Landscapes Travel is a leading provider of UK based programmes to Elderhostel, the world's largest educational travel organization for adults 55 and over.

Elderhostel is a not-for-profit organisation that provides exceptional learning adventures to nearly 160,000 older adults on nearly 8,000 programmes in more than 90 countries every year.

We provide the academic content, including lectures and guided field trips, for the following Elderhostel programmes. For more information about Elderhostel or the programmes outlined on this site please visit www.elderhostel.org.

Discovering Cornwall

Among the contrasting scenery of wild and remote granite moors, precipitous sea cliffs and sub-tropical gardens warmed by the Gulf Stream, we trace centuries of interaction between the Cornish people and the landscape that sustains them. In lectures and field trips we discover how a unique sense of Cornish identity has evolved out of Celtic civilization, fishing, mining and industrial prowess and the recent language and cultural revival.

For the first part of the programme we are based in a seafront hotel in Penzance with dramatic views to St Michael's Mount and the fishing village of Newlyn. Lectures introduce the varied geology, flora and fauna of the coast and countryside and analyse the mysteries of some of Europe's most significant Neolithic and Bronze Age stone monuments. We also examine the development of Cornwall's distinctive Celtic civilisation from the Iron Age to the post Roman period and its subordination to English rule during medieval and Tudor times.

We enjoy short guided walks along remote cliffs and coastline at Land's End and Sennen Cove and around historic Penzance. Field trips take us to spectacular St Michael's Mount, a folk museum in the picturesque hamlet of Zennor, the evocative remains of the Celtic Romano-Cornish village at Chysauster, Wheal Martyn China Clay Museum and the unspoilt 18th century port at Charlestown.

During the second half of the programme our hotel is perched on the cliffs above the rolling surf of Fistral Bay near Newquay with stunning views up the Cornish north coast. Lectures reveal the pivotal role played by Cornwall's tin and copper mines during the industrial revolution and how the county's leading families invested their new wealth in building stately homes surrounded by exotic sub tropical gardens.

We visit legendary Tintagel Castle, the National Trust's fishing village of Boscastle, the city of Truro with its magnificent cathedral and walk on Bodmin Moor among the atmospheric Hurlers' Bronze Age stone circles. We also have a guided excursion to the award winning Lost Gardens of Heligan and trace seventeen years of restoration work on the productive and romantic ornamental gardens.

Cultural activities include many opportunities to sample authentic Cornish food and locally produced drinks and to listen to one of the male voice choirs for which Cornwall is renowned.

History and Heritage of English Villages

With their thatched cottages, greens, maypoles, ponds, pubs, churches, schools, manor houses and occasional castles, villages are often portrayed as evoking timeless tranquillity and quintessential "Englishness". This programme examines how villages have been centres of rural life for hundreds of years, their story central to England's history. In the contrasting landscapes of Wessex chalklands, the Cotswolds and upland Yorkshire, we trace the evolution of villages and the countryside, learning about traditions, farming, rural crafts, natural history, and principal buildings from the earliest farmers to the present day.

Lectures include the development of farming and settlement in prehistory, Saxon and medieval villages and landscapes, flora and fauna, the impact of castles and abbeys and the changing nature of village life since the industrial revolution.

For the first part of the programme we are based in Limpley Stoke, a small village in the picturesque Avon valley just south east of Bath. From here field trips take us to the prehistoric World Heritage Sites at Avebury and Stonehenge while in the village and church of Avebury itself we learn how recent research has uncovered one of England's most important Anglo-Saxon sites.

In the Cotswolds we explore the history of estate settlements around the Romano-British villa at Chedworth and at the National Trust's medieval abbey, stately home and unspoilt village at Lacock.

We also look at the development of timber framed houses around the green at Steeple Ashton, stroll along the Kennet & Avon Canal, visit the Iron Age hillfort, medieval castle and deserted cathedral town at Old Sarum and its successor settlement nearby at Salisbury.

In part two of the programme we stay in Ripon, an attractive small cathedral city surrounded by the Yorkshire Dales and North Yorkshire Moors National Parks. We take field trips to "James Herriot country", the charming, distinctive villages of Hutton le Hole and Appleton le Moors and the impressive motte and bailey castle at Pickering, view rural crafts and machinery at a folk museum and enjoy a ride on a steam train. To see the changing importance of religion in rural and village life we have excursions to the World Heritage Sites of Fountains Abbey and Saltaire. Coffee with locals in a village hall and visits to a pub and the Bronte's Haworth complete our experience.

Landscapes Travel run this programme for Elderhostel in partnership with Peter Farrand of 'Mountain and More', a tour organiser based in northern England.

Historical Highlights - The South of England's World Heritage Sites

From prehistoric monuments at Stonehenge and Avebury to the medieval cathedral city of Canterbury and the Roman and Georgian spa town of Bath, we explore the social, cultural, political and economic history of Southern England. This programme, which Elderhostel operates in conjunction with Landscapes Travel and English Heritage, the British government's advisory body on the historic environment, provides expert insight into England's most important historical and archaeological monuments, many of which are designated as UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

The programme begins in Canterbury where we are accommodated in the tranquillity of the cathedral precincts. Lectures examine church, state and society from the Middle Ages to the Reformation while field trips explore the World Heritage Site of Canterbury cathedral, St Martin's church and St Augustine's Abbey. With the cathedral's specialist staff we enjoy unique access to the extraordinary stained glass as we go behind the scenes of the conservation studio, discover the hidden treasures in the cathedral's archives and library and enjoy a private performance of church music. We also have a guided walk around the ancient walled city of Canterbury and its medieval buildings and take additional excursions to Chatham Royal Dockyard and Dover Castle.

From Canterbury we travel, via the dramatic new English Heritage visitors' centre at Battle abbey and battlefield where William the Conqueror defeated the English in 1066, to the World Heritage Site of Bath where we are based for the second half of the programme. Lectures trace the impact of prehistoric civilizations on the landscape and urbanisation and the development of towns since the middle ages.

We take field trips to Avebury, Stonehenge and Bath's spectacular abbey, Roman bathing complex and gracious Georgian architecture, including the Assembly Rooms, Circus and Royal Crescent which were constructed when Bath was England's most fashionable spa.

At the Building of Bath Museum and the renovated interior at 1 Royal Crescent we delve deeper into the social and architectural history of this magnificent city while a private visit to the Jane Austen Centre reveals Bath's influence on the novels of its most famous resident.

Quest for King Arthur

For centuries the Welsh, Cornish and English have claimed King Arthur as their own. In literature, art, music and popular culture he has been variously represented as Celtic warrior lord or mythical figment of fertile medieval imaginations, as fact, legendary symbol of hope or icon of national identity.

This programme traces the epic legends of King Arthur and Tristan and Iseult and uncovers the social, cultural and political circumstances in which they evolved. In lectures and field trips we will explore the history and archaeology and experience the romance, beauty and splendour of Arthurian locations across South and West Wales, Cornwall and ancient Wessex.

We begin our quest at Carmarthen in West Wales where Conway Davies, another experienced Elderhostel lecturer, introduces us to Celtic influences on the Arthurian legends and the Welsh King Arthur Field trips include the Iron Age reconstruction at Castell Henllys, Nevern's Celtic high cross, the tiny cathedral city of St David's, the Roman legionary fortress at Caerleon which has been claimed as the site for Camelot, and impressive Kidwelly Castle which had links with Henry II and his queen Eleanor who did so much to embellish the Arthurian tales. Additional excursions illuminate Welsh life at the museum at Saint Fagan's, the extravagant Castell Coch and manor house at Llancaiach. We also enjoy a musical program by a Welsh choir and harpist.

With Andrew Thompson of Landscapes Travel we follow the Arthurian trail to Celtic Cornwall. Lectures consider Celtic Cornwall and ancient Wessex, trace the evolution of the Arthurian legends from the Middle Ages to the Tudors and introduce us to the Cornish language. Field trips venture to King Arthur's stone and the Arthurian Centre at Slaughterbridge, which is sometimes claimed as the site of Arthur's last battle, and to remote Dozmary Pool on evocative Bodmin Moor which is associated with Excalibur and the Lady of the Lake.

On the spectacular sea cliffs at Tintagel, which has been linked to King Arthur for hundreds of years, we unravel the secrets of the castle and church which go back to the 5th century and see the legends depicted in the fabulous stained glass at King Arthur's Halls.We also encounter Arthur and the legend of Tristan and Iseult at Castle Dore near Fowey, dramatic St Michael's Mount and Land's End.

From Cornwall we travel east with Andrew via Stonehenge to the cathedral city of Salisbury. During lectures we examine literary and artistic representations of Arthur from the 17th to 20th centuries and the legend's role in shaping local and national identities.

On a field trip to Glastonbury we explore the abbey, where medieval monks claimed to have found Arthur's grave, along with the tor and chalice well which are associated with the legendary quest for the Holy Grail. We also visit Cadbury Castle, another reputed site for Camelot, and the medieval great hall and round table at Winchester. There is also an excursion to the medieval centre of Salisbury and an opportunity to attend evensong in the magnificent gothic cathedral.

Website by WesternWeb Ltd
November 2007