IN SEARCH
OF 'THAT BOY', MAGIC AND MYTHS!
7 days - Sunday to Saturday
Fifth
Year of Operation. The Magic Continues with New Sites and Adventures.
What
a fantastic opportunity to visit England with the 'kids' or 'grandkids',
introduce them to British culture, history and literature, while at
the same time discovering the world of J K Rowling and Harry Potter
through visits to film locations and sites and attractions associated
with the boy-wizard and friends.
Quite
unashamedly we've designed this tour to capitalise on the appeal
of Harry Potter to include many other magical works of children's
literature.
Our
memorable, fun-filled and magical tour has it all! Yes, there's
Hogwarts Schooland a taste of riding a 'Hogwarts Express'. There
are Harry's feathered friends, witches and fairies. There are giants
(you!), ghosts, and a flight across London's rooftops...
All
this and visits to the historic cities of Gloucester and Oxford.
You'll see fabulous castles, timeless villages and prehistoric temples.
You'll explore beneath the depths of the earth in deep caves and
caverns and discover, too, the works of other marvellous, magical
writers and their creations. We bring alive through a selection
of visits Lewis Carroll's 'Alice in Wonderland', J R R Tolkien'
'Lord of the Rings', C S Lewis 'Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe', Kenneth
Graham's 'Wind in the Willows' and the romance of the King Arthur
legends.
This
is a fun tour where adult and child can share the experience.
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'Both my brother and I thought this tour was really cool. There're so many good things but having our photographs taken in Hogwarts was top! Even Grandma loved it. My school friends are really jealous! Annabel, age 13
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DEPARTURE
DATES & PRICES FOR YEAR 2009
| This tour can also be taken by family groups from 3 to 12 in size wishing to have their own private tour. With your own tour, you can choose your own travel dates, start on any day of the week and, either extend the tour or contract it according to your own time and budget constraints. |
We can also offer a one-day Harry Potter tour, departing central London that features film locations in Oxford, a steam train ride (on available weekend dates), and a visit to the miniature village. |
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Contact
us for futher details and to discuss your family's 2008
vacation
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Tour
Code |
Depart London |
Arrive London |
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LHP |
Sunday |
Saturday |
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LHP
01 |
21 Jun |
27 Jun |
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LHP
02 |
25 Jul |
01 Aug |
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Prices:
Adult
GBP £1065 pp twin share / Single Supplement: Adult GBP £180
Child sharing w/2 adults £795 / Child sharing w/1 adult £894
A child is defined
as being 11 years or under.
Please Note:
if you have 7 or more persons travelling in a private group
then you can base the tour price on the above. For group of
6 or less, please contact us for a cost.
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Click here to work out prices
in other currencies http://www.xe.com/ucc/
For your convenience, appropriate
payment for a tour can be made in US$, CD$, AUS$ or GB£
to the relevant Back-Roads Touring Co. Ltd bank account, held
in the USA, Canada and Australia. Payment
by credit card attracts a 3.5% supplement.
For what is included/excluded in your tour
price, see Tour
Inclusions.
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TENTATIVE
ITINERARY |
NIGHTSTOP |
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Day
One - Sunday |
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| This
is Harry's city and we'll take today to explore it. Our day will
begin (bt not too early!) with an introductory tour, seeing all of the city's icons:
Trafalgar Square, Piccadilly, Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, the
Tower, St Pauls and Westminster Cathedral. Then to London Zoo,
home of more than 600 species of rare animals. We'll concentrate
on the reptile house where young Harry first learns of his ability
to speak to snakes. Imagine the surprise if one of your family
suddenly finds they have this skill!
Our
final visit of the day is to King's Cross Station where we'll
discover Platform 9 3/4. You can have your photo taken where,
in the film, Harry and other first year wizards boarded the
Hogwarts Express for Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
There'll be some jealous looks back at your own school when
they see the photos.
There's
an optional visit to the original Hard Rock Cafe for dinner
tonight, or to Chinatown. Just tonight, dinner is not included
in your tour price. |
London |
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Day
Two - Monday |
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ABOARD! The Hogwarts Express leaves town! Will you be on it?
We leave London
and drive towards Salisbury. Our first Harry Potter location is at the Dursley's house before we continue on to Stonehenge. Here you'll see one of England's most
mysterious sites, the prehistoric stone temple, before we arrive
at the medieval village of Lacock. It's going to be fun exploring
the 13th century Abbey and spotting which bits were used for
various interior scenes at Hogwarts School. The kids can get
themselves 'in the picture'!
We're staying
tonight near the mystic heart of ancient Britain, between Glastonbury and Cheddar,
where the leylines meet and there's always magic in the air
and the promise of the unexpected! |
Somerset |
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Day
Three - Tuesday |
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Today
is a day of Celtic myths and magic. Glastonbury is, according
to legend, the burial place of King Arthur and Queen Guinevere.
But there's more legend here than simply the 'Knights of the
Round Table'. This is a city associated with fairies and where
Gwyn ap Nudd, King of the Fairies, set up court in the magical
hollow of Glastonbury Tor. And yes, you'll visit the Tor itself.
This
is also the day we board the 'Hogwarts Express' for a ride on
a steam train like that featured in the films. |
Somerset |
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Day
Four - Wednesday |
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| We'll
seek out the world of witches and descend deep into a world reminiscent
of Tolkien's 'Middle Earth', the caves and caverns of Wookey Hole,
home of the Wookey Witch. But we're on a particular wizard's trail
today. It's Merlin the Magician we seek (and yes, he really did
exist) as we cross the Severn River to Wales, land of the Red
Dragon! This was an area well-known to J K Rowling, creator of
our boy-wizard, and places like the 12th century Chepstow castle
and the Forest of Dean must have been a source of great inspiration
when she attended school in this area. We'll explore the battlements
of this fairytale fortress (where you can imagine defending the
castle against the forces of darkness alongside Merlin). Later,
we'll look for forest spirits and have some fun in the maze of
'puzzle wood'.
Our final
highlight of the day is to visit some of Harry's favourite friends
- the owls and birds of prey at the National Bird of Prey Centre
in Gloucester. The question is, will they tell us what they
see... |
Gloucester |
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Day
Five - Thursday |
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| Stand
by Potter fans! It's another opportunity to place yourself in
Hogwarts! This lovely, historic city of Gloucester has many wonderful
literary connections, in addition to visiting Gloucester Cathedral
and the King's School, both of which were used as locations for
Hogwarts in Harry Potter and the Sorceror's Stone. We'll introduce
you to another Potter - Beatrix Potter - and her creation Peter
Rabbit. And you'll learn why Humpty Dumpty can claim his origins
here.
We'll tour through
the magnificent Cotswolds, hearing exciting and mysterious tales
of the area and stopping off to find fairy rings and villages
where you'd not be surprised to find Hobbits! We'll be checking
the locals to see if they've hairy feet! |
Oxfordshire |
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Day
Six - Friday |
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you ready to practise a bit of magic of your own? Today you will
be taking part in some authentic divining in the centre of a prehistoric
stone circle! When the divining rods twitch what will lie beneath
our feet...?
Then to the
majestic Oxford, 'city of the dreaming spires'. Many of the
scenes in the film were shot in various locations around Christchurch
College. You'll be able to have your own picture taken in Hogwarts
Hall, or on the great staircase where Professor McGonnigal greeted
the new students. Or perhaps the child in all if us will prefer
to be pictured in the cloisters of Christchurch, the setting
for Hogwarts Trophy Room and where Harry is shown the trophy
his father won as a seeker in Quidditch.Oxford was also
the setting for a magical book of another age but still managing
to thrill today's generations. You'll see where Alice wondered
through the small door into Wonderland, find a dodo, and discover
where Lewis Carroll took his inspiration for the white rabbit,
elongated necks and Mad Hatter tea parties on our 'Alice
in Wonderland' walk.
You'll also
see where J R R Tolkien (Lord of the Rings), C S Lewis
(The Lion,the Witch and the Wardrobe) and T S Elliot
(The Wasteland) all met to discuss their fabulous tales.
What a super opportunity of introducing new generations to a
wider but always magical world of English literature. |
Oxfordshire |
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Day
Seven - Saturday |
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more great highlights than you can shake a broomstick at for our
final day.
First, to a
miniature village where instead of seeing giants we'll all be
one as we stride over houses and tiny people!
Our second event
of the day will be to visit the caves where the Hell-Fire Club
met. Why that shiver? Surely you're not scared of the spooks!
On to the quaint
Thames riverside town of Henley. This is the stretch of river
that inspired Kenneth Graham's 'The Wind in the Willows' and
we'll be going into a very special exhibition to learn all about
Ratty, Badger and Mr Toad!
What a finish
to our Harry Potter locations and family action tour and what
a day to remember!
Dinner is not
included tonight. |
London |
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©
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! Please
note: this is an unofficial tour and is not approved by Warner
Brothers or J K Rowling!
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