More Inspirational Perspectives of Your Old Friend Britain

 

As you can’t make it to the UK at the moment, let your imagination (and technology) transport you across the pond to learn more about some of the travel experiences you could offer clients in May of next year. Especially for those who have been to the UK on several occasions in the past. Some of them may only want to go to London but, if they’re actively involved in the cultural scene at home, they might like to be offered other options which can be tailored to meet their specific interests and time frame. Take a look at these travel-less, see-more events and attractions that can be enjoyed in different corners of the English countryside.

If you enjoy these short but sweet, eye and ear catching insights, share them with your clients and, with a bit of on the ground help from me, you’ll be able to convert them into profitable UK tours in the spring of 2021.

A Celebration of Music, Theatre and the Arts Launched in 1967, the Brighton Festival is the largest and most established arts festival in England and is one of the major milestones in the international cultural calendar. It fills most of May in venues both familiar and unusual, attracting some of the most innovative artists and companies from the UK and around the world.

Opera in The Sussex Countryside From May to August, the Glyndebourne Festival stages an annual season of world-class opera during which audiences can enjoy opera in their state-of-the-art indoor auditorium. A key part of the Glyndebourne Festival experience is their 90-minute interval and a chance to enjoy a picnic in the gardens or dinner at one of their three on-site restaurants.

Celebrating the Bloomsbury Group Charleston is a house, garden, and art gallery just east of Brighton. From 1916, it was the home of artists Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant; and for 10 days in May, they celebrate the creativity and intellectual curiosity of the artists, writers and thinkers of the Bloomsbury group who dared to imagine society differently.

Follow the Brushstrokes of the Surrealists Farleys House and Gallery conjures up an extraordinary atmosphere that testifies to its position as a meeting place for some of the key personalities in 20th century art. Lee Miller and Roland Penrose moved there in 1949 and, for the 35 years that followed, filled their home with a collection of contemporary art treasures.

Discover Historic St. Mary’s Bramber 25 minutes west of the city, spend a couple of hours at a former pilgrim inn dating from circa 1450. Still a lived-in home, the fine-paneled rooms include the unique Elizabethan trompe l’oeil Painted Room which is one of the earliest examples of three-dimensional paintings in England. Before leaving, enjoy a Sussex Cream Tea.

On Location in Clovelly Last Saturday, I enjoyed watching the movie, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society (I’m great fan of the actor Tom Courtney). You may not know this, but much of it was actually filmed in the steeply cobbled streets of the North Devon, cliffhanging, fishing village of Clovelly. Get to know it better with Jana Edwards.

Award Winning Cotswolds Garden The Cotswolds is home to 4 former winners of the prestigious Historic Houses/Christies Garden of the Year Award, and Kiftsgate Court is one of them. Adjacent to Hidcote Manor, it has been nurtured and developed by 3 successive women of the same family. Join Ann Chambers on this private tour of her beautiful garden.

Somewhere Over the Rainbow During this difficult time, many of our cathedrals, stately homes, castles and gardens are finding all sorts of new eye and ear catching ways to get themselves seen and heard. Brighten your day and listen to the Choir of magnificent, medieval Lincoln Cathedral, itself a must-see visit for tours travelling between York and London.

An Artist’s Village The Watts Gallery is a wonderful Arts & Crafts gem between London and Southampton. The former home of the great Victorian artist G. F. Watts, who was the first British painter to have a solo exhibition at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1884. Known as England’s Michelangelo, he influenced Rossetti, Picasso and former President Obama.

 

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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.