Literary tour of England

E&M Travel, Online Agency. Upscale vacations for discerned traveler.

   E&M Travel
Division of EMCO Travel, LLC.
                     Since 1993

You read the book - now have it come alive!

This is a feast for the bookworm, the literary-minded and simply those who enjoy seeing and learning about a country, not just 'photographing the sites' from a bus window. Here's the plot. Our knowledgeable and entertaining guide takes you, and just 10 or so others, through some of the UK's prettiest landscapes, visiting author's homes, literary museums, towns and villages where stories are set, and places that obviously inspired the artist's muse.

Naturally, as it is a Back-Roads Touring Co. tour, you'll be seeing sites the regular tourists miss, in parts of the country often

neglected by the standard tour itineraries. And, even more importantly, you'll be meeting the locals.

We hope that by the end of our seven days you'll not only have had your favourite stories leap off the page, and understand their authors and backgrounds better, but also have been introduced to a few new classic writers who might have escaped your attention. This will be a tour with a tail as well as a tale if it leaves you with some future reading pleasure.

The tour departs from London and completes in Manchester.

DEPARTURE DATES & PRICES FOR YEAR 2009

Tour Code	Depart London	Return Manchester
LINS	*Saturday*	*Friday*
LINS 01	16 May	20 May
LINS 02	25 Jul	31 Jul
LINS 03	19 Sep	25 Sep

Price: GBP £1055 pp twin share / GBP £1095 single room

What your tour price includes

Your accommodation for 6 nights while on the tour is included in your tour price, and this includes both full breakfasts and dinners
Your price also includes all entrance fees to attractions, transportation, services of driver/guide-companion and all taxes and tips other than those you may wish to give your guide
Airport transfers and accommodation pre and post tour are not included but can be reserved at a specially discounted price.

Click here to work out prices in other currencies http://www.xe.com/ucc/

Contact info@mytravelfind.com , phone 877-466-2934

TENTATIVE ITINERARY	NIGHTSTOP

DAY ONE
Our route from London follows the river, first through Deptford. This was the suburb of Samuel Pepys, and where Elizabethan playwright, Christopher Marlow, was murdered in a pub. It's a rare opportunity of seeing an 'old' London and a 'real' high street and one can still easily imagine we're aboard a stagecoach from Charles Dickens time heading with Mr Pickwick to Rochester. Fittingly, it is Dickens's Rochester that provides our next stop. This gem of a city, with its cathedral and Norman castle, overflows with Dickens's sites. There are plaques on the places mentioned in his books, Mrs Haversham's house is still here, and Dickens's himself lived here. Our third major site of the day is Knole. This interesting and grand house, the birth place of Vita Sackville West, was her inspiration for 'The Edwardian'. It was also the setting for Virginia Wolf's novel 'Orlando'.	Kent
DAY TWO
We'll start our day exploring more of Kent and East Sussex's rich literary heritage. We can choose from a range of sites and properties according to the interest of tour participants. In the Ashdown Forest we find the home of Winnie the Pooh and creator A A Milne. There'll be time for a game of 'pooh sticks' on the original bridge. Fans of Arthur Conan Doyle and his timeless creation, 'Sherlock Holmes', will not be disappointed as we find a number of related sites. And if there are Kipling fans aboard, we can find the time to view his home of Batemans nearby Burwash. Leaving east Sussex we take a scenic cross country route to Jane Austen country, with her home at Chawton being our destination. It was in this quaint village that she wrote most of her works and once inside the house, we are in her world. Time, and group interest permitting, we may also see the Selbourne home of Gilbert White, the first great naturalist.	Hampshire
DAY THREE
Today is our day to be totally immersed in that world, far from the madding crowd, of Thomas Hardy. We'll visit places where some of the most memorable scenes from his novels were set, like the prehistoric temple at Stonehenge. We'll visit towns and villages that are easily recognisable as the source of inspiration, like Winchester, Shaftesbury and Dorchester. We particularly seek out those smaller villages with a timeless Dorsetshire air to them. Perhaps, unsurprisingly, the area is used as a location for many period films and TV series. One such will be Nether Wallop. This beautiful Hampshire village is the setting for Agatha Christie's 'Miss Marple' films. Also in the area is the 'Cloud's Hill' home of T E Lawrence, better known as Lawrence of Arabia. All in all, this is yet another perfect day.	as above
DAY FOUR
We'll depart our Hampshire base and take the short drive north to the neighbouring counties of Royal Berkshire and Buckinghamshire, through the Chiltern Hills to Oxford. En route, there are simply dozens of sites and attractions with a literary significance. We can discover Thomas Grey tomb and original churchyard of his 'Elegy' fame. Nearby there's John Milton's 17th century cottage where 'Paradise Lost' was completed. In Beaconsfield G K Chesterton conceived 'Father Brown', and in the Thames riverside village of Marlow Mary Shelly somehow 'discovered' ' Frankenstein, and a hundred years or so later Jerome K Jerome pitcher his 'Three Men in a Boat'. Our drive through this literary landscape will bring many legendary characters springing alive from the page. Our drive brings us to the 'city of the dreaming spires', Oxford. This is the jewel in the literary crown. Inevitably, the university colleges feature, having either been where the great studied, or taught. The Dean of Mathmatics at Christchurch College was one Charles Dodgson, better known as Lewis Carroll and one finds 'Alice' everywhere. At an ancient pub in the town centre, C S Lewis and Tolkein, amongst others, met to talk and drink. And, of course, contemporary literature is represented by Colin Dexter and his detective 'Morse'. A walking tour of the city will introduce you to these sites and to many, many others. Depending on the number of participants on the tour, we will either drive north or catch a 4 p.m. train to Manchester. Dinner is included tonight.	Manchester region
DAY FIVE
We depart from Manchester at 08.30. Our first stop will be at the Lancashire cotton town of Wigan, made famous by George Orwell in his 1939's study 'The Road to Wigan Pier'. This is a very interesting stop as these towns are often neglected on the tourist trail. Those joining this tour are recommended to read Martin Cruz 'Rose' as a wonderful and entertaining way of learning about the harsh realities of Victorian life in the cotton towns. Next, to the Lakes themselves and we'll visit the homes of two authors; Wordsworth's Dove Cottage, and Rydal Mount, his last home, to admire the grounds he lovingly landscaped, and then to Beatrix Potter's Sawrey Hilltop Farm. Naturally, as these are set amidst the beauty of the Lakes, breathtaking scenery will be part and parcel of our day!	Lake District
DAY SIX
Today we have a full day discovering and sharing the vistas that so inspired the areas literary tradition. We simply have to use the cliché 'breathtaking' to describe the spectacular scenery you'll be seeing as it is so very appropriate. We'll also see another of Wordsworth's properties at Cockermouth, and tour Ruskin's preserved Victorian home at Brantwood. In keeping with our literary theme, we'll also visit the pencil museum. Did you know that the graphite for pencils uniquely comes from the Lakeland?	Lake District
DAY SEVEN
We'll take a beautifully scenic route through the Lancashire Dales, calling in at Ingleton and Settle, to Hawarth. The dramatic moorland we see en route inspired the Bronte Sisters to pen the novels that are classics of English literature. In our explorations of Hawarth you'll be able to imagine the everyday lives of the Bronte Sisters as you walk round Haworth Church and the Bronte Parsonage Museum. If we've time, we'll also visit the National Trust's East Riddlesden Hall which, during the Civil War, was a Royalist stronghold in a Parliamentarian area. We arrive back in Manchester by 18.00. Your accommodation is not included in your tour package. You can be dropped at either the rail station or airport for onward travel, if you're leaving today. Those joining our Wales, Mountains and Lakes 4-day tour on the following morning will be dropped fittingly near the Knutsford home of Mrs Gaskill's, the nearly now forgotten Victorian writer.	Lake District

Sunday London Extension

Those who are returning to London may enjoy taking our very special Literary London daytour. This day tour covers sites and museums in the capital connected with Shakespeare, Charles Dickens, Oscar Wilde, John Keats, Thomas Carlyle and a large number of contemporary authors. The cost depends on the number taking this option.

Arrival and departure airport transfers are NOT included on our short 3 and 4-day tours unless it is specifically stated as being so on your booking confirmation. Airport transfers are, however, normally provided free of cost when you book onto a combination of three or more tours, and on special departures tours of ten days or more, or on customised (tailor-made) tour programmes.

All tours depart from our centrally located base. You are responsible for being at the departure point by the time designated in the itinerary. If you are not booking into our base hotel, you can book a transfer to this from where ever you are staying or we can collect you from any centrally located hotel where you are staying and deliver you to our base hotel at a cost £15.00. Transfers from accommodations further than 20 minutes drive away cost from £25.00.

Where transfers are included (on tours 10 days and over) they are only available on the day preceding and following the start/finish day of the tour from/to the nearest airport to the departure/arrival city. You are able to have one transfer at the beginning and end of the tour. This transfer is to the tour departure hotel or to a hotel of your choice from your airport of arrival in the city from which your tour begins. You are responsible for notifying us of your arrival information no later than six weeks prior to arrival date or you do not qualify for a free airport transfer. Transfers are not provided from rail stations and you have to make your way independently to the departure hotel. If your initial transfer is not to the tour hotel (but to one that you've booked independently prior to the tour starting) then you are obliged to make your own way to our tour hotel on the morning of departure. However, should you not have had an initial airport transfer, then you can be transferred, free of charge from the hotel you're using prior to the tour to the tour hotel. Similarly, at the completion of the tour, you may take either a return transfer to the airport or a transfer from the tour hotel to another one in which you might be staying for an extended time.

All tours commence from a major city. Accommodation in the departure city, prior and post tour is NOT included and must be reserved separately.

Accommodation is in three-star or equivalent lodgings. All rooms are with private facilities (bathrooms), unless specifically informed at the time of booking your tour.

Accommodations include country inns, manor houses, cosy farmhouses and quaint family owned B+B's whilst on tour (see Booking Conditions for exceptions). Where not available, properties of similar standards are used.

PLEASE NOTE: the vast majority of the accommodations we use do not have traditional-style porterage (neither do they have lifts/elevators). Your guide, however, will normally be able to assist with your baggage. BUT please do note that if you bring along bags that are heavier than the normal standard airline permissable weight and size, European Health and Safety regulations apply. Under these circumstances, guides will be within their rights should they be reluctant to carry that bag.

All transportation aboard our comfortable 6 to 16 seat mini-coaches and the services of a driver/guide throughout.

Cooked breakfast daily* whilst on tour and minimum two-course dinners every night**. See detailed tour itinerary for full meal inclusions. There is inevitably a budget for dinners but it is normally more than sufficient to cover a free choice of the menu. However, should the group dine in places where the costs of the meals are substantailly higher than the budget allows, particpants will have an option of adding to the budget on an ad hoc basis if wanting higher priced menu items.

*In tour arrival cities - London, Paris, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Nice, Rome and Dublin, continental breakfast is sometime served. All tours on the European mainland include continental breakfast.

**On all tours over four nights where individual short tours are combined, the dinner between tours not included (unless specifically stated as such in the tour itinerary) to allow tour participants some independence and flexibility. Dinners are never included in arrival and departure cities unless specifically stated in the tour itinerary.

All sightseeing and entrance fees to sights mentioned as possible visits in the itinerary, or when accompanied by driver/guide, up to a budget specified by the guide. Tour participants may be asked to pay an entrance fee fro attractions and sights they may have specifically requested that be visited and are not normally included on a tour itinerary. All taxes. All tips and gratuities (except to guide/companion) to outside suppliers but you're free to supplement if the service warrants such.

No Cancellation Guarantee - once a deposit has been made, we promise that we will only cancel the tour in extreme circumstances (eg. where local or organisational circumstances make it impossible for us to deliver our tour). Historically we have never cancelled a tour simply because we have low numbers. If you have invested your travel dreams with us, we will do our best to honour them! In the current economic/political climate, however, it must be understood that we have to reserve the legal right to cancel where the number of tour participants may make a tour uneconomic to run and doing so may effect our corporate health. Where we have accepted your booking, and it later becomes apparent that you might be the only person(s) on that tour, Back-Roads Touring Co. Ltd will notify you of such and give you the opportunity of changing to another departure, or for you to cancel your tour without cost.

Air Fares to Europe. Air travel must be booked independently and the flight details given to us. It is your, or your travel agents, responsbility to let us have this information in a timely manner.

Transfers to and from arrival/departure airports unless specifically reserved or promised as part of an overall tour reservation. These must be booked independently. It is your responsibility to ensure that you are at the departure hotel at the appointed time.

Driver/Guide gratuity is at your discretion.

Lunches, social drinks, items of a personal nature and entrance fees when not accompanied by our Driver/Guide.

Occasional optional evening theatre/festival visits.

Incidental expenses, such as telephone bills, newspapers and room service incurred at accommodations is the responsibility of the individual client. All expenses are settled prior to leaving the accommodation.

Laundry costs and any shipping charges for the return of purchases made on tour, or for the return of property lost on tour.