The Isle of Wight will forever be associated with Queen Victoria, whose reign came to an end on the island at the beginning of the last century. The Isle of Wight’s enduring Victorian legacy will be one of the central themes of our tour, with a visit and lunch at Osborne House.
The seaside resorts of Ventnor, Cowes and Ryde still bear substantial traces of Victorian England, and the life and times of several notable Victorians will come under scrutiny: the poet laureate Tennyson, a frequent guest of Victoria and Prince Albert, lived at Farringford House overlooking Freshwater Bay, whilst Julia Margaret Cameron, the pioneering photographer, made her home nearby. We will take a summer’s walk over Boniface Down to Cameron’s house, now a museum, and enjoy some of Tennyson’s poems.
The Isle of Wight has, of course, far more to offer the cultural visitor than Victoriana. Our travels across the island’s sea-girt landscape will introduce us to such diverse treasures as the Roman villa at Brading, with its beautifully-preserved mosaic floors, and Carisbrooke Castle, where King Charles I spent two years under lock and key.
No visit to the Isle of Wight would be complete without an investigation of the island’s sailing heritage. We will tour the Classic Boat Museum and, in Portsmouth, we will admire the majesty of the most famous of all British fighting ships, Nelson’s HMS Victory.
We stay throughout in Cowes at the three-star New Holmwood Hotel (Best Western), situated on the edge of the Solent.
Date: July 11–16, 2011 |
Cost: £950 |
Lecturer: John Bryden |
Course Code: IWIT11 |
Itinerary
Day 1 Depart Waterloo 1100 by coach for Isle of Wight via Portsmouth (HMS Victory). Transfer to New Holmwood Hotel, Cowes, for five nights. Evening: drinks reception followed by introductory talk.
Day 2 Morning: Whippingham (Gothic Revival Church of St Mildred), Swiss Cottage (built for Victoria and Albert’s children), Osborne House (Queen Victoria’s opulent residence) with lunch. Afternoon: steam railway journey followed by Quarr Abbey (Benedictine monastery). Evening: optional Vespers at Quarr with monks singing Gregorian chants.
Day 3 Farringford Hotel (Tennyson library), illustrated talk on Julia Margaret Cameron at Dimbola Lodge (Cameron’s home). Afternoon: walk on Tennyson Down, Old Battery (Victorian fort).
Day 4 Walking tour of Cowes, Classic Boat Museum. Afternoon: Carisbrooke Castle (where Charles I was imprisoned), Baroque Appuldurcombe House (Capability Brown gardens).
Day 5 Brading Roman villa (mosaics, farm buildings), St Mary’s Church, Ventnor (botanic gardens), Godshill (thatched village).
Day 6 Return to Waterloo, arriving by 1400.
Cost
Cost of £950 includes: return travel, accommodation based on sharing a twin or double bedded room, drinks reception, breakfast, dinner & one lunch, excursions & admissions (except English Heritage properties for non-members).
Not included: travel insurance, supplement for doubles/twins for single use £190.