Alison Weir Tours

ALISON WEIR'S TUDOR TREASURES

 

TOUR OVERVIEW

 

An exclusive, fully-escorted tour of Tudor England led by Alison Weir as Study Director.
9th to 18th June 2011

This will be the first in a series of tours linked to Alison Weir’s books. Each tour will be unique.

                               

The Tudor Treasures Tour will visit:

  • Penshurst Place
  • Hever Castle
  • The Tower of London
  • Bradgate Park 
  • Hardwick Hall and Hardwick Old Hall 
  • Chatsworth House
  • Haddon Hall
  • Harvington Hall
  • Shakespeare's Stratford-upon-Avon 
  • Sudeley Castle 
  • Baddesley Clinton 
  • Kirby Hall
  • Hatfield House and Hatfield Old Palace
  • Hampton Court Palace



Hotels:
     
          *  The Bloomsbury Hotel, London (4 nights)
          *  Hever Castle: The Tudor Village and Tudor Suite (1 night)
          *  Breadsall Priory, Derbyshire (2 nights)
          *  Coombe Abbey, Warwickshire (2 nights)

Alison Weir's Tudor Treasures will take you on a comprehensive eight-day tour of Tudor England, visiting many fascinating and significant historic sites connected with the Tudors and other British monarchs. The tour will be accompanied throughout by Alison Weir as Study Director, and Historic Royal Palaces' Guide Lecturer, Siobhan Clarke.

The Tour will also include guest lectures from eminent historians Sarah Gristwood, Tracy Borman and Kate Williams, who, together with Alison Weir, often team up together as ‘The History Girls’ for a wide range of author events and appearances on BBC TV and radio.

Guests will be accommodated in superior hotels, all of which are themselves historic buildings, with a number of dinners, talks and events laid on. They will also enjoy the services of an experienced professional Tour Director.

This is an unmissable opportunity for anyone who is interested in Tudor history, this tour will enrich your knowledge of the period and provide you with an unforgettable experience of the Golden Age of English history.

     

Tour overview:

Day 1: On the first night of the tour, you are invited to a welcome reception and included welcome dinner at the Bloomsbury Hotel, our London base.

Day 2: We visit Penshurst Place, the seat of the Elizabethan hero and poet, Sir Philip Sidney, then Hever Castle, the childhood home of Anne Boleyn, where we will stay overnight and enjoy an included dinner.

Day 3: Returning to London, we will tour the Tower of London.

Day 4: We depart for the spectacular Peak District of Derbyshire, where we will stay at the thirteenth-century Breadsall Priory Hotel and Country Club, the oldest Marriott hotel in the world (one dinner included). On the way north, we will visit the evocative ruins of Bradgate Park, which was Lady Jane Grey's childhood home, and imposing Hardwick Hall.

Day 5: We will enjoy private tours of splendid Chatsworth House and Haddon Hall, scene of a famous Tudor love story.

Day 6: We drive south to Harvington Hall, which boasts several Elizabethan priest holes, then spend time at Shakespeare’s Stratford-upon-Avon. Here you will be able to visit the famous Shakespeare sites, including the poet's grave and Anne Hathaway's Cottage, and tour the Bard`s Birthplace by candlelight. Our base for the next two nights is ancient Coombe Abbey (one dinner included).

Day 7: We drive to the glorious Cotswold Hills for a Connoisseurs' Tour of Sudeley Castle, where Katherine Parr died and is buried, and a visit to mysterious Baddesley Clinton.

Day 8: Returning south, we will stop to view the haunting ruins of Elizabethan Kirby Hall, then tour Hatfield House and see the nearby Old Palace, where Elizabeth I spent much of her youth and where, in 1558, she learned that she was Queen of England.

Day 9: We will spend the final day at magnificent Hampton Court Palace, where you will enjoy a private tour of the Tudor royal apartments with Siobhan Clarke, who will be wearing authentic Tudor costume. The Tudor Treasures tour will end that evening with a farewell dinner at Shakespeare`s Globe Theatre in London, and the final night will be spent at the Bloomsbury Hotel. 

Alison Weir will accompany the tour each day as tour leader, and will assist with guiding and questions.