Jane Austen Whitecroft Tour in May 2017

I am thrilled to share the new and improved itinerary for the forthcoming Whitecroft Traditional Tour called "The Life and Times of Jane Austen".  The full itinerary appears in the post below this one.

Helen Bertram has tweaked the itinerary from our first tour, reducing travel times on some days and adding a few very exciting extra visits to this trip.  I am already anticipating the fun of meeting new people on the tour and sharing all these wonderful experiences.

These are the new places on the list:

We will be visiting the magnificent Wells Cathedral. This Cathedral, began in 1175, was the first in England to be built in the French Gothic style.  The West Front still displays over 300 of the original medieval statues.

The famous "scissor arches" were constructed to prevent the ceilings and the tower from collapsing.

                                   

The Jesse window is one of the finest examples of 14th century stained glass in Europe.  It has recently undergone major preservation and conservation work and all scaffolding has now been removed.

We will also take a tour of the beautifully restored Georgian townhouse in the world famous Royal Crescent in Bath: Number 1.  I visited this gorgeous townhouse during my free time in Bath last year.  It is so beautifully furnished and gives a wonderful impression of how wealthy people (and their servants) lived at the time Jane Austen resided in Bath.

It is also absolutely exciting that Helen is planning a visit for us to the Malvern Quilt Show.  This is the UK's number one quilt show for the quilting enthusiast.  Fingers crossed that the organisers do not change the date from the usual weekend in May next year!  If the show is not on, we will have more Jane Austen, so not to worry.

We will also be visiting most of the fabulous places I went to on last year's trip: Bath Abbey, The Pump Rooms, The Fashion Museum, The American Museum, The Roman Baths, Stoneleigh Abbey, Chawton House and Library, Montacute House, Lacock and Lacock Abbey, Lyme Regis, Winchester, Sudeley Castle, the list goes on and on.

         

                                     

                                  

                                       

                                         

I will be delighted to present an exclusive small project to make on workshop day during our trip.

I cannot recommend this tour highly enough.  It is the trip of a lifetime.  You will be wined and dined and entertained for ten wonderful days.  Nothing is left to chance by Helen and you will be blown away be her organisation and fun attitude the whole trip.

There are two places left on the 2017 tour and Helen is taking names as expressions of interest for a tour in April, 2018.  More information is available on the website at www.whitecrofttours.co.uk (a direct link tab is available at the top of my blog home page) or you can contact me if you have any questions.

Whitecroft Tours: Release of New Itinerary for Jane Austen Tour May 2017

• * The Fashion Museum, Bath
  * Montacute House, Somerset
  * Jane Austen's House, Chawton
  * Winchester Cathedral
  * Chawton House Library
  * Stoneleigh Abbey
  * Sudeley Castle, Gloucestershire
  * Lacock & Lacock Abbey
  * Lyme Regis
  * Wells Cathedral
  * The American Museum in Britain
  * The Roman Baths
  * Workshop with Katrina Hadjimichael

   

  
  Day 1 - arrive at the hotel - Bath Spa Hotel - a beautiful house built in 1835 by General Augustus Andrews, who had retired from the Indian Army.   Set in seven acres of gardens with exotic trees and shrubs, the hotel was renovated over a 3 year period and restored to its former glory.   It has stunning views over the City of Bath and is only a 10 minute walk away from this wonderful Georgian city.  Refined and quintessentially English, this is a luxurious hotel with an award winning restaurant and it offers guests the various facilities of a spa. 
  Settle into your room before meeting for afternoon tea and an introduction by Katrina Hadjimichael and Helen Bertram of Whitecroft Tours.  Dinner this evening will be in the hotel.             (AT, D)

   

  
  Day 2 - this morning after breakfast, we will have a walking tour of Bath, led by a local blue badge guide.   We will see all the places familiar to Jane Austen and visit the Fashion Museum - one of the largest and finest collections of fashionable dress in the UK.  The extensive displays include some 200 dressed figures and many are shown in period room settings or against painted backdrops of Bath.  
  Dinner this evening will be in the hotel.  (B, L & D)

  
  Day 3 - today we will take a very sentimental journey to Hampshire - a county well known to Jane Austen and her family.   Our first stop will be Chawton and Jane Austen's House.   A charming red-brick 17thC house, where Jane spent the last and most productive years of her life,completing the last three novels and living happily in a female household with her Mother, Sister and family friend, Martha Lloyd.  Here we will see the patchwork quilt, of the old English Medallion pattern, that was made by Jane and her Mother and Sister, whilst they were at Chawton.   A tour of the cottage and the surrounding village will give us further insight into her life. 

  We will also visit Chawton House Library which was home to Jane’s brother, Edward.   In the nearby churchyard are buried, Jane’s Mother and Sister.

  We will then make the journey to Winchester and visit the Cathedral - Jane's final resting place.    We will also have a walking tour of the city and see the home where she lived and died.   Dinner this evening will be in Winchester, before returning to our hotel.                         (B, L & D)

   

• Day 4 - after breakfast in the hotel, we will have a free morning in Bath to visit many of the attractions of the City – perhaps spend some time in the Therme Spa or visit the Holburne Museum or the Jane Austen Centre – or perhaps just shop or relax in this delightful city.
  We will then meet for lunch in the Pump Rooms – and enjoy a meal together in this elegant building – just as Jane Austen and all her contemporaries would have done.

  We will then return to the hotel before visiting No 1 Royal Crescent – a magnificently restored Georgian townhouse in Bath’s world famous Royal Crescent – a fine example of Palladian Revival architecture.   Designed by John Wood, the Younger, it was built between 1767 and 1774.    Dinner this evening will be in a restaurant in Bath.                                                   (B,L& D)

   

  Day 5 - after breakfast in the hotel,  we will make the short journey to the village of Lacock, by the banks of the River Avon.   A village that is often seen in films - a living film set - where we can walk in the footsteps of the stars of Cranford, Pride & Prejudice and, even, Harry Potter.  We will visit Lacock Abbey, with its golden cloisters and mediaeval nunnery rooms.   We can also visit the Fox Talbot Museum which celebrates the invention of photography and offers unique topical exhibitions set within the timber framed gallery.    After lunch in the village, we will travel south to the Cathedral city of Wells and enjoy a guided tour of this magnificent Cathedral and enjoy dinner in this beautiful and ancient city.  (B, L & D)

  Day 6 – today we are planning a visit to the Malvern Quilt Show.  However, at the time of releasing this tour, we are still awaiting final confirmation from the organisers of the dates for 2017.  However, we are very hopeful that we will be able to spend our day at the Show.  However, should the dates be changed by the organisers we have other visits relating to Jane Austen in the programme.                                             (B & D)

  
  Day 7 - today will be the long awaited day of our workshop with Katrina.   Dinner this evening will be in the hotel with a pre-dinner performance by Kim Hicks on the life of Jane Austen.                                                                                  (B, L & D)

   

   

• Day 8 – after breakfast in the hotel, we will travel north to Gloucestershire and the beautiful town of Winchcombe.  Just a short distance outside the village is the magnificent Sudeley Castle, the former home of Tudor Queen, Katherine Parr, the sixth wife of Henry VIII.   Nestled in the Cotswold Hills, this wonderful castle is known as ‘The Queen of the Cotswolds’.    We will see their magnificent collection of textiles and the rose garden, which is amongst the finest in the country.
  Following our visit to Gloucestershire, we will travel across to the county of Warwickshire and visit the hidden jewel of Stoneleigh Abbey, whose history began in 1154 when Henry II granted the lands to a community of Cistercian monks.  More than 800 years later the structural development of the main house and adjacent buildings can be seen, providing a rich tapestry of architecture and landscape.  For 400 years, Stoneleigh Abbey was the country seat of Jane Austen's relatives, the Leighs.  In August 1806, Jane, with her Mother and Sister, travelled to Stoneleigh Abbey.   Jane was so inspired by the house, the parkland and the family intrigues that she wove descriptions of the interiors, views of the grounds and cameos of the family into her novels.  Elizabeth Lord, known to the Leigh family as Aunt Betty, whose romantic story inspired that of Persuasion's Anne Elliot.  Dinner this evening will be en route back to our hotel in Bath.                                       (B, L & D)

   

   

  Day 9 – today we will make the journey to Lyme Regis -  tranquilizing and refreshing, its beauty lingered on in her memory to be recalled in Persuasion twelve years later.   We will be guided around the town and shown the important features relating to Jane Austen.   A walk along the Cobb and dinner in a local restaurant overlooking the sea and this well known landmark.

  En route to Lyme Regis, we will stop at Montacute House – a masterpiece of Elizabethan Renaissance architecture and design.

  We will have a private tour of the house and see the Long Gallery – the longest of its kind in England.  The gallery houses over 60 Tudor and Elizabethan portraits on loan from the National Portrait Gallery.   Beautiful gardens surround Montacute and the house and gardens were the setting for scenes in the recently filmed ‘Wolf Hall’
  (B, L & D)

   

  Day 10 - after breakfast, we will make the very short journey to the American Museum in Britain and enjoy a private tour of their wonderful quilt collection.   There is also an amazing collection of furniture and other artefacts that are a 'must see' during a tour to this part of England.

  Tonight we will have our final dinner - but prior to dinner, we will enjoy a private tour of the Roman Baths and the Spa waters that make this City so famous throughout the world.                  (B & D)

   

  
  Day 11 - our final morning together in the magnificent city of Bath - home and inspiration to our heroine, Jane Austen.   We will all return to our various parts of the world full of memories and treasures from this time spent together and enjoying the enthusiasm of Katrina Hadjimichael, who has dedicated all her quilts and work to the memory of Jane Austen.                                (B)

  
  
  

  booking information »

• ©Whitecroft Traditional Tours Ltd | PO Box 384 | Newton Ferrers | Plymouth | Devon PL1 9BS

• 

• Booking Conditions

• ^ Back to top

Cruising the South Pacific on the Celebrity Solstice

I have been offline this week while cruising around the beautiful islands of New Caledonia with the boys on the Celebrity Solstice.

I was on a teaching assignment for Needlework Tours and Cruises, thanks to Maureen and Simon Laughlin.

It was actually my birthday the day we sailed out of Sydney Harbour on a warm, clear evening.  Dinner in the Main Dining Room was a treat.

There is no place like Sydney.  I am proud to call it home.

Cruising is an amazing experience but I am not sure I ever got my sea legs!  It was a bit tricky teaching fine hand appliqué in a rocking classroom, but my students were all gorgeous and we managed to do lots of stitching over the four days travelling at sea.

Here are the lovely ladies in my two day class who learned lots of three dimensional Baltimore appliqué techniques. Thanks for the fun and company ladies.

It was great to catch up with the gorgeous Pam Furniss.  Lots of laughs, and a glass of wine.

The ship was spectacular, huge and beautifully appointed.  The staff were all super friendly and helpful. The food was fabulous (way too much cake)!  Our Stateroom was lovely and so good not to have to clean and cook!

We spent three days touring in Lifou in the Loyalty Islands, then Noumea and finally the tropical paradise of The Isle of Pines (complete with downpours).

I loved getting the tender across the crystal waters to the island of Lifou:

What an amazing sight to see that luxury ship at anchor.

Loved the sunsets.

Next day was a tour of Noumea.

Including the fascinating Kanak cultural centre to see traditional village architecture and the modern take.

Melanesian totems.

I enjoyed watching the tug set us on course out of the harbour as the sun was setting.

Next day was the Isle of Pines, a true tropical paradise.  David and I went snorkelling to see the local fish and corals.  Gorgeous.  Sorry, no underwater photos but here is the scene.

Unfortunately the rain came in but did not stop another swim in the clear turquoise water with soft white sand.

Two more days of classes, teaching my "Lydia" table runner with large hexagons and my Applecore cushion.  This is applecores by Danielle in the range "Nocturne".

A collection of large hexies in Uptown Duets.

Now we are back on dry land, time to get everything unpacked and all the washing dry.

Exclusive Retreat with Amanda Daly, July 2016

I am very excited to announce that I have joined with Amanda Daly to run an exclusive retreat at the Hunter Valley Hotel Academy, Kurri Kurri, NSW,  from Friday afternoon 29 to Sunday afternoon 31 July, 2016.

We have both made new quilt projects to teach over the two days of the retreat.

                      

All accommodation, meals, tuition and special goodies are included.  It is going to be a fantastic weekend of stitching fun, laughter, eating and meeting new people.

My quilt is called "Wentworth".  It is all hand stitched, using many of my techniques for English paper piecing and hand appliqué.  I receive a lot of requests from ladies in the Hunter and central coast to join one of my classes.  This is your chance.

This is my new quilt called "Wentworth" (unquilted here).

The centre of the quilt, sorry the photos are not great!

                   

A sneak peek of the quilt on the longarm quilting machine of the very talented, super special Belinda Betts:

These are the three choices Amanda is offering her ladies.  "Out of the Box", a contemporary twist on the traditional.  This is a bed sized machine made quilt.  Gorgeous colours!

Then there are two lovely wall hangings: a Turtle or Butterfly.

Something for everyone.

If you are interested to attend the retreat, please email either myself on kat.had@bigpond.com or Amanda on thedalys@tpg.com.au, for more information.