MYSTERY TOUR 2002
EAST ANGLIA REGION
ENGLAND
September 27 - Oct 8, 2002

Mystery Tour 1996 went to the Cotswolds. Mystery Tour 1998 went to the West Country. Mystery Tour 2000 went to Yorkshire. Mystery Tour 2002 will include sites that highlight British history and British mystery writers of another exciting region of England - East Anglia. Those having any interest should contact us early, as these trips are prepared for only a small group, making the trips friendly, comfortable, and manageable.

Discover the secrets of this overlooked section of England as we find Laura Principal & Matthew Bartholomew in the medieval university city of Cambridge. In the countryside we will follow the evidence left by Kate Charles, P.D. James & Ann Cleeves. Small towns from Essex to the Fens will expose clues left by Peter Wimsey, Lovejoy & David Middleton-Brown. From spires to bells to crooked buildings to the wet marshes, this mystery trip is no cozy!

11 DAYS/10 NIGHTS OF MYSTERY AND HISTORY EXPLORING THE KNOWN AND THE UNKNOWN PLACES OF EAST ANGLIA WITH YOUR FELLOW TRAVELERS. GROUP SIZE LIMITED TO 20 AND GOING FAST. YOU WON'T WANT TO MISS THIS TRIP.

TIME TO KILL? LOOK AT THESE UNIQUE FEATURES

• Nine Tailors Tour of the Fens
• Punting on River Cam
• Visit Coleman's Mustard Shop
• Dinner at private manor, Belchamp Hall
• Scott Polar Research Institute tour with Susanna Gregory
• Big authors bash at Heffers
• Bird watching in Cley
• Lunch at 15th C. Oxburgh Hall
• Tea at The Orchard
• Private tour Ely Cathedral
• Anglesey Abbey, historical lunch & garden
• Lavenham, private tour
• Laura Principal tour with Michelle Spring
• Brother Jocelin tour Bury St Edmund
• Private tour Melford Hall
• Coffee at the Dun Cow
• Sandringham House visit
• Constable tour and walk
• Reeder ride through Hickling Broad
• Horse races Newmarket
• Dinner at Anchor Inn with Kate Charles
• Bell ringing demonstration
• Private tour Wicklewood Windmill
• Medieval tour of Cambridge with Susanna Gregory
• Private tour &lunch Otley Hall
• Lunch at Margaret's Tea Room
• Private tour of Bridewell
• King's College Chapel choral program & dinner with music director
• Moyne's Hall museum & Red Barn murder
• River walk in Wydmondham
• Graveyard ghost tour of Bury Abbey

ITINERARY:

• SEP 26/ THUR Optional departure for those who wish to arrive a day early.

• SEP 27/ FRI Departure date from the US. Arrival and Overnight at London Gatwick Airport area for early arrivals.

• SEP 28/ SAT Arrive London Gatwick where our coach will meet us. We begin our tour with a drive to England's best preserved medieval wool town of Lavenham, where you will marvel at the crooked, pastel buildings as our tour guide takes us down the narrow streets and alleys. This is Lovejoy country, and antique shops abound. After some free time for lunch and looking around, we continue on to Bury St Edmunds, where we check in at the Angel Hotel, directly across from what was once the most powerful monastery in medieval Europe. Tonight we will have dinner at the hotel, then a Victorian graveyard warden will tell us stories of the stones as he takes us through the churchyard. B,D

• SEP 29/ SUN Brother Jocelin, a Benedictine monk of the 12th century will share with us the intrigues of the rise and fall of the Abbey of St Edmund in a walking tour of the Abbey. From the mystery of the Abbey to the grisly mystery known as the Red Barn Murder, we visit the Moyne's Hall to hear the story of young love gone bad. We will be hungry by now, and lunch is planned at a small town pub with a great Sunday lunch. We are back in the heart of Lovejoy country, traveling to Long Melford, the antique capital of Suffolk. We will pass the Bull Hotel as we drive down High Street. Both street & hotel have been seen in the Lovejoy series. Our destination is Melford Hall, a romantic Tudor mansion that is famous for its Royal connections, Beatrix Potter's stay as well as being featured in the Lovejoy series. We will be treated to a special tour here, which will include a 400-year-old mystery that still is unanswered. Our evening and dinner will be a special treat. We will be the guests of Mr & Mrs Raymond, owners of the famous Belchamp Hall, a private manor house that was used as the famous "Felsham Hall", home of Lovejoy's friend Lady Jane. This home is not open to the public, so it will be a rare treat to see the house and Lovejoy's workshop. B,L,D

• SEP 30/ MON Off we go to Norwich, the City of Churches, once 52 in all. We are not visiting churches however, but a mustard shop, famous Coleman's Mustard Shop. Once considered medicinal, Dorothy L Sayers wrote advertisements for the product and her name is still well-known by the employees of the store, who will tell us her story. The shop sits in the beautiful Royal Arcade which opens out onto the market place of Norwich. Because of the very steep hills of this city, we will limit our walking, but we don't want to miss this highlight. From city to country, we will visit the Wicklewood Windmill, typical of this area and a reminder of the windmill used by P.D. James in Unnatural Causes. We will go into the small town of Wymondham for lunch at the Brief Encounter, located in a restored train station. This typical small English town is where Snares of Death by Kate Charles is set and it is the home town of her character David Middleton-Brown. After lunch we will take a tour of the Bridewell, a model prison built in 1785 and copied during prison reform in America. We will take a walk down the hill to the Abbey Hotel, across the street from the old Abbey, and for those up to it, the walk will continue through the cemetery and along the river. The non-walkers can take tea in the lobby and visit with the local characters (maybe Miss Marple) or have some private time. Dinner will be served in the hotel dining room, with special guests Julian Earwalker and Kathleen Becker, authors of Literary Norfolk & Scene of the Crime. B,L,D

• OCT 1/TUE The beautiful Norfolk coast welcomes us as we delve into A Bird in Hand by Ann Cleeves, and Midnight Hour by Michelle Springs with a bird-watching experience at the Cley marshes. We will be guided to the hides by Dr & Mrs Grey, friends of Kate Charles, as they show us how to use the hides and identity the birds in this wonderful wildlife reserve. The walking is easy on raised wooden walkways. Our appetite will be piqued by the fresh air and Margaret's Tea Room is up to the challenge. Wonderful homemade bread sandwiches and desserts await us at this award-winning farmhouse kitchen. We have a bit of a drive to our next adventure, so there is time for a nap! We are now headed for the Norfolk Broads to take a broadlands boat trip. Again, we have a sense of P.D. James and of Alan Hunter. Perhaps we will see the phantom skater or the ghost wherry as we glide silently through the water. A traditional reed lighter will take us through the shallow lakes and dykes of Hickling Broad to a tree top observation tower. What an exhilarating afternoon! Back to the hotel for dinner. B,L,D

• OCT 2/ WED This morning will be some time for shopping (the little town of Wymondham is excellent for this), strolling around or sleeping in, then we will head off for Cambridge. Our lunch stop will be at the Anglesey Abbey for a taste of "olden days", This National Trust Restaurant participates in Traditional Historic Cookery, menus based on recipes from the property's archives. We will have a little time to stretch our legs in Anglesey's famous gardens built with American mining and railway money. We should arrive in Cambridge early enough for a little free time to explore on your own. This evening we will meet a score of mystery authors that live in the area, for an after-hours reception put together for us by Heffers bookstore. The list of authors will be provided closer to our departure date, but may include Kate Charles, Michelle Spring, Susanna Gregory, Ruth Dudley Edwards, Jill Paton Walsh, Andrew Taylor, Betty Rowlands & Christopher West. Dinner will be at the hotel with one of the authors as special guest. B,L,D

• OCT 3/ THURS From Medieval to the 21st century, Susanna Gregory will lead us on a personal tour of Cambridge. Her Matthew Bartholomew series describes the medieval Cambridge so well the reader can smell the gutters and she will walk us over those same cobblestones. Under her day-to-day persona, she will take us on a tour of the Scott Polar Research Center, introduced to us in Michelle Spring's Midnight Hour. Lunch will be at the Rainbow Café, an excellent vegetarian café, in a basement in the center of Cambridge. Then Michelle Spring will meet us and take us on a Laura Principal tour and we will see Cambridge from a modern woman's point of view. We start with a relaxing punt trip down the River Cam to Grantchester, a small town that figures into her books. It is the subject of a poem by the war poet Rupert Brooks and is the home of suspense writer, Jeffrey Archer. Tea will be ready for us at the famous Orchard tea house. After this refreshment, and a walk about Grantchester, we will board our coach for a drive to the American Cemetery, which is dedicated to the US servicemen that died in WWII. Michelle will accompany us to dinner at the handsome pub the Three Horsemen in the lovely village of Madingly. The tour continues on our way back to the hotel, as Michelle points out sites from Standing in the Shadows & Nights in White Satin. B,L,T,D

• OCT 4/ FRI Mr Ernie Hall is our professional guide today, taking us on an extensive tour through the Fens on a Nine Tailors Tour. If you have watched the movie you will particularly enjoy this tour as we will stop at a number of key spots in the story. Perhaps, somewhere along the route, we will have the opportunity to learn how the tailors (bells) are rung. We will find the secret hiding place of the jewels and visit the cemetery from where Ms Sayers used the names for her characters. We can toast to her memory at the Dun Cow, the pub where she spent many an evening. We end the day at another local pub for dinner, with perhaps an old friend joining us. B,C,L,D

• OCT 5 /SAT Our friend, Mr Hall, will be our guide again this morning, this time at Ely Cathedral. Known as the "Ship of the Fens", this magnificent Norman Cathedral is set among medieval buildings and if we are lucky, will be decorated for the Harvest Festival. Often mentioned in Susanna Gregory's series as well as modern stories, this cathedral has an important place in East Anglian mysteries. We now head to Newmarket to the horse races. James I may have established Newmarket as the Horse Racing Capital of the world, but Dick Francis put it on the map for us. Lunch is the freedom of your own choice, from bangers to fish & chips, and so is the wagering. From church to the ponies back to church, we head for famous King's College Chapel. We are privileged to join the first choral event of the season as the special guests of the director of music, Mr Stephen Cleobury. After the presentation, he will join us for dinner, as will Kate Charles. We have had her books weave throughout the week, now we will have an opportunity to visit with her and she will be happy to sign your books. Dinner will be at the Anchor Inn, which featured in Deborah Crombie's Dreaming of the Bones & The Wyndham Case by Jill Patton Walsh. A mystery packed day! B,D

• OCT 6/ SUN We head straight north today, with a stop at Oxburgh Hall for lunch. A 15th century moated manor house originating from Tudor times and once host to King Henry VII & his Queen, Elizabeth of York, it offers excellent food. Our stop here is for lunch only, not a tour. Although the history is fascinating, it is quite plain and does not contain much of interest. Furthermore, we want to have plenty of time at our next stop, Sandringham House, one of the homes of the Royal Family. There is plenty to see at this country retreat and we want to have time to visit the Museum, where the tragic story of the Lost Battalion of Gallipoli is told. It is still a mystery what happened to these brave men when they went off to the war in North Africa in WWI. Dinner tonight will be at an excellent inn. B,L,D

• OCT 7/ MON After checking out of our hotel, we head southeast to Otley Hall. Much of Otley's history has close ties with the mysterious Jamestown settlement, Cape Cod & Martha's Vineyard and was the inspiration for the play The Tempest. A fascinating story our guide will relate to us. The house has featured in the Lovejoy series and Shakespeare in Love. After our guided tour of the house, we shall have lunch here in the linen paneled parlour. On our way back toward London, we will investigate Ngaio Marsh's A Clutch of Constables, with a stop at Flatford Mill. Along this stretch of Dedham Vale, the artist Constable painted his most famous paintings. We will enjoy a guided walk of the sites of his paintings and if the weather permits, take a boat ride along the River Stour. For an afternoon treat we will enjoy a wonderful lemon cake dessert made from a Traditional Historical recipe & coffee or tea. For the intrepid ramblers in the group, there will be a walk on the footpath from Flatford to Dedham while the rest of us go by coach to meet them at the other end. On we go to our hotel at Gatwick Airport for overnight. B,L,T

• OCT 8/ TUES Flights home or extended journey.

FEATURES INCLUDE:
• 10 nights accommodation
• Comfortable coach tour of East Anglia
• Full English Breakfast each morning except first
• 7 lunches, including Otley Hall &Traditional Historical cookery at Anglesey Abbey
• 9 dinners, including pvt dinners at Belchamp House & with nightly guests
• Afternoon Tea at The Orchard & Flatford Mill
• Morning coffee at the Dun Cow
• Exclusive guided tours by Michelle Spring & Susanna Gregory
• Dinner with Kate Charles
• Visits to Melford Hall, Wicklewood Windmill, the Bridewell, Sandringham House, Newmarket Races, Anglesey Gardens, Scott Polar Center, Cambridge colleges, Flatford Mill
• Private guided river walk, Wymondham & Dedham Vale

HOTELS
• GATWICK RENAISSANCE. Modern hotel close to airport close to the Three Bells Pub. Includes breakfast for the optional night but not on flight day due to early departures for most of us. Shuttle to airport with small charge. Hair dryer. (1-2 nights)
• ANGEL HOTEL. Bury St Edmunds. A beautiful historic coaching inn dating back to 1452. Originally served the pilgrims visiting the great Abbey of St Edmundsbury. Charles Dickens immortalized The Angel with mention of the hotel in The Pickwick Papers, partially written when he stayed here. Hair dryer, lift. (2 nts)
• ABBEY HOTEL. Wymondham. A small hotel directly across from the Abbey, Paul Connor & his staff have created a welcoming atmosphere to which guests return often. Personally recommended by Kate Charles, this is the small English town comfort we love. Hair dryer, lift (2 nts)
• CROWNE PLAZA. Modern, high rise hotel closest to the center of Cambridge so you can walk to shops and the colleges easily. Large comfortable rooms. No personality here, but strictly location & comfort. Hair dryer, lift. (5 nts)

Country Day Travel, Inc
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Fort Worth TX 76109
Tel: 817-731-8551 Fax 817-731-8552
Email:info@countrydaytravel.com

COUNTRY DAY TRAVEL, INC. 6022 SOUTHWEST BLVD. FT. WORTH, TEXAS 76109

(817) 731-8551

URL: http://www.countrydaytravel.com E-Mail: info@countrydaytravel.com