Sterling Travel

Sterling Travel

SOME HALF DAY LONDON TOURS

LONDON PANORAMIC/ORIENTATION

This covers all the major landmarks and sights of both City and West End of London, but with photo-stops only, no interior visits. You pass Oxford Street, Bond Street, Regent Street, Piccadilly Circus, Trafalgar Square, many of the museums and famous department stores, Nelson's Column, Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, the Houses of Parliament, the Horseguards at Whitehall, Downing Street, Buckingham Palace, the Mall, St. Paul's Cathedral, the Tower of London, the City (financial and business) area, Fleet Street, the Inns of Court, and so forth ... a real taste of the London that can be explored in depth in one's free time!

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CITY OF LONDON

CITY OF LONDON
From the West End, you journey into the oldest and most historic part of London, past the Law Courts and down Fleet Street, formally the heart of the country's newspaper industry. London has been a centre of commerce for over two thousand years and, more recently, with its well established banking, insurance and broking traditions, has achieved a position amongst the foremost financial trading centres in the world; the area known as "the square mile" is where all of the major financial institutions are located. A visit will be made to historic St. Paul's Cathedral, Sir Christopher Wren's great masterpiece, with its unique dome and its "Whispering Gallery", before continuing through the City's financial district to the Tower of London, the highlight of the tour. The moated Tower, which dates back to the Norman Conquest, is probably London's most famous landmark and rightly so ..... It has stood for over nine hundred years, fulfilling various functions as a Royal Palace, Prison, Garrison, Mint, and even as the home of the Royal Zoo at one time! Time will be allowed for a visit not only to the precincts and interior of the Tower but also to see the fabulous Crown Jewels House and the many more historic treasures which nowadays are housed there

WEST END OF LONDON

Today's tour covers in depth one half of London, the West End. Westminster was once a country village lying to the west of the City of London, where King Edward the Confessor built a chapel during the 11th century. The original building was replaced and much enlarged over the following centuries and the Abbey was chosen as the burial place for most of the Medieval kings of England. The importance of Westminster in the history of British Royalty has never been in question - indeed only two monarchs have not been crowned there since the reign of Edward II. After visiting the Abbey, you will then be able to overview the other aspect of British Government, the two Houses of Parliament, located beside Westminster Abbey in the complex known as the Palace of Westminster, standing on the site of an earlier Royal Palace there. From the earliest times, the Hall at Westminster was the central and highest Court of Justice, and it is a natural progression for the "Mother of Parliaments" to be located there today. The tour continues to Buckingham Palace to view the colourful "Changing of the Guard" (subject to schedule)

LEGAL LONDON

Transferring to the legal and former newspaper area in the hub of the City, you enjoy morning coffee in the famous "Wig & Pen" Club, then a tour of the Inner Temple and Middle Temple, two of the four Royal Inns of Court at the highest echelon of the British legal and judiciary system. Then follows a hosted luncheon back at the "Wig & Pen". As its name suggests, the membership is a lively mix of men of justice, journalists, and businessmen of the City. It is housed in the only building in the Strand to survive the Great Fire of 1666. It was built on Roman ruins in 1625 and faces the Royal Courts and backs on to the Temple. You would have real specialist guides, such as a Clerk to a Lord Chief Justice, London's longest-serving Chief Associate responsible for manning the Courts of the Queen's Bench, or the Property Manager to the Master of the Rolls, or a top Barrister's Chief Clerk, or Fleet Street journalist Court reporter. What better way to learn about Britain's legal system and understand its differences with other countries!

WINDSOR, ETON & RUNNYMEDE

Only a short drive from London is the historic town of Windsor with its imposing Castle, overlooking the River Thames, that is the favourite Royal Residence of Queen Elizabeth II. The original building was started in 1080 by William the Conqueror, but nothing now remains of this wooden structure, which was soon replaced by a stone-built tower which still stands at the heart of the Castle. This was added to by kings and queens through subsequent centuries, to create the magnificent complex that is Windsor Castle today. You will visit the State Apartments (Court arrangements permitting) and St. George's Chapel. Then there will be time to wander the lanes of the quaint old part of the town or through the adjacent hamlet of Eton, where Eton College, England's most pre-eminent boys' Public School (private!) is situated. Then you drive alongside the banks of the River Thames to nearby Runnymede, where in 1215 King John was forced to sign the Magna Carta, the basis of British democracy ever since, and an integral part of the USA's constitution. In the Park stands the JFK Memorial, donated by the American Bar Association, and the Royal Air Force Memorial.

HAMPTON COURT AND KEW GARDENS

HAMPTON COURT AND KEW GARDENS
Hampton Court Palace lies to the South West of London, on the banks of the River Thames, surrounded by parkland and beautiful gardens. Built by Cardinal Wolsey in 1514 and later presented by him to Henry VIII in an unsuccessful attempt to curry the King's favour, it has been occupied by many members of the Royal Family since, and a substantial enlargement to the original building was added by Sir Christopher Wren. The Palace is no longer used as a Royal Residence, but still remains as a superb example of Tudor and Wren architecture, with extensive grounds including a famous maze and ancient vine. King Henry's tennis court, still in use to this day, may be visited and within the Palace you will have a chance to tour the State Apartments, recently restored following a dreadful fire and reinstated just as they were in the Georgian period, with fine collections of clocks, tapestries, and paintings. The original kitchens and chapel will also be visited. Kew Gardens, as well as being famous world-wide as a botanical research centre, offers beautiful displays of plants and trees

GREENWICH, THAMES BARRIER & DOCKLANDS

You will travel through central London to Greenwich, historically the heartland of British maritime tradition, on the City's oldest highway, the River Thames. On arrival at Greenwich you will visit the "Cutty Sark", the last of the racing tea clippers, and either the National Maritime Museum or the Royal Observatory which stand overlooking the town. The Royal Observatory is best known as the location of the zero meridian, where eastern and western hemispheres meet and from where Greenwich Mean Time is calculated. Next you will pass on to nearby Woolwich to view the magnificent Thames Flood Barrier, a massive engineering project undertaken to ward off the perils of the sea and prevent any future flooding of Thames, and then go back to Greenwich, where a short walk through the pedestrian tunnel under the River brings you from the historic atmosphere of Greenwich to the contrasting modernity of the Isle of Dogs, better known as the Docklands and famous the world over as an example of stunning achievement in the field of urban regeneration. Here you will board the brand new, fully automated trains of the Docklands Light Railway, which travel on viaducts right through the Isle of Dogs affording panoramic vistas of this stunning development project of land reclamation, urban renewal, and commercial enterprise zoning

CHURCHILL'S TIMES

You leave London and travel south-east through lovely Kent, the "Garden of England", with its fruit farms and oast houses, to Chartwell, near Westerham, the welcoming private home of Sir Winston Churchill from 1924 until the end of his life. The rooms, left as they were in his lifetime, strongly evoke his career and wide interests, from politics and soldiering, through writing and painting, to gardening. Set in a natural landscape overlooking three of England's loveliest counties, its garden features pools, terraces, an orchard, and vegetable areas, much of it the work of Churchill's own hands. The house is full of Churchillian memorabilia. You then drive back to Central London to the Cabinet War Rooms, the underground bunkers used by Churchill and his War Cabinet to protect them against air attack from 1939 to 1945, perfectly preserved, a fascinating visit into Churchill's past

HAMPSTEAD & KENWOOD HOUSE

This visits a wealthy garden suburb area of London, a quaint, arty village centre, "off-the-beaten-track" of the more regular visitor routes, a vast greenbelt parkland just outside the bustling hubbub of the city. You visit Kenwood House, a great Robert Adam mansion housing the Iveagh Bequest, a painting collection of famous Dutch and English Old Masters (Rembrandt, Vermeer, Van Dyck, Reynolds, Gainsborough, etc) and have time to explore the many boutiques, galleries, and antiques emporia of the village

SCAVENGER HUNT

This is the way to learn about London with a difference! After a briefing at breakfast, everyone would be furnished with a Full Day London Transport "Go As You Please" travel card (valid for all underground train and bus routes in the Metropolitan zone area), a high quality map, and a questionnaire containing a series of both straightforward and cryptic clues, carefully devised to ensure the participant has to cover various historical and contemporary venues in London, requiring them to complete written answers and to acquire certain particular items of product from some of the main London Stores. Then the challenge begins ..... which hopefully will lead everyone to a luncheon venue! The travel card can then be used again in the afternoon to continue exploring at leisure. A gold, silver & bronze prize could be awarded either there or at the Farewell Gala Banquet. As an upgrade each couple could be given a Polaroid camera and film, so that they can take a photograph of each site as they get there, to prove that they have successfully worked out the clue!

LONDON - CHILDHOOD, TOYS, MODELS

The present day's state of the art mechanics is visible all around London, but this tour includes a visit to the Toy & Model Museum, housed in a fine Victorian building in Craven Hill, where an extensive permanent display of commercially made model trains, mechanical toys, and nursery items, and a working garden railway, all based on two world famous collections, take one straight back into the days of childhood ... cars, boats, planes, dolls, bears, roundabouts, playbus, and juvenilia!

SPECIALIST BYE WAYS WALK

This allows the general overview of the metropolis but also includes, weather permitting, a tour conducted on foot by a specialist guide, through the "back streets", tracing, for example, the original London of Charles Dickens and William Shakespeare, or the underground ruins, crypts, and dungeons that are buried beneath the streets of London, or the inns and taverns of old London's historic drinking haunts, or the steps of Sherlock Holmes, or murder of Jack the Ripper, or Henry VIII's London, or the Great Fire and Plague, or the Blitz, or the Jewish East End, or a Ghost Walk .... many, many fascinating subjects to chose from!

ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF LONDON

ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF LONDON
This incorporates into the panoramic tour a visit to the Museum of London in London Wall. This presents a visual biography of the London area from 250,000 years ago. The exhibits are arranged chronologically in model- and room-reconstruction form, from Roman times and Mithraic treasure, through the Great Fire Experience, 18th century prison cells, 19th century shops, to the Lord Mayor's coach and Selfridges' lifts - The whole tapestry of the City's history can be traced through everyday tools and rich men's extravagances!

LONDON & ITS TRANSPORT

Modern-day transportation is taken for granted and all forms abound as one tours the heart of the metropolis.A specific visit will be paid to the London Transport Museum in Covent Garden to view the horse buses, motor buses, tram cars, trolley buses, and early underground ("tube") rolling stock of a bygone age, which illustrate the fascinating story of the development and progress of London's urban transport systems and their impact on the people who commute to and travel within the City

LONDON'S VILLAGES & GARDENS - KEW, CHISWICK, RICHMOND

This takes one out to the west side of London to the suburbs which achieved their pre-eminence in the Georgian, Regency, and Victorian eras, when they were villages situated amid open countryside alongside the Thames, with the period architecture much beloved by the late Princess Diana. The Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, now three hundred acres in area, has fifty thousand varieties of plants. Many are nurtured in hot glass-houses, while others are arranged botanically by genus throughout the grounds. The gardens are rich too in bird-life and many of the migrant warblers may be heard here, besides robins, wrens, thrushes and blackbirds. From modest beginnings in 1759, when Princess Augusta, mother of George III, began a small botanic garden to the south of the orangery with William Aiton as her head gardener, the gardens have grown to contain a world-renowned collection of plants. The buildings in the grounds include Kew Palace, once occupied by George III, Sir William Chamber's orangery, and the famous Pagoda. The various greenhouses are also famous architecturally, as well as containing splendid examples of lush flora from warmer climes. The Earl of Burlington's Italian-style villa, Chiswick House, located nearby will also be visited

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THEATRELAND & BACKSTAGE

THEATRELAND & BACKSTAGE
Nowhere has the "stage" been so celebrated as in London's West End, where the area around the Aldwych, Covent Garden and Piccadilly Circus, teeming with theatrical playhouses, pays homage to the "Muse of the Stage", whether tragic, comic or just dramatic! Your guide for the morning will be one specially associated with the London theatre-world, perhaps even one of the acting fraternity whose name will be billed on the hoardings outside one of the theatres you pass! You go to the London Theatre Museum, opened on St.George's Day 1987 in celebration of Shakespeare's birthday in the old flower market. This holds one of the richest collections of costumes and memorabilia relating to the performing arts and a magnificent chronological display of the history of the theatre. From here you will enjoy a guided walk to take in many of the famous theatres of London and a special backstage visit will be made to one of the famous theatres, such as the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane or the London Palladium, where the history of the specific theatre. complete with idiosyncratic anecdotes will be given by the Theatre Manager and part of a cast rehearsal may be seen

HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT & HOSTED LUNCHEON

This includes a guided tour of the House of Commons, the seat of Britain's political goverment in Westminster, with cocktails and lunch in one of the Houses's dining rooms, hosted by a Member of the House. (Please note that this activity is strictly subject to the Houses of Parliament not being "in recess", closed entirely, usually for the period late July until the first week in October, when officially opened by Her Majesty The Queen)

LITERARY LONDON

This includes a guided tour of the British Library, which has a Reading Room that contains over thirty thousand reference works, the Public Galleries, and other galleries stacked with books that are not seen by the general public. Then you visit Charles Dickens House, occupied by Dickens and his family 1837-39, where he produced Pickwick Papers, Oliver Twist, Nicholas Nickleby, and Barnaby Rudge, and containing the most comprehensive Dickens library in the world, as well as numerous portraits and illustrations. Finally you go to Shakespeare's Globe Theatre Centre, which tells the fascinating story of the reconstruction of Shakespeare's original theatre into a now permanent stage. The theatre is constructed to look like Shakespeare's "wooden O", complete with Elizabethan-style timber and a thatched roof. The tour concludes at Foyles Bookshop on Charing Cross Road, the largest bookshop in Europe

LONDON STREET MARKETS

Bustling, busy and full of life, London's street markets are an integral part of the London shopping scene.They are great for bargains or for just browsing. All sorts of goods are for sale, from fresh fruit and vegetables to hand-made crafts and antiques. Some of London's most popular markets are : Antiquarius, a covered market in the King's Road, specialising in antique clothing and lace (Mon- Sat, 10am-6pm); Camden Lock, crafts, bric-a-brac, clothes, health foods, and antiques, in an attractive canal-side setting (Sat/Sun, 10am-6pm); Camden Passage, a myriad of small shops, specialising in antiques, books, and prints (Sat, 8am-4pm, Wed, 7am-2pm, Thu, 7am-4pm, books only); Gabriel's Wharf, crafts and craft workshops, bric-a-brac, jewellery, clothes, toys, antiques and craft workshops (Tue-Sun, 10am-6pm); Greenwich Antiques Market, Sat/Sun, 9am-5pm; Greenwich Covered Crafts Market, arts and craft stalls (Sat/Sun, 9am-5pm); Jubilee Market, Covent Garden, general bric-a-brac, antiques (Mon), general goods (Tue-Fri), and crafts (Sat/Sun), Mon-Sun, 9am-5.30pm); Leather Lane, a great lunchtime market close to the heart of London's diamond trade, Hatton Garden, enormous variety and very lively (Mon-Fri, 10.30am-2pm); New Caledonian, Tower Bridge Road, dealers' antique open market in South London, come early for the best bargains (Fri only, 5am-1pm); Petticoat Lane, Middlesex Street, London's most famous street market, crowded and full of character (Sun only, 9am-2pm); Portobello Road, a great cosmopolitan atmosphere, antiques, clothes and bric-a-brac, flea market at northern end, antiques also on Saturdays (Mon-Fri, 9am-5pm, Sat 8.30am-5.30pm)