In sincere appreciation to all the folks who take the time to write trip and/or tour reviews, I will attempt to briefly summarize our recent experiences on the Rick Steves Best of England tour. The obvious disclaimer is that this is only our (husband and myself) experience and opinions. Hopefully it is still instructive and informative, particularly to those who might be interested in taking this specific tour.
SITES:
Each of the cathedrals visited were unique. The Wells Cathedral (for us) was more memorable than Westminster, perhaps because the architecture and ambiance were enhanced by the small crowds at the former. Shoulder to shoulder with tourists at Westminster, we were glad we had seen it before on a much less crowded day. The York Minster is beautiful and we were so glad to have sat and experienced the space. Blenheimâs story is compelling.
We once took a tour of Glastonbury with a London-based company. We felt that was better than the RS experience. On that previous tour, the Chalice Well /Avebury Stones/ Glastonbury were matched thematically and tied together the mystery and magic of all three sites. On the RS tour we were simply left to wander on our own at Glastonbury and Avebury and did not visit the Chalice Well site at all. We did have a lovely picnic at Glastonbury, but it would have been much more meaningful with some explanation and story-spinning from our tour leader.
It is always interesting to tour elegant manor houses that open their doors to create funds to keep them going. We really enjoyed the flour mill at Stanway. (Our favorite is still Cawdor Castle from the Scotland tour.)
We looked forward to the cream tea at Stokesay Castle, but it was a disappointment. We were left on our own to explore the abandoned castle with an audio guide where the numbered stations did not match the narrative. Most of us were left confused and wandering aimlessly. Then, on our own, we wound our way back to the small cafe building where we were told we could pick a scone and a drink. A cafeteria style tea was not what we imagined. There was no instruction in the habit, ritual and tradition of the English tea here or at any time during the tour.
We had a chance to meet with a Welsh sheepherder. Having done a similar thing on the RS Scotland tour we looked forward to that experience. The farmer is a local TV star who keeps most of his working dogs kenneled. He was an entertaining guy, but the visit was not as extensive as the Scottish one. There was a sales â opportunityâ at both.
Hadrian's Wall was fascinating, but the allotment of time seemed skewed to us. We started at a small museum with interesting displays that we were not given any time to view. We were there just for a short film, and then moved on. Again, we were left to explore on our own. That was a theme of this tour; hear a few words from our tour leader or a local guide and then just walk around and explore on your own. Most of the time that meant a choice between having some lunch or seeing the site. It became increasingly frustrating to us. For example, if this had been our only experience at the Tower of London we would have been very upset. We had barely enough time to get some food and take a Beefeater tour. If you wanted to explore other aspects of this site you would have had to come back later and do it on your own.
The National Railway Museum we did on our own was incredible. Half a day was not nearly enough.
To summarize the sites visited. Particularly, on this England tour we heard little English history ( the English Civil War was not discussed once.) The sites visited focused on Roman history almost exclusively. There is a lot of overlap in genre with the Scotland tour. We liked the Scottish version more.