England Itinerary

On Sunday morning, Meredith and I will depart for England with the high schoolers. We will embark on a literary and historical adventure. We're sooooo excited! Our itinerary is as follows:

Day One

Depart

Day Two

Arrive in London and drive westward toward Stomehenge, the 5,000 year old prehistoric site. We will stop for lunch in Salisbury and drive west to Glastonbury. The picturesque West Country town of Glastonbury is much associated with King Arthur. We will visit the Glastonbury Abbey, supposedly the site of Avalon and Joseph of Arimathea's 1st century church. We will ascent Glastonbury Tor, once the site of a 6th century fortress and rich in legend. Dinner and overnight in the Bristol area.

Day Three

English breakfast in the hotel followed by a visit to the ancient city of Bath with all its Georgian charm that Meredith and I, being Austen fans, will recognize from her novels. We will view the magnificient Royal Crescent, perhaps the most attractive street in the country, the Pump Rooms, as described in Austen's Northanger Abbey, and visit the beautifully preserved and fascinating Roman Baths. We will drive on to Oxford - famous the world over for its University and place in history. For over 800 years, it has been home to royalty, scholars and writers and since the 9th century an established town, although people have been known to have lived in the area for thousands of years. We will visit Christ Church, one of the largest colleges in the University of Oxford and recently the location where scenes from J K Rowling's Harry Potter films were shot. Later, we will drop into the Eagle & Child Pub where Tolkien and CS Lewis regularly met and read out passages from their books. Dinner and overnight will be in the Oxford area.

Day Four

After English breakfast in the hotel, we will visitMagdalen College, another Oxford College. Our next destination will be Stratford-upon-Avon where we will visit Shakespeare's Birthplace, the 16th century half-timbered house of glove-maker John Shakespeare on Henley Street. The home now serves as an exhibition of the life of the world's greatest playwright. We will also see Shakespeare's grave in Trinity Church. Dinner and overnight in the Stratford area.

Day Five

another beautiful English breakfast in the hotel, we will visit the magnificent Warwick Castle.Perched on a rocky cliff above the River Avon int he town center, a stately late 17th century mansion is surrounded by a magnificient 14th century fortress, the finest medieval castle in England. It is surrounded by gardens (my favorite), lawns and woodland, where peacocks roam freely.Warwick Castle is described by Sir Walter Scott in 1828 as "that fairest monument of ancient and chivalrous splendor which yet remains uninjured by time." WOW...that was almost 200 years ago! We will continue the day with a trip to the Lake District and have dinner int he Lancaster Area.

Day Six

Our first visit of the day will be to Dove Cottage, final home of the Lakeland poet William Wordsworth and where he wrote his greatest poems including 'Ode to Daffodils'. We'll see the adjoining Wordworth Museum which tells the fascinating story of the poet and his circle, their life and work. We will visit St. Oswald's Church, the churchyard of which contains the Wordsworth family graves. From there we go to Hawks Head. From 1779 until 1787 William Wordsworth and his brother Richard attended the local Hawke heard Grammar School. We will stop at the Beatrix Potter Gallery at Hawks Head and visit her home Hill Top at nearby Sawrey. Beatrix Potter bought Hill Top with the royalties she earned from her Peter Rabbit book. The garden there still reflects Peter's adventures there. Dinner and overnight will be in the Lancaster Area.

Day Seven

We will leave the lake district and head forYorkshire, crossing the wild and magnificient Yorkshire Moors to visit the charming villiage of Haworth in the midst of 'Bronte Country'. We will visit the home of the Bronte sisters, Charlotte, Emily and Anne. It was there that they wrote their most famous novels, including Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, and The Tennant of Wildfell Hall. Next we will visit Ripon Cathedral in Ripon. Charles Lutwidge Dodgeson was more commonly known as Lewis Carroll, the author of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. His father was canon of the Cathedral in 1852. During his may visits to Ripon, Carroll wrote several pages of Through the Looking Glass and his word may have been inspired by carvings in the choir, especially the misericord of a griffon chasing a rabbit down a hole. The Queen of Hearts and the Cheshire Cat are depicted in the south transept to commemorate this connection. We will also visit Fountain's Abbey, a World Heritage Site. No other site in Europe contains such a rich variety of historic monuments in one place. We will take in the 12th Century Cistercian Abbey, the Georgian Water Garden, the Medieval Deer Park, Elizabethan Hall, and Victorian Church.

Day Eight

we will visit the stunning Yorkshire coast. We will visit the traditional maritime town ofWhitby with its old cobbled streets, picturesque houses and sandy blue flag. Captain Cook trained as a seaman, leading to his epic voyages of discovery. High on the cliff we will see the remains of Whitby Abbey founded in 657 by St. Hilda. It is one of England's most important archaeological sites. It has been a bustling settlement, a kings' burial place, the setting for a historic meeting between Celtic and Roman clerics, the home of saints including the poet Caedmon, the inspiration for Bram Stoker, author of Dracula. After lunch we will visit Robin Hood's Bay. Robin's Bay is perhaps the most charming and popular fishing villages in the country.

Day Nine

We will drive back south to London today stopping for a brief visit at the University City of Cambridge en route. Upon our arrival back into the city, we will enjoy a panoramic tour of London seeing such famous sites as Big Ben, the Houses of Parliament, Buckingham Palace,Tower Bridge and Westminister Abbey. We will have a farewell diner at a traditional London pub and depart in the morning!

Please join us in praying for travel mercies and for Ian who will be holding down the fort and making it all happen at home with the remaining four children. Pray, too, that the trip is a precious time for Meredith and her friends....one of her last high school experiences with these girls.