England: Cambridge, Constable Country and the Norfolk and Suffolk Coast

Cambridge: the Backs and evensong

Arrive in Cambridge, walk the colleges, King's College Chapel, a punt on the Backs, then evensong

• Welcome dinner in Cambridge
• Nuit : Cambridge
• En train

Après-midi

At about 2 pm, well before the chapel closes to visitors in the mid-afternoon, we go into King's College Chapel, begun by Henry VI in 1446, with its fan-vaulted stone ceiling and its sixteenth-century windows. Then we board a chauffeured punt for about 45 minutes along the Backs, where the lawns of the old colleges run down to the River Cam, under the Mathematical Bridge and the Bridge of Sighs. There is time for tea before 5:30 pm, when, after the day visitors have gone, we return to the chapel for choral evensong, about 45 minutes of the choir singing.

Soir

Dinner together follows, a welcome to the trip.

Compris

• Welcome meeting with your guide at the Cambridge hotel
• Guided walk through the colleges and King's Parade
• King's College Chapel visit, in the early afternoon
• Chauffeured punt on the Backs
• Choral evensong in King's College Chapel (or another college chapel when the choir is away)
• Welcome dinner in Cambridge

Activités en option

• The Fitzwilliam Museum (free entry), before the meeting

Constable country and Lavenham

Cambridge to Flatford Mill, walk to Dedham, then Lavenham

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
• Nuit : Lavenham
• Environ 2.5 h de route

Matin

John Constable grew up here, and his father owned Flatford Mill; your guide shows you Willy Lott's House, the cottage in The Hay Wain, and the National Trust exhibition at Bridge Cottage, arriving mid-morning before the car park fills. Then we walk upriver, about 3 km on a level path through water meadows and past grazing cattle, to Dedham, a village of Georgian houses below a tall church tower that appears in several of Constable's paintings.

Après-midi

Lunch is a sit-down meal in Dedham. The minibus collects us and takes us about 40 minutes north to Lavenham, our home for two nights. We arrive at about 2 pm, and your guide goes straight to the timber-framed Guildhall on the Market Place, built in the 1520s when the village grew rich on blue woollen cloth, well before it closes at about 4 pm, then the church of St Peter and St Paul.

Soir

The evening is free.

Compris

• Flatford: Bridge Cottage, Flatford Mill and Willy Lott's House with your guide
• Riverside walk from Flatford to Dedham
• Sit-down lunch in Dedham
• Lavenham Guildhall
• The church of St Peter and St Paul, Lavenham

Sutton Hoo, Snape and Aldeburgh

Lavenham to Sutton Hoo, Snape Maltings and Aldeburgh, then back to Lavenham

• Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
• Nuit : Lavenham
• Environ 3 h de route

Après-midi

Lunch is fish and chips in Aldeburgh, a fishing town of coloured houses on a shingle beach, then a walk along the shore past the fishermen's huts to Maggi Hambling's steel Scallop, Britten's memorial.

Soir

We drive back to Lavenham for a Suffolk dinner together.

Compris

• Sutton Hoo at opening, with your guide: the burial mounds and the exhibition
• Snape Maltings and the reed beds of the River Alde
• Fish and chips lunch in Aldeburgh
• Aldeburgh beach walk to the Scallop
• Dinner together in Lavenham

Activités en option

• The Red House, Benjamin Britten and Peter Pears's home in Aldeburgh, on its open days

Norwich to the north Norfolk coast

Lavenham to Norwich, then Wells-next-the-Sea

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
• Nuit : Wells-next-the-Sea
• Environ 3 h de route

Après-midi

Lunch is a sit-down meal in the centre. In the early afternoon we drive about an hour and a quarter north through farmland to Wells-next-the-Sea, a small harbour town of flint cottages and a quay, our home for two nights.

Soir

The late afternoon and evening are free: walk the quay and the beach road at low tide.

Compris

• Norwich Cathedral and the cloister with your guide
• The Cathedral Close and Elm Hill
• Norwich Market
• Sit-down lunch in Norwich
• Wells-next-the-Sea quay

Activités en option

• Norwich Castle museum, on a longer stop if the group prefers

Blakeney Point seals and the salt marsh

Wells-next-the-Sea to Morston Quay, by boat to Blakeney Point, then the marsh path to Blakeney

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du soir
• Nuit : Wells-next-the-Sea
• Environ 1 h de route

Après-midi

Lunch is free in Blakeney or by choice in Holt, a Georgian market town nearby.

Soir

The rest of the afternoon is free, and in the evening we gather for a seafood farewell dinner in Wells.

Compris

• Seal boat from Morston Quay to Blakeney Point
• Salt-marsh walk on the Norfolk Coast Path from Morston to Blakeney with your guide
• Farewell seafood dinner in Wells-next-the-Sea

Activités en option

• A crab lunch in Cromer, by minibus with the guide, in free time

Holkham beach and home

Wells-next-the-Sea to Holkham beach, then King's Lynn station

• Petit-déjeuner
• Environ 1.5 h de route

Matin

After breakfast we drive a few minutes west to Holkham and walk out along Lady Anne's Drive and through the Corsican pines to Holkham beach, a sweep of pale sand several kilometres long with dunes behind and, at low tide, the sea a long way out. It is part of the Holkham National Nature Reserve, and in the morning you share it mostly with dog walkers and birds. We give it about an hour and a half. Then we drive about an hour south-west through the farmland of the Holkham estate and the Burnhams, where Nelson was born, to King's Lynn, a port town on the Great Ouse. We reach King's Lynn station by about 12:30 pm, where the trip ends and your guide sees the group onto the train. Direct trains to London King's Cross take about 1 hour 45 minutes, by way of Cambridge. If you are flying home today, book a flight leaving Heathrow or Gatwick after about 7 pm, or Stansted after about 5:30 pm.

Compris

• Morning walk through the pines to Holkham beach with your guide
• Drive through the Burnhams to King's Lynn
• Drop-off with your bags at King's Lynn station