Itinerary 2020

Landscapes and Literary Lives From Pemberley to , discovering the landscapes which inspired England’s greatest writers

North Lees Hall, Hathersage – the real Thornfield Hall depicted by Charlotte Bronte in Jane Eyre Photo Visit

Overview We read a landscape through the eyes of authors, and the words and stories of their greatest characters stay with us as we encounter those landscapes ourselves.

On this journey which takes us from the South to the North of England, we visit elegant towns, timeless villages and rugged uplands, travelling in the footsteps of Thomas Hardy, Jane Austen and the Bronte sisters through England’s most outstanding landscapes, and experience how the spirit of these inspiring places drove their creativity.

You will peep into their homes, from humble cottages to grand houses, from tranquil rural idyll to the wild intensity of the Yorkshire moors – and find powerful new insights and associations with familiar works.

UK Countryside Tours, Landscapes and Literary Lives www.ukcountrysidetours.com TEL: (604) 899-9249 or Toll Free 1 855 900-9249 pg. 1 Highlights Visit Thomas Hardy’s birthplace and the charming cottage home where Jane Austen lived at the end of her life. In 2017, enjoy a specially commissioned exhibition to celebrate the 200th anniversary of Jane Austen’s death including a hand written manuscript of her last novel, Persuasion.

Explore some of England’s most beautiful countryside - from A. E. Housman’s lyrical and nostalgic recollections of ‘blue remembered hills’ to the rugged beauty of the Lake District, which William Wordsworth thought ‘the loveliest spot that man hath found’.

Discover the bleak Pennine moors which provided the settings for Bronte classics Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights and finally visit , the splendid baroque palace at the heart of the Peak District National Park, the inspiration for Jane Austen’s Pemberley.

At each location enjoy distinctive rural heritage, folk customs and celebrated regional foods, from Dorset cider, through Hampshire’s watercress fields, to legendary Grasmere gingerbread.

Throughout your journey you will be accompanied expert guides who can share their insights and passions and favourite readings from selected works bringing each location to life in the words of the author.

Entry and departure points: London Heathrow

Tour Director Helen Jackson: a professional curator and heritage advisor, Helen has previously held Chief Executive positions at the Campaign for National Parks, and Museums, Libraries and Archives South East where she led delivery of national accreditation and development programs to over 300 museums across the South East of England. As a heritage specialist she has a particular passion for England’s distinctive regional landscapes and their unique associated cultural heritage. She is currently a Secretary of State appointed member of the South Downs National Park, a member of the Heritage Lottery Fund’s South East of England Committee, and is a trustee of several museums, arts and wildlife charities.

UK Countryside Tours, Landscapes and Literary Lives www.ukcountrysidetours.com TEL: (604) 899-9249 or Toll Free 1 855 900-9249 pg. 2 Outline Itinerary: Day 1 Arrive London Heathrow, transfer to your Hampshire hotel base.

Follow in the footsteps of Britain’s most loved author, Jane Austen, with an optional late afternoon visit to Winchester, the site of her grave at Winchester Cathedral. There is an opportunity to explore this magnificent medieval building and its many treasures, including the illuminated Winchester Bible and Winchester’s medieval Great Hall with its famous Round Table linked to the King Arthur legend. Overnight Hampshire

Day 2 Visit Jane Austen’s House Museum at Chawton – where Jane lived from 1809 to 1817, writing Mansfield Park, Emma and Persuasion. Nearby is Chawton House Library, set in a quintessentially English manor house that once belonged to Jane’s brother. Enjoy a private tour of the library, its special collections and internationally important research relating to early women’s writing from 1600 to 1830.

Travel west to Dorset through the heathland of the New Forest to Hardy’s Wessex, the semi- fictional setting for much of his writing. Visit the thatched cottage in woods near Dorchester where Hardy was born in 1840, and Max Gate, the atmospheric house where he wrote his later masterpieces, including Tess of the D’Urbervilles and Jude the Obscure. Overnight Hampshire

Day 3 Travel north, stopping off in beautiful Shropshire to experience scholar and poet A.E. Housman’s ‘blue remembered hills’, and enjoying its picturesque towns and villages, as well as the 1200 year-old Offa’s Dyke, the original border with Wales, and dramatic views of the Wrekin and Wenlock Edge.

Continue north to the spectacular Lake District National Park, renowned for its influence on the romantic poets Wordsworth, Coleridge and Keats. Head to Lake Windermere for a short walking tour. Overnight in the Lake District

Day 4 Enjoy a bespoke tour of Dove Cottage, home to William and Dorothy Wordsworth and the adjacent Wordsworth Museum and Jerwood Centre, which houses one of the nation’s main collections relating to the Romantic movement, and visit Rydal Mount, where Wordsworth lived his last decades. Spend the afternoon exploring Ambleside and surrounding countryside, including Stock Ghyll Force, one of England’s most loved waterfalls. John Keats, after seeing these falls wrote ‘I shall learn poetry here and shall henceforth write more than ever’. Overnight in Lake District

Day 5 Journey east to Yorkshire, to encounter its brooding moorland landscapes which framed the powerful passions of the Bronte sisters – Charlotte, Emily and Anne. Visit their UK Countryside Tours, Landscapes and Literary Lives www.ukcountrysidetours.com TEL: (604) 899-9249 or Toll Free 1 855 900-9249 pg. 3 home at Haworth Parsonage for a bespoke tour of the house, its private library and the village where the sisters wrote the books that made them famous, including Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights. Overnight in the Peak District

Day 6

Explore North Lees Hall in the picturesque village of Hathersage, - visits to the Hall are believed to have inspired Charlotte Bronte’s depiction of Thornfield Hall in Jane Eyre.

Explore further into the Peak District National Park, visiting the exquisite Chatsworth House, home to the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire, and renowned for its magnificent architecture, gardens and Capability Brown landscape. Chatsworth appears to have been the inspiration for Jane Austen’s Pemberley in Pride and Prejudice, a few miles from the nearby market town of Bakewell, where she stayed and wrote parts of the novel. Overnight in the Peak District (or London Heathrow depending on flight times).

Day 7 Return transfer to Heathrow airport and depart.

Activity level This tour has been assessed as Moderately Active.

Mildly active (meaning getting on and off the coach and walking a short distance on well surfaced paths)

Moderately active (meaning walking in the countryside / parkland estate of a country estate – walking moderate distances on unsurfaced paths)

Active – walking up hills, or destinations involving lots of steps, uneven surfaces, sturdy shoes

For further information

Please enquire for pre- or post-tour extension options.

For further information contact UK Countryside Tours [email protected] or

TEL: (604) 899-9249 or Toll Free 1 855 900-9249

UK Countryside Tours, Landscapes and Literary Lives www.ukcountrysidetours.com TEL: (604) 899-9249 or Toll Free 1 855 900-9249 pg. 4