MT thames valley

Royalty, Writers and The River
(The Thames Valley)
Mini-Tour - Three days / Two nights

With the exception of Windsor, most tourists miss seeing an area that's effectively just under London's nose! And what they miss! And why waste time and money taking individual day tours from London when you could sample some of the local countryside using your time and money so much more effectively?

Here, alongside the great river Thames, you'll find fantastic hidden history, attractive riverside villages, beautiful scenery, ancient churches, stately homes, magnificent gardens and thousand year old pubs. Unsurprisingly, with major film studios and the Prime Minister's country residence here, many celebrities and VIPs choose to live in the area. And there must be something in the water given the incredible number of writers who've made the region their home.

This is a super three days, ideal for anyone wanting a brief look at a timeless England, and as a perfect antidote to the big city downstream!

TENTATIVE ITINERARY	NIGHTSTOP

DAY ONE - FRIDAY
We leave London, following the old Roman road west through some of London's most interesting multi-ethnic areas, perhaps stopping en route to visit one of the magnificent Asian temples spring up in West London. We don't have to travel far before we're finding history and timeless English culture with our first port of call being the lovely Chiltern Hills. This area of the English countryside is close to London, but still remains relatively undiscovered. We'll see canals and barges, visit poet John Milton's 17th Century cottage and see the original Quaker meeting place of William Penn, founder of Pennsylvania. Penn and his family are buried here and nearby we will also find a barn made from the wood of 'The Mayflower'. Following lunch in a 1000-year-old pub, we'll discover where Thomas Grey wrote his famed 'Elegy in a Country Churchyard'. Then we'll visit one of the area's stately homes (either the Astor's Cliveden or Disraeli's Hughenden Manor) before having some time in the antique shops, local museum and tearooms of the unspoiled 17th century Amersham or Beaconsfield.	The Chiltern Hills
DAY TWO - SATURDAY
Old Father Thames winds lazily through the south Oxford countryside and beside it sits some of the prettiest villages in the country - and so many with literary connections. We'll visit Marlow, with its amazing bridge, and see where Mary Shelly wrote 'Frankenstein' and Enid Blyton's thatched cottage. Then there's Henley on Thames, home of the society Regatta, and where Beatle George Harrison chose to live. And further up-stream we have Pangbourne, where Kenneth Graham set 'Wind in the Willows'. Each of these villages boasts its own charm and there'll be free-time to explore a little. An undoubted highlight of the day will be the thatched village of Dorchester, where it's 11th century Abbey reminds us that this was a town once at the centre of ancient life. With lunch at a riverside inn, and perhaps the opportunity of boating on the river, we're in for a perfect day!	The Chiltern Hills
DAY THREE - SUNDAY
We could not follow the River Thames and miss seeing the great Royal Castle at Windsor and the nearby Eton. We'll tour this fabulous and historic palace, seeing State Rooms, the great art collection and the burial place of English kings and queens from Henry VIII to the more recent Queen Mother, Queen Elizabeth. The majority of tourists simply see Windsor and miss so much of the surrounding attractions and countryside, but not you on your Back-Roads Touring Co. Ltd tour! We'll also be seeing a Gothic Victorian college, the very touching RAF hill-top Memorial to the missing airmen of the Second World War, and from where you'll get a magnificent view over the surrounding countryside, and Runnymeade, site of the signing of the Magna Carta. We'll complete our tour of writers, royalty and the river with an afternoon visit to Henry VIII's royal palace at Hampton Court and finally make our way back into London via the royal town of Richmond on Thames. You'll have so very many memories crammed into these three glorious days!
NOTE: Includes:three days touring, two night's accommodation with breakfasts and dinners, all entrance fees and services of driver/guide and companion.