British Country Tours - Dedicated to American visitors to Britain. Small group escorted tours.

Vestra Travel & British Country Tours

2474 Walnut Street #315
Cary, North Carolina 27518
(919) 424-0642
Fax: (919) 828-4485

Saxony House
Chichester
West Sussex, England
(01243) 776327

BCT: where value counts

"There is hardly anything in the world that some man cannot make a little worse and sell a little cheaper and the people who consider price only are this man's lawful prey." John Ruskin

LONDON PLUS CITIES

7, 10 or 14 day Tour

This itinerary is designed for the traveler who desires to be based in London, but would like to have several day trips to visit other cities. This itinerary uses just one hotel (unpack just once) and leaves every evening free to attend London concerts, theatre or just sample the many fine London eating establishments and pubs. Besides London attractions, such as The Tower, War Rooms, British Museum, and the home of Greenwich mean time, includes the cities of Canterbury, Portsmouth, Oxford, Cambridge, Salisbury, and Brighton. This is a small group tour that caters to the discerning vacationer who knows specifically what he or she wants to experience. If you are interested in English History, Cathedrals, Castles, Gardens, relaxing scenery, good food, and a sprinkling of Roman ruins, then look no further for vacation excitement. All ground transportation for this itinerary will be via the National Rail system.

No road travel and therefore no traffic, no fumes, just a relaxing time while enjoying all the benefits of London each evening, restaurants, theatre, and concerts. Four star or better hotel, centrally located

SUMMARY:

Day 1 - Overnight plane to England

Day 2 - London

Day 3 - Day trip to Canterbury

Day 4 - London: St. Pauls, the Tower of London, and the crown jewells.

Day 5 - Day trip to Portsmouth

Day 6 - London - British Museum / Cabinet War Rooms

Day 7 - Day trip to Cambridge (7 day tour returns to USA)

Day 8 - Day trip to Oxford

Day 9 - London - Street markets and lots of free time

Day 10 - London - Speakers Corner and Westminster Abbey. (10 day tour returns to USA)

Day 11 - Day trip to Salisbury

Day 12 - London - Greenwich

Day 13 - London - Hampton Court

Day 14 - Return to USA

THE DETAILED ITINERARY:

Friday - Day 1: Overnight-plane: Leave the USA on your way to merry old England.

Saturday - Day 2: We will meet you at your London Airport, Gatwick or Heathrow. Realizing that you will be tired from your journey, we will give you an opportunity to take a nap and freshen up. During the afternoon we will take a exploratory walking (or by tube) tour through Hyde Park, down Oxford Street, Regent St, to Picadilly Circus. From there we will head to Trafalgar Square, Whitehall, and the houses of Parliament. From there we will return by London Underground to our hotel.

Sunday - Day 3: Today we will visit Canterbury and its beautiful Cathedral, possibly the most famous Cathedral in England, and the home of the Anglican church. Our journey (90 mins) will be via train from Charing Cross Station. We will return to London by 7:00pm.

The first Archbishop of Canterbury was St. Augustine who arrived on the coast of Kent as a missionary to England in 597 AD. He came from Rome, sent by Pope Gregory the Great. The story goes that Gregory had seen "Angle" slaves for sale in the city market and struck by their beauty, had remarked "not Angles but Angels". Such a people he was convinced should be converted to Christianity, and ordered Augustine and a group of monks to set out for England. On his arrival Augustine was given a church at Canterbury by the local King Ethelbert whose Queen, Bertha, was already a Christian. This building had been a place of worship during the Roman occupation of Britain. Soon consecrated Bishop, Augustine established his seat (or "cathedra") in this place as the first Archbishop of Canterbury. The present archbishop, George Carey, is 103rd in the line of succession.

Monday-Day 4: On tap today is a visit St. Paul's cathedral and then on to the Tower of London and the crown jewels. You spend as long as you wish at the tower as the remainder of the day is your for personal exploration.

The 2nd of December 1697 saw the opening of Wren's great Cathedral following the Great Fire of 1666. John Blow, the then Minister of the Choristers, wrote his anthem I was glad when they said unto me to be sung at this grand occasion. He was assisted by his pupil Jeremiah Clarke, who was to become the first official Organist of the new Cathedral. Purcell's Te Deum and Jubilate was also performed, accompanied by Father Smith's large new organ "esteemed the best in Europe" according to the diarist John Evelyn.

Founded nearly a millennium ago and expanded upon over the centuries since, the Tower of London (pictured above) has protected, housed, imprisoned and been for many the last sight they saw on Earth. It has been the seat of British government and the living quarters of monarchs ... the site of renown political intrigue, and the repository of the Crown Jewels ... It has housed lions, bears, and (to this day) flightless ravens ... not to mention notorious traitors and framed members of court, lords and ministers, clergymen and knights.

Tuesday - Day 5: Today we catch a fast train from Londons Waterloo station to Portsmouth, home of the Royal Navy Dockyard to see, Nelson's flagship the "Victory". From the decks of Victory, Nelson defeated the French at the Battle of Trafalgar. Sadly he met his demise during this battle and you can see the spot where he died. Also available to see are Henry VIII�s "Mary Rose", and the first iron-clad battleship "Warrier". We will return to London during the afternoon in time for those wishing to attend theatre.

Wednesday - Day 6: Today we will visit the British Museum, home of the Rosetta Stone and the Elgin marbles. Our afternoon will be filled with a visit to the Cabinet War Rooms where Churchill directed the Second World war.

Museum

The greatest collection of 4th- and 5th-century antiquities outside Greece, plus superb exhibitions of Egyptian, Roman and Assyrian architecture, sculpture and artifacts, and many of the major archaeological finds and treasures from Medieval Britain and before. It also has the Reading Room (one of the most famous libraries in history), superb drawings by Michelangelo, Leonardo, Botticelli and Raphael, and many other treasures, from rare coins to Tiffany glassware.

The Map Room In 1940, as the bombs rained down on London, Winston Churchill, his Cabinet, his War Cabinet, his Intelligence organization and his staff met below ground in a fortified basement in Whitehall known as The Cabinet War Rooms. They offered a shelter from air raids, a place to work, sleep and live for as long as necessary. Today visitors can see it just as it looked during the war years.

Thursday-Day 7: Today we catch a fast train from Londons Kings Cross station to the University town of Cambridge. Here we will spend the day exploring this charming olde worlde town.

Kings College, pictured opposite, on the banks of the River Cam. Students and visitors alike, try their hand on punts, flat bottomed boats. Our day will be spent exploring the city and visiting several of the famous colleges. We plan an hour or so of free time so that you can explore the many shops, stalls, museums, and eateries. You may choose to take a punt ride down the river Cam.

Picture at left shows BCT guests enjoying a 'punt' along the River Cam. You will have plenty of time to independently explore Cambridge before returning to London.

Friday - Day 8: On tap today is a fast train ride from London's Paddington station to Oxford, home to the university of the same name, and of course, Inpector Morse.

The City of Oxford, home to the famous university and of course Chief Inspector Morse and his sidekick Sgt. Lewis. Today we will explore several of the colleges and much of the town.

The center of Oxford is dominated by the University colleges, the most famous being Christ Church, Trinity, Balliol from a total of thirty six. But most visitors orient themselves around Carfax, a crossroads in the very center of the town. From here stretches the High to the east- "One of the world's great streets" (Nikolaus Pevsner), St Aldate's to the south leading down to the river, Cornmarket to the north and Queen Street to the west, the main shopping streets. The Martyrs' Memorial At the south end of St Giles'. Rather than swear allegiance to the Roman Catholic Queen Mary, Archbishop Cranmer and Protestant Bishops Latimer and Ridley were burnt at the stake - a cross in the road outside Balliol college marks the actual spot.

Saturday - Day 9: Today is devoted to the Portobello Road, London, the world's largest antiques market, with over 1500 dealers selling every kind of antique and collectable. The market is open every Saturday, while the shops are open six days a week. Many of the street scenes here we used in the Julia Roberts movie, "Notting Hill".

Prices are extremely competitive and most of the items offered are fresh, having been brought into London by provincial dealers. The quality of the goods sold ranges from museum grade pieces to the kind of bric-a-brac found in flea markets. At 4 a.m. the first sector of Portobello Road Antique Market to open is The Good Fairy Antique Market at 100 Portobello Road which comprises of 50 covered market stalls in a yard. There is much trade activity up until about 8 a.m. or 9 a.m. at which point the character of the market changes, as the public arrive, many of whom seek souvenirs that they can carry home. The rest of the day is yours to explore at your own pace. Our escort will be available all day should you have questions, directions, etc.

Sunday - Day 10:

[For those clients on our ten day tour this will mark the end of your tour and we will arrange for you to be delivered back to your departure airport.]

TRAVEL Logo

Today we will start the morning with a visit to Speakers Corner - your chance to get your views off your chest! From there we will make the short walk over to Buckingham Palace. If we are lucky we may see the changing of the guard ceremony (This ceremony is weather dependent and is not staged every day). From there we will walk to visit Westminster Abbey.

Nine hundred years ago, Westminster Abbey was a Benedictine Monastery, offering the traditional Benedictine hospitality to its visitors. Today, it has to seek new ways of offering a hospitable welcome to the 3 1/2 million visitors who come to it every year from all parts of the world.

Worship and prayer remain the primary function of the Abbey community. An extensive ministry of preaching and teaching, within the Abbey itself and in the wider world, is centered here. Concern for society and for individuals has taken on a new importance in the complex world of the 21st century. For the greater part of every day, a priest or religious sister is available to any visitors for consultation, counsel, or a priest for confession. Every hour visitors are asked to keep silence and share in a brief act of prayer for the world and its needs.

The remainder of the day is yours to explore at your leisure. Our guide will conduct an optional walking tour (no charge) for those interested guests. Trafalgar Square, Whitehall, Downing Street, Westminster, and ending up at the London Eye. Although the London Eye fare is not included in your tour price, it is well worth the extra, especially on a fine day when you can get a birds eye view of London.

Monday - Day 11: We will leave from London's Waterloo Station this morning for a visit to the City of Salisbury.

Salisbury Cathedral The city's origins go back to the Iron Age, and the Romans called it "Sorviodunum". There was a battle between the West Saxons and the Britons here, after which the place was called "Searoburh". The Normans built a castle and called it "Searesbyrig or Seresberi". By 1086, in the Domesday Book, it was called Salesberie. The site of the castle is now known as Old Sarum and is uninhabited.

The City of Salisbury with its magnificent Cathedral, home to an original copy of the Magna Carta. Salisbury, based around the cathedral, with its neat Close, is full of old buildings, from the 14th century onwards, that are a delight to the eye in this very English of towns. The River Avon runs past the town, with paths and gardens along the water meadows, and being close to the Cathedral makes a great view back towards the town.

Tuesday - Day 12: Today we will visit the Cutty Sark, the Royal Observatory, and the National Maritime Museum located in the London suburb of Greenwich.

The Royal Observatory was founded on 22 June 1675 by King Charles II, and was built specifically to do work which would help to solve the problem of finding longitude - one's exact position east and west - while at sea and out of sight of land. Charles II appointed John Flamsteed as his first Astronomer Royal in March 1675. The 28-year old clergyman was instructed 'to apply himself with the most exact care and diligence to the rectifying the tables of the motions of the heavens, and the places of the fixed stars, so as to find out the so much-desired longitude of places for the perfecting the art of navigation.' Longitude was then impossible to calculate at sea and Flamsteed began his observations in 1676 to solve the longitude problem once and for all.

The Royal Observatory Greenwich is also the source of the Prime Meridian, longitude 0� 0' 0'. Until the 19th century, each country tended to keep its own zero meridian. The Prime Meridian for the world was adopted in 1884, at the International Meridian Conference in Washington DC. Twenty-five countries were represented and voted to adopt the Meridian at Greenwich as the Prime Meridian for the world. It was also agreed that longitude would be measured in two directions from the Prime Meridian, 'east longitude being plus and west longitude being minus.'

Wednesday Day 13: Our schedule today will include a morning visit to Hampton Court Palace with what are most certainly the nicest gardens in England, complete with maze. King Henry VIII � he of great appetite for both food and wives! took ownership of this magnificent Tudor Palace after Thomas Wolsey offered it to the King as a gift � fearing perhaps that its grandeur outstripped that of the King's own palaces at St. James and Whitehall, and being the political creep that he was, also wanted to keep his head! Building began early in Henry's reign in 1514 when Wolsey, then Archbishop of York commissioned the construction of a new country residence on the banks of the River Thames to reflect the grandeur to which he felt his position aspired. As his influence on the young king elevated him to greater involvement in state affairs, eventually rising to become a Cardinal and Lord Chancellor, so the embellishments to the design increased. The Tudor portion of the palace that you see today � mostly original � reflects the wealth of that era. Used by Wolsey for lavish entertainment of ambassadors and diplomats, the new house was almost completed by 1525 when Wolsey judiciously presented it to the King in return for Richmond Palace. Unfortunately poor old Thomas was not too adept in his machinations to secure Henry a divorce and he was ultimately stripped of his lands and possessions and died in 1530 � just before he was to be tried for treason.

The afternoon is yours to shop, explore, relax, or whatever takes your fancy. As always our guide will be available for your use.

Thursday Day 14: Maybe some time for last minute shopping before heading to the airport for your return trip home, or if you are joining another BCT tour, this will be a free day for shopping and sightseeing.