Piecing Together Britain’s Heritage | Travel Research Online

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Piecing Together Britain’s Heritage

One of the Christmas presents I always looked forward to was the jigsaw puzzle from my aunt, which gradually became more complex as the years went by. It probably explains why I so enjoy identifying different aspects of the UK and piecing them together as memorable and unique travel experiences for your customers. This week’s ‘box of tricks’ introduces England’s Jurassic Coast, numerous great detectives (anglophiles will recognise them immediately), embroidery collections, ceramics and the 75th anniversary of D Day. Read on and then send me the jigsaw puzzle I can help you with!

A Walk Through Time on England’s Jurassic Coast

Located a few short miles west of Southampton, Dorset’s Jurassic Coast is world renowned for being one of the richest heritage sites for prehistoric remains. Back in 2001, it was granted UNESCO status for its 185 million years of outstanding geology and it’s for that reason that it’s a hot bed for supervised fossil hunting guided walks with hundreds of specimens being unearthed from its cliffs and beaches. Today, you can literally walk in the footsteps of dinosaurs in Keates Quarry near Swanage where there are over 100 fossilised tracks preserved in a flat layer of rock.

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The Great Detectives

The UK’s longest-running contemporary detective drama returned to our TV screens last Sunday, as Midsomer Murders celebrates its 20th anniversary year. No doubt it will be heading your way before too long, so let’s use it to create an On Location tour that includes DCI John Barnaby and the picturesque locations that make up Midsomer country, tucked away in rural Buckinghamshire and South Oxfordshire, Father Brown (mostly filmed in the Cotswolds), Endeavour (the young Morse) Inspectors Morse and Lewis (all of them in and around Oxford), Grantchester (largely centred on Cambridge) and a number of different permutations of Sherlock Holmes in London.

New Cookery School Opens

A new cookery school has opened at the luxurious 5-star Grand Hotel York. Led by expert tutors, sessions range from half-day to full day courses on how to prepare authentic dishes, with fresh local produce at the heart of each creation. Choose from a selection of classes from international cuisine and Modern British classics, to bread making and dinner party dining. Use it as the centre-piece for a gourmet tour that visits artisan food makers and vineyards in the north of England. Use one of the growing number of non-stop flights to Manchester, the gateway to England’s North Country with its fast airside kerbside service.

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The Embroiderers’ Guild Collection

The Embroiderers’ Guild was formed in 1906 to raise technical and design standards in British embroidery. The Guild assembled a nationally important collection of world costume and textiles which is on long-term loan to Bucks County Museum, which now stores, cares for and displays the collection. A small selection of the collection can be viewed in the Beryl Dean Gallery at the museum. Travel further north to the Viking city of York and take a tour of the Minster led by volunteer embroiderers and textile conservators looking at the history and contemporary textiles of the Minster, including some of their current vestments followed by the short service of Choral Evensong.

In the World Capital of Ceramics

Famous names like Wedgwood, Royal Doulton, Spode and Portmeirion trigger instant recognition and they are all based in the World Capital of Ceramics—aka Stoke on Trent. In addition to this illustrious brands, you can also find a great factory tour at Middleport Pottery ‘Home of Burleigh’ which leads visitors through each stage of production, showing how a lump of clay is transformed into a finished piece of iconic Burleigh ware. Burleigh’s production methods have changed little in 130 years and include the highly specialised ‘tissue transfer’ decoration method which cannot be seen anywhere else. The still fiercely independent, Moorcroft continues to create art pottery, using their renowned heritage craft techniques and acclaimed line up of designers, at the highest level in the Applied Arts.

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Up The Garden Path

Garden-loving cruise clients sailing in or out of Southampton need to know that just to the west of the city there are 5 former winners of the annual Garden of the Year competition. Sponsored by the Historic Houses Association and Christies, they include Abbotsbury, Athelhampton, Exbury, Forde Abbey and Heale House as a unique pre or post cruise extension. The walled garden at Eythrope at treasure-filled Waddesdon Manor is opening to show a glimpse into a garden that has, until now, been kept intensely private. It is a rare example of a large scale, four-acre working private garden that is legendary in the garden world both for its gardening excellence, and as a haven for traditional techniques that might otherwise be lost.

D Day 75th Anniversary

In early June, the city of Portsmouth will host commemorative events to mark the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings. Discover the role being played by Southwick House where Eisenhower famously announced, “We go” at 4:19 a.m. on June 6, 1944, the re-enactments at Southwick village, the D-Day Museum, home the Overlord Tapestry, a 20th century version of the Bayeux Tapestry, Portsmouth Cathedral and the Historic Dockyard. Away from the hustle and bustle of modern life and a short ferry ride across Portsmouth’s busy harbour is Little Woodham, a living history village in Gosport. It’s where you can step back in time and meet and talk with the ‘villagers’ dressed in period costumes and watch them demonstrate the historic skills of the blacksmith, lace-makers and weavers from 17th Century England.

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Paull Tickner, owner of U.K.-based Custom GB, is known for his expertise in creating and operating imaginative, value-added tours of Great Britain and Ireland. Visit his website at www.customgb.co.uk or email him at ptickner@customgb.co.uk.

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