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Historical England ITINERARY Day 1. Arrive at London Heathrow airport and transfer to our town house hotel in Marlborough where we spend the first two nights.
(Airport transfer 55 miles)
Act One - Prehistoric England Day 2. We drive North to the Vale of the White Horse where we begin our walk by following the ancient Ridgeway, a five thousand year old road, which brings us to the magnificent iron age fort of Uffington Castle and the famous and enigmatic White Horse, the earliest of a series of such monuments along the Berkshire and Wiltshire Downs. A walk after lunch leads to Waylands Smithy, an early stone age burial chamber. Return to our hotel by road. (40 miles driving round trip - am 2 hours walking, pm 1 hr walking) - BLD Day 3. Just seven miles to the west of the lovely English town of Marlborough lies the most remarkable collection of pre-historic monuments in England. Our walk this morning starts on the spectacular Wiltshire Downs and leads us from a pre-historic hillfort to a burial site known as Adam’s grave. In the afternoon we drive west to Silbury Hill, the largest pre-historic man made structure in Europe, and we walk along the avenue of standing stones that leads into Avebury itself. We visit this remarkable site which ‘is to Stonehenge as a cathedral is to a parish church’. We leave Avebury and return to our hotel by road. (10 miles driving - am 2 hrs walking, pm 1.5 hr walking) - BLD Act Two - Saxon and Norman England Day 4. Our route leaves Marlborough to the west and crosses into the Welsh Marches. This was the border country between the Saxon kingdom of Mercia and the Celtish people of Wales. Our route takes us through Chepstow and along the Wye Valley where we follow the ancient route of Offa’s Dyke to the Devil’s Pulpit, overlooking the famous ruined Abbey of Tintern founded in 1131. After a picnic lunch we continue to visit Tintern. We continue by road to the delightful town of Ludlow, dominated by its castle. We stay in one of the most extraordinary inns in England, the Feathers Hotel which dates from 1603.
(125 miles - total 2.5 hrs walking) – BLD
Day 5. The famous Offa’s Dyke lies just a few miles to the west and we follow a well-preserved section of this ancient earthwork, near the town of Clun. The dyke formed a frontier between the Saxons and the Welsh along the entire border of the country. In Norman times many castles were built along the route and there are fine examples at Clun and Ludlow as well as a magnificent fortified manor at Stokesay. Which we visit in the afternoon before returning to Ludlow. (70 miles round trip - total 3.5 hrs walking) BLD Day 6. We drive south to the Malvern hills where our walk takes us along the ridge before descending to Eastnor Castle. After lunch we continue to Tewkesbury. This handsome town is home to the great Norman Abbey church of Saint Mary. Tewkesbury was also the scene of one of the most important battles in the Civil War, ending the Lancastrians hopes in 1471. We visit the Abbey church before continuing to the heart of the Cotswolds for the next two nights.
(65 miles - total 2.5 hours walking) BLD
Act Three - Roman England Day 7. We turn north along the Roman Fosse Way. Our route takes us through Roman Corinium (Cirencester), a Roman provincial capital, second only to London in England. Our walk takes us from the ancient Roman causeway before arriving at Chedworth, site of perhaps the finest Roman villa in England. We return to our hotel in the afternoon. (45 miles round-trip - am 2.5 hours walking) – BLD Act Four - The Civil War and Stuart England Day 8. Our walk this morning leads through some beautiful scenery in the Midlands as we make our way to the Tudor mansion known as Broughton Castle which we visit. After lunch we travel to the site of the first battle of the Civil War at Edge Hill. Continue to Woodstock near Oxford which will be our base for the next two nights.
(55 miles - 3 hours walking) BLD
Day 9. We concentrate today on the city of Oxford. In the morning we visit the city of Oxford the in a unique tour of some of the architectural highlights of the town, as well as concentrating on the part played by the city in the Civil War. In the afternoon we visit the superb Blenheim Palace, designed at the beginning of the C18 by Vanbrugh and Nicholas Hawksmoor and birthplace of Sir Winston Churchill. Overnight Woodstock. (10 miles - 1.5 hours walking) – BLD Day 10. Transfers to Heathrow airport for those not continuing their stay.
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