England Literary Seminar

Arrive Manchester Airport. Transfer to our hotel, a charming country house hotel owned by the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire and located on the Bolton Abbey Estate at the edge of the Yorkshire Dales. 

After a sumptuous English breakfast at our hotel, join Professor Treharne and fellow travelers for the first of several gatherings to discuss the assigned readings and establish the framework for the trip. After lunch, we set out to Haworth to visit the Parsonage Museum, once home to the Brontë sisters.

This morning, gather for another session of book discussions and talks. Depart in the afternoon for Leeds where we will visit the Brotherton Library, which houses a large number of modern and medieval manuscripts. Time permitting, stop at the twelfth-century ruins of Kirkstall Abbey before returning to the hotel.

Travel east today, stopping for a visit at the delightful Medieval moated farmhouse at Markenfield Hall. Next, make our way to the ruins of Fountains Abbey, the first Cistercian monastery to be built in Yorkshire, marking the arrival of Gothic architecture in the North. Dissolved by Henry VIII in the sixteenth century, the abbey continues to inspire awe. Conclude our journey just south of York, where we check in to our home for the next four nights—a grand country house hotel located near the Archbishop’s Palace.

This morning, gather for another session of book discussions and talks. After lunch, head to the city center for a walk along its walls and narrow lanes. There is free time this afternoon to explore the city on our own before enjoying a private dinner in a medieval hall.

Once again, begin the day with a discussion session based around our reading. Later, drive to the market town of Pickering for a steam train ride across the wild North Yorkshire Moors. Journey to Whitby, famed today as the capital of modern Goth culture in Britain and scene of some of the most extraordinary sections of Bram Stoker’s magnificent creation, Dracula. After a visit to the ruined abbey, we return to York by road.

Enjoy our last book discussions this morning before visiting northern England’s grandest stately home, Castle Howard. This extraordinary building has been immortalized as the location where Brideshead Revisited was filmed. Relish its architectural splendors and glorious landscaped gardens during a private visit with a curator who will focus on the house's literary treasures. We enjoy lunch in the castle before returning to our hotel for our last night’s celebration.

Depart this morning for Manchester airport for return flights or travel to York station for onward travel by rail.