Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
ON THE TRAIL OF<br />
THE TUDORS<br />
<strong>Tudor</strong> Monarchs
Itinerary<br />
This tour brings alive the story of the scandals and intrigues surrounding the<br />
<strong>Tudor</strong> Monarchs from Henry VII; his son Henry VIII (and his six wives):<br />
Henry’s children the sickly Edward VI who died so young: the tyrannical<br />
Mary I; Elizabeth I whose death in 1603 brought an end to the <strong>Tudor</strong> line;<br />
and Lady Jane Grey who reigned for just nine days.<br />
You will ‘walk in the footsteps’ of the <strong>Tudor</strong> <strong>monarchs</strong>, visit the places<br />
associated with them and experience what life would have been like in their<br />
times.<br />
Day 1<br />
Arrival at Heathrow<br />
Day 2<br />
Hampton Court Palace<br />
Day 3<br />
Hever Castle<br />
Day 4<br />
Sudeley Castle<br />
Day 5<br />
Ludlow & Ludlow Castle<br />
Day 6<br />
Kenilworth Castle<br />
Day 7<br />
Hatfield House & depart
Day 1<br />
Arrival into Heathrow Airport<br />
On your arrival you w ill be met by your <strong>Ambient</strong> Tours<br />
tour leader and then transferred, by coach, to<br />
your country estate hotel near Windsor.<br />
Check in on arrival and enjoy time to<br />
orientate yourself w ith your hotel<br />
and relax after your flight.<br />
In the evening you w ill receive a<br />
welcome drink and a chance to meet<br />
your fellow travellers, receive a tour<br />
briefing from our tour leader and<br />
collect your itinerary, before dinner at<br />
the hotel.
Day 2<br />
Visit to Hampton Court Palace, Surrey<br />
After breakfast at leisure in the hotel, enjoy some free time to use the<br />
facilities at the hotel, explore its beautiful surroundings or even<br />
venture into historic Windsor before lunch at leisure.<br />
In the afternoon you w ill be picked up by your coach for the<br />
short journey to Hampton Court Palace. During a private tour<br />
you visit the King’s State Apartments, the Chapel Royal<br />
and the Great Hall and hear about some of the<br />
important events that took place here in <strong>Tudor</strong> times.<br />
After the Tour, there w ill be time to visit the magnificent<br />
gardens including the famous maze before returning by<br />
coach to the hotel. Dinner and overnight at the hotel.
Day 3<br />
Visit to Hever Castle,<br />
Kent<br />
After breakfast at the hotel, you w ill be picked up by your coach for the<br />
journey to Hever Castle.<br />
In the early 1500s the Bullen family bought the castle and added a <strong>Tudor</strong><br />
dw elling w ithin the w alls. This became the childhood home of its most<br />
famous inhabitant, Anne Boleyn. It later passed into the ow nership of<br />
Henry’s fourth wife, Anne of Cleves. You will enjoy a private tour of the<br />
castle and view the historic 16th century <strong>Tudor</strong> portraits, furniture and<br />
tapestries. Other artefacts include tw o magnificent Books of Hours<br />
(prayer books), both signed and inscribed by Anne Boleyn.<br />
The tour w ill be follow ed by a light lunch at the Castle w ith some free<br />
time to enjoy the grounds before returning by your coach to Windsor.<br />
Dinner and overnight at your hotel.
Day 4<br />
Visit to Sudeley Castle, Gloucestershire<br />
Pack your suitcases before breakfast at the hotel. You w ill be picked up<br />
by your coach for the journey to Shrew sbury by w ay of Sudeley Castle in<br />
the Cotsw olds.<br />
Sudeley Castle is steeped in history and was once home of the pow erful<br />
Seymour family and to Queen Katherine Parr, the last and only surviving<br />
wife of Henry VIII. Henry, Anne Boleyn, Lady Jane Grey and Queen<br />
Elizabeth I have all lived at, or visited Sudeley. Our guide w ill explain the<br />
history of this famous building and w e w ill enjoy a Connoisseur Tour of<br />
the private apartments.<br />
The tour w ill be follow ed by a light lunch and then w e w ill board your<br />
coach for the onw ard journey to your hotel near Shrewsbury. Check in,<br />
dinner and overnight at our hotel.
Day 5<br />
Visit to historic Ludlow and<br />
Ludlow Castle, Shropshire<br />
After breakfast at your hotel w e w ill leave by coach for our visit to Ludlow<br />
Castle.<br />
Prince Arthur eldest son of the first <strong>Tudor</strong> King, Henry VII, and elder<br />
brother of Henry VIII, died at Ludlow Castle on April 2 nd 1502 w hilst on<br />
honeymoon w ith Catherine of Aragon.<br />
Prince Arthur's heart was buried at Ludlow . His w ife returned to London<br />
where she later became the first of Henry VIII's six w ives. Mary <strong>Tudor</strong>,<br />
Daughter of Catherine of Aragon and Henry VIII, and later Queen Mary I,<br />
spent three w inters at Ludlow Castle as a young girl.<br />
Our guide w ill take us on a trip through time and explain how history<br />
might have changed if Prince Arthur had not died.<br />
We w ill lunch at a heritage inn in Ludlow and you w ill have time to enjoy<br />
some free time to explore and shop before returning by coach to your<br />
hotel for dinner and overnight
Day 6<br />
Visit to Kenilworth Castle, Warwickshire<br />
Pack your suitcases before breakfast at the hotel. You w ill be picked up by<br />
your coach for the journey to Hertfordshire by way of Kenilw orth Castle.<br />
Kenilworth Castle in Warwickshire is of England’s most spectacular castle ruins. It<br />
is most famously associated with Robert Dudley and Queen Elizabeth I. Our private<br />
tour will include an opportunity to explore Leicester’s gatehouse where Dudley<br />
courted his Queen. Our Guide will bring Kenilworth’s eventful past to life and the<br />
explain the work that has taken place to recreate of the original Elizabethan garden,<br />
built by Dudley to impress Elizabeth.<br />
We will take lunch in an historic coaching inn near the Castle before continuing our<br />
journey to our hotel near Hatfield in Hertfordshire. Check in and familiarise<br />
yourselves with your surroundings before boarding the coach for the short journey<br />
to Hatfield House. Here you will be transported back in time and experience the<br />
delights of an authentic <strong>Tudor</strong> Banquet after which you will return to the hotel for<br />
your overnight stay.
Day 7<br />
Visit to Hatfield House,<br />
Hertfordshire<br />
Pack your suitcases before breakfast at the hotel. You w ill be picked up<br />
by your coach for the Journey to Hatfield House.<br />
Hatfield House w as completed in 1611 by Robert Cecil, first Earl of<br />
Salisbury and son of Lord Burghley, the chief minister of Elizabeth I. The<br />
deer park surrounding the house and the older building of the Old Palace<br />
had been ow ned by Elizabeth’s father, Henry VIII, w ho used it as a home<br />
for his children, Edw ard, Elizabeth and Mary.<br />
It w as while she w as living in the Old Palace, in 1558, that Elizabeth<br />
learned of her accession to the throne. After your private guided tour of<br />
the house you w ill take lunch and follow ing this w ill have an opportunity<br />
to visit the grounds and gardens before your coach transfers you to the<br />
airport for your journey home.
E: info@ambienttours.co.uk<br />
W: www.ambienttours.co.uk<br />
T: +44 (0)1636 816989<br />
© Copyright <strong>Ambient</strong> Tours 2010