London End to End Walk
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London End to End Walk Travel Your tour will start at 10.30 at Surbiton Railway Station. Please make your own way here and meet your tour manager outside the ticket barriers. Your tour will then start from here. Surbiton Railway Station: Victoria Road Surbiton KT6 4PE On your first night you will stay at the Richmond Hill Hotel, Richmond. 144-150 Richmond Hill Richmond-upon-Thames Surrey, TW10 6RW Tel: +44 (0) 20 8940 2247. E-mail: [email protected] For your second night you will be staying at the Boutique Alma Hotel, Wandsworth. 499 Old York Road Wandsworth, SW18 1TF Tel: 020 8870 2537. Email: [email protected] On your third and final night you will be staying at the Doubletree by Hilton London Docklands Riverside, Rotherhithe. Please note that on the final day you will be dropped off at this hotel to collect your luggage at approx. 17.00. 265 Rotherhithe Street, London, SE16 5HW, United Kingdom TEL: 0207 231 1001 Accommodation Richmond Hill Hotel, Richmond Located close to Richmond Royal Park, the four-star Richmond Hill Hotel offers a restaurant, bar, lounge and outdoor patio area, gym and indoor swimming pool. Bedrooms have en-suite bathroom with bath/shower, TV, telephone, wifi, air-conditioning, safe, hairdryer and tea/coffee making facilities. More information can be found via the hotel’s website: http://www.richmondhill-hotel.co.uk/ The Alma, Wandsworth Based in the centre of Wandsworth Town, opposite the station, the Alma is a boutique hotel housed in a classic brick-and-tile Victorian pub with comfortable bedrooms and friendly service from the staff. The hotel has its own coaching-inn courtyard, and the Alma pub downstairs, where dinner is also served in the former Billiards Room. Bedrooms have en-suite bathrooms with bath/shower, TV, telephone, wifi, air- conditioning, safe, minibar, hairdryer and tea/coffee making facilities. More information can be found via the hotel’s website: http://www.almawandsworth.com/ Doubletree by Hilton Hotel London - Docklands Riverside Located close to Canary Wharf and based on the River Thames, the four-star Hilton London Docklands Riverside Hotel offers a restaurant, terrace lounge bar with views across the Thames, fitness room. Bedrooms have en-suite bathrooms with bath/shower, TV, telephone, wifi, air-conditioning, safe and tea/coffee making facilities. More information can be found via the hotel’s website: http://www3.hilton.com/en/hotels/united-kingdom/hilton-london-docklands-riverside- LONNDHI/index.html Check-in and departure from the hotel Your luggage will be collected from the meeting point at 10.30 outside Surbiton Railway Station, outside the barriers. From here you start your tour. Luggage will be transported between each hotel for your overnight stays. On the last day, the tour will finish at approximately 17.00 and you will be dropped off back at the hotel to pick up your luggage. Extra nights If you have booked to stay an extra night at the hotel, this is on bed and breakfast basis and check out from the hotel is at 12:00. Dining On all of the nights during your tour, a dinner with wine is provided at the hotel and included in the price of the tour. Breakfast on all days of your stay is included in the price but meals other than these stated are not included. Special requests If you haven’t already done so, please notify Travel Editions of any special requests as soon as possible to allow sufficient time to make the necessary arrangements. Places Visited Strawberry Hill House Strawberry Hill is Britain's finest example of Georgian Gothic Revival architecture and interior decoration. It began life in 1698 as a modest house, built by the coachmen of the Earl of Bradford. It was transformed into 'a little Gothic castle' by Horace Walpole, man of letters and the son of England's first Prime Minister. Between 1747 and 1792 Walpole doubled its size, creating Gothic rooms and adding towers and battlements in fulfilment of his dream. Further additions were made by the Countess Waldegrave in the 19th Century. http://www.strawberryhillhouse.org.uk/ Kew Palace Kew Palace has a rich history spanning nearly 400 years – from its modest beginnings as the home to a rich Flemish merchant, through to the arrival of the royal family and the ‘madness' of King George III. The first royal residents were George II, his wife Queen Caroline and their ever-growing family. However, Kew Palace will always be associated with the ‘madness’ of George III. The palace was purchased by the Georgian King as an annex to the White House (which sadly no longer stands) to accommodate his expanding family, and somewhere for George III to be shut away during his infamous episodes of ‘madness’. http://www.hrp.org.uk/KewPalace/stories/buildinghistory/ Coach House, Hammersmith With a changing exhibition programme throughout the year the William Morris museum features and explores different elements of Morris’s life and influence. They have a substantial collection of Morris & Co. items along with letters, designs and personal archives that, along with Morris’s own activities at Kelmscott House, drive their museum’s displays. http://www.williammorrissociety.org.uk/ Chelsea Old Church Chelsea Old Church, also known as All Saints, dates from 1157. Henry VIII is said to have married his third wife Jane Seymour in this ancient church, soon after the execution of Anne Boleyn, and before their state wedding. Severely damaged during World War II and rebuilt after 1945, the square-towered church does not look old from the outside. However, a glance at early prints reveals that the church is a carefully built replica of the medieval church destroyed in the Blitz. Carlyle’s House A Queen Anne Town House occupied by historian and 'Sage of Chelsea' Thomas Carlyle and his wife Jane from 1834-1881. A man of letters, Thomas Carlyle was famed for writing 'The French Revolution', the frst volume of which was accidentally destroyed at his friend John Stuart Mill's house after Carlyle loaned him the copy to read. Once the hub of Victorian literary society, Dickens, Tennyson and Ruskin were regular visitors to this home in Cheyne Row, named after the owner of the site, Lord Cheyne. The original Victorian interior remains as do the contents: books, furniture, portraits and personal relics. The house also has a peaceful walled garden. http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/carlyles-house/ Tate Britain London's Tate Britain holds the largest collection of British art in the world from 1500 to the present day. You'll find masterpieces by Gainsborough, Hogarth, Millais, Whistler, as well as outstanding modern and contemporary artists such as Francis Bacon, Lucian Freud and Damien Hirst. They also have the largest collection of works by JMW Turner in the world. http://www.tate.org.uk/visit/tate-britain Tate Modern Britain's national museum of modern and contemporary art from around the world is housed in the former Bankside Power Station on the banks of the Thames. The awe-inspiring Turbine Hall runs the length of the entire building and you can see amazing work for free by artists such as Cézanne, Bonnard, Matisse, Picasso, Rothko, Dalí, Pollock, Warhol and Bourgeois. http://www.tate.org.uk/visit/tate-modern Brunel Museum Paintings, models, prints and statues commemorate Isambard Kingdom Brunel's first and last projects: the oldest tunnel in the London Underground and SS Great Eastern, the first modern ocean liner. Access is available on advertised days to the neoclassical Grand Entrance Hall, a one-time banquet hall and underground fairground http://www.brunel-museum.org.uk/ Painted Hall, Greenwich The magnificent Painted Hall is recognised as the greatest piece of decorative painting in England and has been described as ‘the Sistine Chapel of the UK’. Designed by Sir Christopher Wren and Nicholas Hawksmoor, it was originally intended as an dining hall for the naval pensioners who lived there at the Royal Hospital for Seamen. https://www.ornc.org/paintedhall Thames Barrier The £500 million Thames Barrier, inaugurated by HM The Queen in 1984, spans 520 metres across the Thames at Woolwich Reach. The 10 steel gates are raised monthly for testing. There is an exhibition with a 10 minute video and a working scale model. Your Guide Sophie Campbell will be your guide/lecturer throughout the tour. Sophie has been a travel writer for 25 years. She is based in London and has written for many national publications including the Daily Telegraph, The Times, Daily Mail, Guardian, Condé Nast Traveller and Saga Magazine. She writes a monthly column on heritage days for the travel pages of the Daily Telegraph and is one of their London online contributors. She has also presented a series of BBC2's The Travel Show, founded a weekend breaks website and lectures regularly on travel writing. Sophie is a Blue Badge Tourist Guide for London and her 2013 book on the traditional events of the summer, 'The Season: A Summer Whirl Through the English Social Season' came out in paperback in April 2014. She lives in Battersea, southwest London, and her favourite destinations are Argentina, Japan, Iran and - of course - Britain. Practical Information Tour manager - Your tour manager will be on hand throughout the tour to ensure that everything operates according to plan. If you have any problems or questions please see him or her immediately – it is often possible to resolve complaints or problems very quickly on the spot, and do everything to help you enjoy your holiday. Tipping –To keep our tours affordable, we do not increase the tour price by adding in tips.