This stimulating and unusual tour focuses on England and Wales, which inspired the works of some of the English language's greatest exponents. We visit their homes, track down locations readily recognisable in their works and generally obtain a flavour of the times in which they were writing. We also visit the amazing book town of Hay-on-Wye.

Splendid scenery, stupendous historical sites, a feast of culture and the opportunity for some marvellous speciality shopping make this a simply lovely holiday.

Tour Code

Arrive London

Depart London

EWLIT

your choice

your choice

Price depends on number travelling and time of year.
Indicative price based on a minimum of six travelling is GB£

Click here to work out prices in other currencies http://www.xe.com/ucc
For what is included/excluded in your tour price, see Tour Inclusions /
Contact res@backroadstouring.co.uk, fax 00 44 20 8566 5457

This tour is available at any time of the year for private groups.

TENTATIVE ITINERARY

DAY ONE

You'll be met at the airport of arrival by your Back-Roads Transfer Driver and be delivered to our West London Hotel. The remainder of the day is yours to recover from the rigours of your flight. The hotel is situated in an attractive neighbourhood of the city so you may enjoy local exploration, or join one of Back-Roads city tours (optional) or take the underground to a city centre area. Dinner is not included tonight.

DAY TWO

Leaving London, we take the relatively short drive to the Chartwell home of Winston Spencer Churchill. While the great man is often remembered as a wartime leader, it is often forgotten that he was also a Nobel Prize winner for literature. Here in his study one can almost smell the cigar smoke. The home also has interesting exhibits of his watercolours and wartime memories. Our next major stop of the day will be maritime Rochester where, in addition to visiting the Charles Dickens centre and story locations, we'll also be visiting the 12th-century castle and England's first Norman cathedral. For book collectors this ancient but intimate city also boasts a couple of fine antiquarian and used bookstores. We leave Rochester and drive through the lovely Kent countryside to our overnight accommodation stop at Royal Tunbridge Wells.

DAY THREE

Three great authors, England’s most magnificent garden, the famed Georgian Pantiles of Royal Tunbridge, and some of the prettiest landscape provide today's highlights. Our first stop is the home and garden of writer Harold Nicholson and his wife Vita Sackville-West at Sissinghurst. The planned and formal gardens are justifiably world renowned but the old castle and Nicholson's study will enthral. Next we'll visit the old oast house and hop farm, called Bateman's, lived in by Rudyard Kipling at Burwash. The surrounding countryside inspired 'Puck of Pook Hill' but the house is redolent with memories of Kipling's time in India and of the items, which make both the 'Jungle Book' and his magnificent patriotic verse come alive. In the same area, we'll visit Knole House where Virginia Woolf wrote 'Orlando', and last but not least, A A Milne's 'Winnie the Pooh' land at Ashdown Forest!

DAY FOUR

We cross the county of Sussex and into Jane Austen country with a visit to her home at Chawton. Later, we visit England's first Saxon capital where we'll visit Austen's tomb, see King Arthur's Round Table and if time permits, take the 'Wayfarer's Dole' at a mediaeval monastery. Our night stop tonight is in the Salisbury area.

DAY FIVE

First visit today will be to see one of the greatest of literary manuscripts, the 'Magna Carta' in the magnificent Salisbury Cathedral. From Salisbury we drive through the timeless, thatched cottage landscape of Thomas Hardy visiting sights such as Stonehenge (which features in Jude the Obscure') and the mythical Casterbridge (today's Dorchester). We also visit Hardy's own home, the home of T E Lawrence ('of Arabia' fame) and some tremendous country pubs.

DAY SIX

'A tale of two cities' might be an apt way to describe today. The Georgian splendour and Roman antiquity of Bath is first on our touring agenda. This was a city enjoyed by the social set of the 18th and 19th centuries, a setting for Jane Austen, Sheridan ('The Rivals') and loved by Dr Johnson amongst many, many others. Thence to the merchant adventurers port city of Bristol. It was here that Robert Louis Stevenson first clapped eyes on "long John Silver'. We'll visits Clifton Downs and the amazing Clifton gorge and stop before leaving the city and crossing to Wales. We journey up the beautiful Wye Valley, stopping at Tintern Abbey, which so inspired Wordsworth. Then over the hills to our nightstop near Hay-on-Wye for two nights.

DAY SEVEN

This morning is the time when book lovers satisfy their wildest dreams! We spend a full morning in the used book capital of the world, Hay-on-Wye. Here almost every second shop is a bookstore - and so is the castle and so is the old local cinema! Books, books, books. Everything and anything from the rare antiquarian to the obscure print. From ancient newsprint to long forgotten magazines. Hay is also famed for its literary festival and on our May departure, we spend an evening at the festival attending a personal talk by a world famous author. This afternoon, however, we are introduced to the works and country walks of Reverend Francis Kilvert ('Diary of a Country Parson') on an optional afternoon countryside tour to the market city of Brecon.

DAY EIGHT

Our journey today is one of simply breathtaking beauty as we cross the Black Mountains past romantic ruined castles and on to Gloucestershire we'll take a quick visit to the cathedral and Beatrix Potter's famous 'tailor's shop.' Our afternoon journey is another one of stunning scenery; the honey coloured cottages of the Cotswolds. Our destination is Shakespeare's Stratford-upon-Avon where we'll visit the more famous sites and tonight visit the Royal Shakespeare Theatre for a performance.

DAY NINE

Lichfield, home of the great Dr. Johnson will be our first stop before travelling onward to Nottingham, home of the legendary Robin Hood. Highlights of the day will be the visits to two most contrasting authors' homes, Lord Byron, the great 19th century romantic poet and the relatively more modern D H Lawrence ('Women in Love' and 'Lady Chatterley's Lover'). Lawrence's village of Eastham and surrounding landscape will leave an indelible impression; it provided the backdrop for much of his best work.

DAY TEN

Today's itinerary takes us through Granchester. Here the most poignant sight must be the hands of the local parish church clock. ‘Stood the church clock at ten to three?’ They do in Granchester as a fitting memorial to one of the very finest First World War poets, Rupert Brooke. We'll also see The Olde Vicarage (now the home of novelist Jeffery Archer) and see if 'there's still honey for tea' at Brooke's famed Orchard tearooms. Next, we're off to the ancient university town of Cambridge with ample time to explore this wonderfully peaceful and inspirational haven.

DAY ELEVEN

From one ancient university town to another as we follow a Pilgrim's Progress through the lands of John Bunyan (stopping off at his meeting house to Oxford). The city of the dreaming spires has been home to some of the greatest of all English writers from the religious tracts of John Wesley, through the inspired works of C S Lewis and Lewis Carroll to the modern day Colin Dexter, creator of the unforgettable Inspector Morse. We'll have time to visit Christchurch College, seeing the walls adorned with portraits of the great, follow the 'Alice in Wonderland' walk and have fun spotting places and faces which later became part of Alice's adventures, see places connected with C S Lewis and recognisable in the film 'Shadowlands',  and also see other film sites readily recognisable from the Morse TV series.

DAY TWELVE

We will meander towards London today, following 'old father' Thames though splendid countryside. En route we've a few magical literary moments to share, such as visiting John Milton’s cottage, finding where Toad, Ratty and Mole enjoyed messing about on the river in Kenneth Graham's 'Wind in the Willows', and seeing book locations from Jerome K Jerome's 'Three men in a Boat'. An undoubted highlight will be finding Thomas Grey's original setting for his 'Elegy in a Country Churchyard' and if there's time, perhaps where H G Wells set out on his fortune after writing 'Mr. Polly'.

DAY THIRTEEN

The final day of our tour is dedicated to discovering Literary London with visits to the homes of Charles Dickens, John Keats and/or Thomas Carlyle. Then to the attractive, but seldom visited city suburbs to seek out where both Virginia Woolf and Dylan Thomas lived and where Alexander Pope ('A little knowledge is a dangerous thing...') built his famous grotto and entertained the likes of Swift. Nearby the great 19th century poet Alfred Lord Tennyson lived. We’ll spend our last night at a West End show or Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre.

DAY FOURTEEN

Today you return home so we'll transfer you to the airport. Perhaps, however, you'll wish to linger awhile visiting more of London's literary connections such as the section in the British Museum where you can see original transcripts or visit one of the antiquarian book shops, or simply one of the nearly fifty commercial bookstores which dominate the Charing Cross Road. Whichever, you'll eventually be returning home with memories aplenty, vivid images of a hundred sites which will bring future reading jumping out of the pages. Dinner not included.

© As we publish full tour descriptions, you may find others offering our unique itineraries.  But, just as you find when others sing the songs of Paul McCartney, they're often not quite as good as when sung by the original composer!