As there are many places to cover in a day, I decided to join Evans Evans day tour from London Victoria. I purchased the tour online at the cost of £69 (admission fees included) but if one buys the ticket at the counter it costs £74. Even though it is still spring, I was surprised to see the huge crowd waiting at the gate of Victoria Coach Station. Naturally, the tour bus was full! The tour guide conducted the tour bilingually: English and Spanish.
The first stop was at Warwick Castle in Warwickshire. Reputed to be the 2nd most beautiful castle in UK, this medieval castle was built by William the Conqueror in 1068. From 1088, the castle belonged to Earl of Warwick as a s symbol of his power. It had been used before to hold prisoners and in the 15th century, King Edward IV was imprisoned here by Richard Neville, "Warwick the Kingmaker". From 1759 to 1978, it belonged to Greville family who converted the castle to a country house. Later, it was sold to the Tussaud group. Today, the castle is a famous day outing spot for family especially for kids. There are medieval markets around the castle complete with tents and actors and actresses wearing the traditional clothes of the bygone era as commoners or as Queen Victoria and Elizabeth I. For the kids, there are Knight and Archery schools, caricatures and face painting . At scheduled time, there are jousting event, trebuchet demonstration, Birds of Prey display and Warwick warriors show(fighting event). It is very commercialized and one needs to spend a day to fully enjoy the castle. Because I am following tour, I had limited time and only able to visit the Great Hall and State Rooms, Chapel, Kingmaker (with wax models that display the life in Warwick Castle in medieval period), Secrets and Scandals of Royal Weekend Party (wax models displaying high society social life), the Mound and the Riverbank. Soon, I had to rush back to the bus parking area.
Next, the bus drove to Straford upon Avon to visit the Shakespeare House. It is really a very small Tudor house where Shakespeare was born in 1564 and he spent his childhood here. The crowd was immense, causing delay in entrance. William Shakespeare, no doubt is one of the most brilliant writer in history. He had introduced many words and sayings into English literature and we may have been quoting his words daily without realizing it. William's father was a successful glove maker and the small house by past standard was considered a symbol of a wealthy family. After finishing the tour of the house, one can sit in the garden to watch how actors enacting the scenes from Shakespeare play. Unfortunately, I was hard pressed for time. I tried to explore the Stratford town to look for the the Holy Trinity church where Shakespeare was buried. I got a bit lost and had to rush back to the bus again before manage to do much sightseeing in the town. Bought a packet of rum and raisins fudge to eat in the bus but the taste is still inferior to the fudge in Scotland.
The bus weaved its way through the Cotswold where there are beautiful thatched cottages. To tatch a roof, the cost is about £25000-£75000 and it may take few months time. Roof thatching is a dying art. We stopped at the Great Tew village for a short while before heading towards Oxford.
The last stop was at the Oxford. Visitors are allowed to enter Christ Church with a fee. Inside Christchurch is the Meadow Building, Dining Hall with famous Alice window, college and student accomodation and Anglican cathedral. Inside, the tour guide lead us past the All Souls College (the only college with no students), Brasenose College, Radcliffe Rotunda (a place where studenst bring books from library to read here), the reknown Bodleian library (with evergrowing massive collection of original copy of books) and Sheldonian theatre. We had a peak into the Exeter College before walking back towards Ashmolean Museum to board the bus. Managed to shop for groceries in Tesco while waiting for bus.
Back in London, I meandered my ways through the Buckingham palace park and St James park to reach Leichester Square and Chinatown. London was jam packed with people that day. I have bought ticket online to watch Mamma Mia musical in Prince of Wales theatre. It was a fun-filled and entertaining musical but I had to leave near the ending to catch my last train back to Earlswood. I had to take atube from Piccadily Circus to Victoria station but I missed the train by 2 minutes :( No choice but to board the train to Redhill and take a cab from there. At the late hours, no more Metro bus service...Nevertheless, it was a great day with time well spent :)
The first stop was at Warwick Castle in Warwickshire. Reputed to be the 2nd most beautiful castle in UK, this medieval castle was built by William the Conqueror in 1068. From 1088, the castle belonged to Earl of Warwick as a s symbol of his power. It had been used before to hold prisoners and in the 15th century, King Edward IV was imprisoned here by Richard Neville, "Warwick the Kingmaker". From 1759 to 1978, it belonged to Greville family who converted the castle to a country house. Later, it was sold to the Tussaud group. Today, the castle is a famous day outing spot for family especially for kids. There are medieval markets around the castle complete with tents and actors and actresses wearing the traditional clothes of the bygone era as commoners or as Queen Victoria and Elizabeth I. For the kids, there are Knight and Archery schools, caricatures and face painting . At scheduled time, there are jousting event, trebuchet demonstration, Birds of Prey display and Warwick warriors show(fighting event). It is very commercialized and one needs to spend a day to fully enjoy the castle. Because I am following tour, I had limited time and only able to visit the Great Hall and State Rooms, Chapel, Kingmaker (with wax models that display the life in Warwick Castle in medieval period), Secrets and Scandals of Royal Weekend Party (wax models displaying high society social life), the Mound and the Riverbank. Soon, I had to rush back to the bus parking area.
Next, the bus drove to Straford upon Avon to visit the Shakespeare House. It is really a very small Tudor house where Shakespeare was born in 1564 and he spent his childhood here. The crowd was immense, causing delay in entrance. William Shakespeare, no doubt is one of the most brilliant writer in history. He had introduced many words and sayings into English literature and we may have been quoting his words daily without realizing it. William's father was a successful glove maker and the small house by past standard was considered a symbol of a wealthy family. After finishing the tour of the house, one can sit in the garden to watch how actors enacting the scenes from Shakespeare play. Unfortunately, I was hard pressed for time. I tried to explore the Stratford town to look for the the Holy Trinity church where Shakespeare was buried. I got a bit lost and had to rush back to the bus again before manage to do much sightseeing in the town. Bought a packet of rum and raisins fudge to eat in the bus but the taste is still inferior to the fudge in Scotland.
The bus weaved its way through the Cotswold where there are beautiful thatched cottages. To tatch a roof, the cost is about £25000-£75000 and it may take few months time. Roof thatching is a dying art. We stopped at the Great Tew village for a short while before heading towards Oxford.
The last stop was at the Oxford. Visitors are allowed to enter Christ Church with a fee. Inside Christchurch is the Meadow Building, Dining Hall with famous Alice window, college and student accomodation and Anglican cathedral. Inside, the tour guide lead us past the All Souls College (the only college with no students), Brasenose College, Radcliffe Rotunda (a place where studenst bring books from library to read here), the reknown Bodleian library (with evergrowing massive collection of original copy of books) and Sheldonian theatre. We had a peak into the Exeter College before walking back towards Ashmolean Museum to board the bus. Managed to shop for groceries in Tesco while waiting for bus.
Back in London, I meandered my ways through the Buckingham palace park and St James park to reach Leichester Square and Chinatown. London was jam packed with people that day. I have bought ticket online to watch Mamma Mia musical in Prince of Wales theatre. It was a fun-filled and entertaining musical but I had to leave near the ending to catch my last train back to Earlswood. I had to take atube from Piccadily Circus to Victoria station but I missed the train by 2 minutes :( No choice but to board the train to Redhill and take a cab from there. At the late hours, no more Metro bus service...Nevertheless, it was a great day with time well spent :)
Shakespeare house
The Cotswold
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