Ben - I'm going in a few days early and scheduled a tour to Stonehenge from Bath with Scarper Tours and have an extra day to fill that might be my Abbey day...I try not to schedule any expensive timed tours for days where its not clear when we get back because delays can happen. On the last itinerary I looked at, the day we tour Sudeley Castle only provides Breakfast and looks like we have a pretty free afternoon, but the others do look like later afternoon returns to Bath.
Goddess - I feel like the "orientation" the tours don't quite give enough information - I, for one, love the churches and cathedrals and wish wish we had time for more...some tours might have 5-6 big churches and then I understand they might all start to look similar....but when I get home I love looking thru the pictures and sometimes appreciate them more.
Going thru the reading list - Tauck generally has pretty good ones with something for everyone. The reading list for this trip is fun....just finished "Rebecca" - a classic old school good v. Evil set in Cornwall and my mother's favorite movie so I had lingering memories mixed in... Just started "Shell Seekers" which I think I read decades ago, but am enjoying again. Really excited for this trip!
I now have my summer reading list. We are not scheduled to go until September. Coming in early and have a couple of free days. On our arrival day we are planning to go to the Bath Abbey for a tower tour. The next day we are heading to London to see Buckingham Palace state rooms and East Wing as well as Westminster Abbey. Then we have an a yet to be scheduled free day which happens to correspond to the start of the Jane Austen Festival in Bath. We may watch the promenade or may head to Bradford on Avon or head to Salisbury to see the cathedral. If it is a warm day we may just walk to Bathampton for lunch at the St George's Inn or kayak on the Avon. On the day the tour begins at 2PM, which happens to be a Sunday, the day starts with a visit to the Roman Baths, then grab a classic Sunday Roast lunch before meeting up with the tour. There are free Mayors tours in Bath most days of the week. I assume that the classical one will be similar to the Tauck Bath tour on Day 1.
I’m arriving 2 days early and heading to the Bath Abbey the first day and the next day to Stonehenge. I try not to overly plan my early days because I’m fighting the time change and don’t want to wear myself out before the tour starts.
Jane, if you have time I highly recommend the roman baths. On the ESW tour we had lunch upstairs in the pump room (excellent) and then a couple of hours down in the actual baths with hand held guide units. If you're interested in roman history there's a ton to see and read about there. Stonehenge is worth seeing but you can't get up close to the stones which some find annoying. They also had hand held audio guides and the visitor center also seemed to have interesting exhibits but we didn't have enough time to see them. Enjoy.
Comments
Ben - I'm going in a few days early and scheduled a tour to Stonehenge from Bath with Scarper Tours and have an extra day to fill that might be my Abbey day...I try not to schedule any expensive timed tours for days where its not clear when we get back because delays can happen. On the last itinerary I looked at, the day we tour Sudeley Castle only provides Breakfast and looks like we have a pretty free afternoon, but the others do look like later afternoon returns to Bath.
Goddess - I feel like the "orientation" the tours don't quite give enough information - I, for one, love the churches and cathedrals and wish wish we had time for more...some tours might have 5-6 big churches and then I understand they might all start to look similar....but when I get home I love looking thru the pictures and sometimes appreciate them more.
JaneP - you might enjoy this book - The Gothic Enterprise: A Guide to Understanding the Medieval Cathedral
by Robert A Scott
Going thru the reading list - Tauck generally has pretty good ones with something for everyone. The reading list for this trip is fun....just finished "Rebecca" - a classic old school good v. Evil set in Cornwall and my mother's favorite movie so I had lingering memories mixed in... Just started "Shell Seekers" which I think I read decades ago, but am enjoying again. Really excited for this trip!
I now have my summer reading list. We are not scheduled to go until September. Coming in early and have a couple of free days. On our arrival day we are planning to go to the Bath Abbey for a tower tour. The next day we are heading to London to see Buckingham Palace state rooms and East Wing as well as Westminster Abbey. Then we have an a yet to be scheduled free day which happens to correspond to the start of the Jane Austen Festival in Bath. We may watch the promenade or may head to Bradford on Avon or head to Salisbury to see the cathedral. If it is a warm day we may just walk to Bathampton for lunch at the St George's Inn or kayak on the Avon. On the day the tour begins at 2PM, which happens to be a Sunday, the day starts with a visit to the Roman Baths, then grab a classic Sunday Roast lunch before meeting up with the tour. There are free Mayors tours in Bath most days of the week. I assume that the classical one will be similar to the Tauck Bath tour on Day 1.
I’m arriving 2 days early and heading to the Bath Abbey the first day and the next day to Stonehenge. I try not to overly plan my early days because I’m fighting the time change and don’t want to wear myself out before the tour starts.
Jane, if you have time I highly recommend the roman baths. On the ESW tour we had lunch upstairs in the pump room (excellent) and then a couple of hours down in the actual baths with hand held guide units. If you're interested in roman history there's a ton to see and read about there. Stonehenge is worth seeing but you can't get up close to the stones which some find annoying. They also had hand held audio guides and the visitor center also seemed to have interesting exhibits but we didn't have enough time to see them. Enjoy.