Royal Day – feel like a royalty for a day
We’ll meet you at the local train station – which is around 55 minutes by train from London (and/or we will pick you up from your the hotel or b&b after breakfast if your trip includes accommodation).
As with Day Trip One we’ll start this day with A tour of the ancient streets of a town. This is an experience for the senses, the sights and sounds of old England. You’ll feel the ancient paving stones under your feet, see the old houses, hear the creaking wooden doors, and observe the old entrance ways for coaches and horses to get to barns and stables. It’s a walk through history among medieval houses of the Tudor period. The development of English architecture – 500 and 600 year old houses – is there to see and touch and experience.
There are also picturesque alleyways, numerous winding roads under a green forest tunnel, the lovely rustic English countryside, a place where the Greenwich longitude line crosses the area, a community organic farm, a local organic bakery, an English boarding school, a classic-car garage, an antique sundial, the Anthroposophical school, the lion that was the inspiration for CS Lewis (the writer or the Narnia stories), a church dating back 1000 years and so very much more.
(There will be no duplication when Day 1 and/or 3 are chosen too)
Winnie the Pooh – we’ll go to the beautiful village where AA Milne lived, the writer of Winnie the Pooh and stop at the shop where Christopher Robin used to buy sweets (now a souvenir shop).
We’ll visit the manor house (it’s not possible to go inside) and landscaped estate where they filmed Pride and Prejudice
You’ll visit the castle and the royal gardens that was the childhood home of Anne Boleyn – Henry VIII’s second and most famous wife. This is a gorgeous castle with a moat and a hanging bridge. The rooms are stunningly beautiful, as are the extensive gardens, verdant walkways and an ancient lake that you can row on in the summer. There’s also a rose garden, an English hedge maze to get lost in, and a water maze to get soaked in!, archery, and during summer weekends, there are even jousting knights – an experience not to be missed. While not at all necessary, if you get the opportunity do watch the movie The Other Boleyn Girl or to read the book of the same name before your visit as they both feature this castle.
We’ll drive through Ashdown Forest, and if we have time a walk. You’ll see a spectacular view of the whole area.
Then it’s a classic English tea in an ancient stately home from the beginning of the 19th century, including a tour of the stately home and its enchanting gardens, where deer can often be seen. There are also huge billiard tables for your enjoyment.
