The Southern Counties

Shakespeare's Stratford-Upon-Avon

The birthplace of William Shakespeare and the place to which he returned after his incredible career in London.

The tour includes the family home where William was born, the delightful Anne Hathaway's Cottage (his wife's family home) and the parish church where he was christened, buried, and in which the world famous memorial stands. All of this allows a view of the countryside of Warwickshire, itself steeped in the history of which he wrote.

There will also be an opportunity to see a performance at the Royal Shakespeare Company's own theatre on the banks of the River Avon.

Bath & Stonehenge

The city of Bath carries to the present day the architectural legacy of some 2000 years of history.
The Roman baths which gave the city its name have been unearthed and enshrined in a museum, allowing a look into the intensive leisure pursuits of this far outpost of an ancient empire. Later generations rediscovered the invigorating qualities of the local waters, building magnificent classical style bath houses as the craze for spa towns boomed in the 1700's. Bath prospered, and some of the most beautiful examples of sumptuous Georgian facades anywhere in the country are to be found here.

Bath is a city of musicians, the gifted students of the conservatory playing in the streets, often in full and striking period costume. And if costume is a special delight for you, the Bath Museum of Costume will be an essential addition to your tour.

Stonehenge epitomises the mystery of the ancient settlers of Britain and Europe. With standing stones at the centre brought from the hills of western Wales (a journey that would be some 130 miles as the crow flies, let alone over mountainous land and deep waters), how was this feat of engineering achieved, and why?

Alone and silent, Stonehenge seems to defy the progress of time, to remind us that whatever we achieve we do so on the shoulders of our ancestors, that whatever obstacles may arise, we have overcome greater ones before. A few yards to the south is the ancient and still busy coaching road linking London and Plymouth, with beyond it the prosperous south coast of Dorset and Hampshire; to the north lies the expanse of Salisbury Plain, an area dotted with lesser remains of our far past and marked by centuries of the military training which still goes on (a tank is as likely to cross in front of you as a rabbit!). Yet Stonehenge remains, alone and silent.

Hever Castle & Hatfield House

Hever Castle was home to Anne Boleyn, second wife of Henry VIII and first to be executed. Historically, she may be said to have had the last laugh (though the lady herself might not see it that way), as it was Anne's daughter Elizabeth whose reign would overshadow even that of Henry's for achievement and stability.

The sadness that might pervade a house of such dark history was cleared when in 1905 William Waldorf Astor purchased Hever Castle and began the magnificent restoration which today makes it a favourite visit among our clients.

Hatfield House was the childhood home of Elizabeth I in the happier years before the struggles for the throne and religious domination made her a pawn
in the politics of her half sister and brother and their advisors.

In fact, due to major rebuilding in the century or so after Elizabeth's death, Hatfield House is now recognised as one of the finer examples of Jacobean design and architecture. The private park is particularly special, showing the vision of landscape gardeners who knew their work would only mature to full fruition a generation or more after they themselves had passed on.

Leeds Castle & Canterbury

Leeds Castle is the quintessential English castle, complete with a moat around its perimeter. So perfect it might be supposed that it was a more modern folly, in fact Leeds has been home at various times to a great many monarchs. If castles are the stuff of your dreams, then Leeds Castle is the stuff that your dreams are made on.

Canterbury is an ancient city shaped by its status a religious centre and a place of pilgrimage before the Normans arrived in England. Chaucer's 'Canterbury Tales', written in the late 1300's, desribes a group of such pilgrims and indicates that the importance of this former Roman town had not diminished in that troubled time.

Today, the position of Archbishop of Canterbury still carries the heady responsibility of being second only to the monarch in the hierarchy of the Church of England, a fact reflected in the splendour of Canterbury's world famous cathedral.