights At top: British Museum; at right: Enjoy a private come on, enjoy a dinner cruise on the tour of the British Museum’s Egyptian sculpture Thames River. (B, D) gallery. Day 4 Tuesday: London Day 5 Wednesday: London- This morning we head next door to Bath the British Library for a tour of the trea- Today we head west from London sures there such as the Magna Carta to Bath in the county of Somerset, and Shakespeare’s Sonnets. This after- a city that has been welcoming visi- noon is free and we will provide sugges- tors for two millennia. We stay at no. tions—perhaps the Garden Museum, 6-11 Queen Square in the Francis Victoria & Albert Museum or Harrods, Hotel, made up of six Grade I listed the world’s most famous department Georgian houses like the rest of this store with its many Food Halls. historic square. A group dinner is included tonight. (B, D) We will choose a play and include admission to the theatre with trans- Day 6 Thursday: Bath portation to and fro. The performance Designated by UNESCO as a will be decided on once summer World Heritage Site, Bath presents options become available. (B) some of the finest architectural sights in Europe, such as the Royal Crescent, the Circus and Pulteney Bridge. Expanding our awareness of

At left: near our hotel is the historic St. Pancras rail station, gateway to the chunnel & Europe; below: our dinner cruise on the River Thames Above: Bath’s Pulteney Bridge over the River the Romano-British fusion of Celtic National Trust property, pretends Avon; below the flag of Somerset county and Roman cultures in Britannia, we to be a Downton farmhouse in the feature a guided tour of the complex series, and is where little Marigold, of Roman Baths centered on a natural Lady Edith’s daughter, was raised by a spring of hot water. Downton farm family. Farmed since This afternoon enjoy included before the Domesday Book, Cogges admission and free time to the Manor dates to the 13th century. Fashion Museum, Assembly Rooms Continuing to the city of Oxford, and Victoria Art Gallery. Or explore we experience a guided tour of the The Jane Austen Centre (entry fee not famous Bodleian library, one of the included) until time for a traditional oldest in Europe. See Duke Humfrey’s Afternoon Tea at The Pump Room medieval library; this younger brother with music included. (B, T) of King Henry V gave the university Day 7 Friday: Bath-- his priceless collection of more than Oxford 281 manuscripts. We drive northeast to Oxfordshire. On return to the hotel adjacent to Our first stop is a visit to Cogges the , how about Manor Farm, a Downton Abbey film a drink at Morse Bar? You may rec- location. Cogges Manor Farm, a View of Bath from the Skyline Walk

Your Tour Manager

Victor Seedman has led the last eight WILL tours in Europe. He started lead- ing tours in the 1980’s and has contin- ued to do so while being the Head of Travel, Tourism & Hospitality for the London campus of the University of Gloucestershire. ognize it as the watering hole of Colin that detail was complete. Over the Above: Blenheim Palace; below: flag of Oxford Dexter’s world-famous detective, centuries, the family’s limited funds Inspector Morse. (B) saw the palace nearly fall into ruins. Day 8 Saturday: Oxford- However the ninth duke’s marriage Woodstock-Bladon-Oxford to the American railroad heiress We visit Woodstock and the Consuelo Vanderbilt provided funds spectacular Blenheim Palace built for restoration and she got to become by John Churchill, the first Duke of a Duchess in return. Marlborough, to commemorate his In case you saw the permanent 1704 victory at the Bavarian town of exhibition about Winston Churchill the same name. A grateful England mentioning his premature birth at awarded the land to build the only Blenheim in the ladies cloakroom, non-royal dwelling to be called a pal- we will complete his journey with a ace. Included in the rambling plan visit to his gravesite at nearby Bladon. was a throne for the Duke where Then we have some free time; the he would lord over a looted 30-ton Ashmolean Museum (the first uni- bust of the defeated French King versity museum dating from 1677) or Louis XIV. But the Duke died before Bath’s Queen Square

Physical Requirements Travel in England requires walking on uneven cobblestones, steps and inclines that could be difficult or impossible for those with physical limitations. You need to decide whether you can accept that this may make you miss parts of the tour or stay at the hotel and be on your own. Each of our hotels has elevators. Oxford’s Radcliffe Camera the Pitts River Museum (artifacts are A Farewell Dinner is included arranged by type into a ‘democracy of tonight. (B, D) things’, rather than by time or region) Day 9 Sunday: Oxford- are worth a visit. Heathrow-Flight-Chicago- Central Illinois Victor accompanies us to Heathrow Airport for our farewell An Instance of the Fingerpost by Iain Pears before boarding our non-stop flight — Set in the immediate post-Restoration back to Chicago. On arrival you are period the novel is narrated by four different taken by private transfer back to and unreliable narrators, each with a different central Illinois with wonderful memo- perspective of events. ries of the rich history and charm of MASTERPIECE Churchill’s Secret — Avail- England. (B) able by streaming on WILL-TV Passport. Traveling Book Club Included meals are noted with initials at Already a Friend of WILL but don’t have The PBS Secrets Of series includes episodes the end of each day. on Westminster Abbey, Tower of London and Passport? Give WILL a ring, and we’ll walk you through the activation process. Selfridges. We don’t have scheduled trips to What’s Included: • Round trip motor these locations but the group will have free Colin Dexter, “Morse’s Greatest Mystery and coach transportation from Central Illinois time while in London and may choose to visit. Other Stories”, 1993. — Short story versions • Baggage handling • Round trip flights All three episodes are available to stream on of Inspector Morse mysteries by the wonder- • Tour manager, transportation, sightsee- pbs.org ful Colin Dexter. Available wherever you find ing and admissions per itinerary • 11 Persuasion by Jane Austen — A touching your favorite books; the Morse Bar at the Meals: 7 Breakfasts 1 Tea 3 Dinners Randolph Hotel was a favorite film location and enchanting novel about a second chance • $220 current total taxes & fees, subject in love set in early nineteenth-century Bath. for the Inspector Morse and Inspector Lewis series. to change • Hotel accommodations • Led Bath is an incredibly romantic city and Jane by Erin Lippitz Austen’s novels are the perfect romantic read. MASTERPIECE Northanger Abbey — one of The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens — two novels by Jane Austen to feature holidays Accommodations: (7) total number of nights Dickens’ first novel working the serious subject in Bath. Available by streaming on WILL- London (3) Pullman St Pancras Hotel of the justice system into a comic novel and TV Passport. Or read the novel (the first of Bath (2) Francis Hotel vividly brings to life Georgian Bath society. Austen’s novels to be published), available Oxford (2) The Randolph Hotel anywhere fine books are sold. Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh — What’s Not Included: • Airline baggage fees Captures the dream of Oxford and full of MASTERPIECE VICTORIA — this series is available for viewing in its entirety on WILL- if any • Tips to tour manager, driver and nostalgia for the golden pre-war era. Holds local guides • Travel insurance • Optional the reputation of being the definitive depiction TV Passport. Windsor Castle exteriors are tours and meals not noted in itinerary of undergraduate life. featured in Series One. *All prices are per person, based on occupancy, double: deposit (the balance is due April 29 We include a London theatre evening $4982, single: $5970. • Document required for US citizens is passport valid through the last day of your visit to the and you get a $50/person discount if UK (longer is recommended); no visa or shots at this time. balance is paid by check). Or mail a Other citizens should consult their consulate. • Insurance coverage is Deluxe Group Plan from Travel Guard at a cost check (payable to Rio Grande Travel) of 7.2%. For coverage details see tourgroupplanners.com/ to Tour Group Planners, 363 S Main insurance. Other terms at tourgroupplanners.com/terms CHR Travel has been awarded incorporated by reference. If fewer than 21 book, a small St Suite 307, Decatur IL 62523 the prestigious Queen’s Award for group surcharge of $90 applies. • Price and details are sub- Enterprise. We have worked with ject to change. Acct#200829r 14Jan20 23:29 the same people for 33 years, going Join us from • Decatur • Springfield back to when we visited Yorkshire on • Urbana • Chicago O’Hare or call WILL’s very first tour. for a quote from other cities. Tour Coordinator is Judy or Dawn, email: Judy [email protected] & http://will.illinois.edu/willtravel Dawn [email protected]; call 217-422-5002 to charge your credit card for the $1500 per-person Bodleian Library

Charitable Donation This trip is designed as a fundraiser for WILL, your favorite public television and radio station. The more people who travel with WILL, the more funding the station receives. A non-refundable donation of at least $200/person is included in your trip cost. After the trip, you will receive a chari- table donation receipt to use as a tax deduc- tion. WILL thanks you for your support! Your Hotels Nights in parenthesis shows the length of stay. See numbered photos:

1. London (3) Pullman London St. Pancras 2. Bath (2) Francis Hotel 3. Oxford (2) The Randolph

1 Our hotel, the Pullman London St. Pancras, is half way between two famous train stations, Euston & St. Pancras, 500 yards to each. It is adjacent to the British Library where we will see the Magna Carta and Shakespeare’s sonnets.

2 The Francis Hotel comprises seven terraced townhouses, among the first built by the famous Georgian architect, John Wood the Elder, in 1736. It is now Grade 1 listed by English Heritage. Notable residents of the Queen Square townhouses include Jane Austen and Wil- liam Gainsborough.

3 The Randolph Hotel is in the city center across the street from the Ashmolean Museum. The hotel bar’s name recalls one its best known guests, John Thaw, who portrayed Inspec- tor Morse on Mystery!