Children’s Literature in the UK: From J.R.R. Tolkien to J.K. Rowling

TOUR HIGHLIGHTS: Minnesota State Moorhead UK May 2022

London
5 days, 5 nights

• Roald Dahl Museum and Story Centre: During the tour you’ll get the chance to see what you’d look like in Roald Dahl’s school uniform, measure yourself against Roald Dahl’s characters, fly like the Roly-Poly Bird up to our new archive room, pick your favorite from our top 5 books to see exclusive behind-the-scenes content, chant like an Oompa-Loompa and explore the early drafts of some of your favorite books, hearing how things MIGHT have been in some of Roald’s most famous tales.
• Ashdown Forest: Home of Winnie the Pooh: Discover the landscape that inspired the setting for the classic Pooh stories by A.A.Milne. Walk through the Ashdown Forest and visit places featured in the famous books including the Enchanted Place, Eeyore’s Gloomy Place and the open heathland. Hear excerpts from the stories and learn a little about the flora, fauna and history of the Ashdown Forest. For a little mackerel of something have a taste of heather honey and pine tea

Oxford
2 days, 1 night

• Guided Tour of C.S. Lewis’s Home: The Kilns, also known as C. S. Lewis House, is the house on the outskirts of Headington Quarry, where the author C. S. Lewis wrote all of his Narnia books and other classics. The house itself was featured in the Narnia books.
• Walking Tour of Oxford with Emphasis on C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, and Lewis Carroll Sites: This Literary Tour, which visits many of the city key historical sites with an additional emphasis on those Oxford locations and characters associated with children’s literature. There is a wealth of associations within the buildings of the Colleges, and along Oxford’s streets and waterways, including Lewis Carroll and Alice in Wonderland, C.S. Lewis (The Chronicles of Narnia), J.R. R. Tolkien (Lord of the Rings), Philip Pullman (His Dark Materials) and Kenneth Grahame (Wind in the Willows).

Lake District & New Castle 
3 days, 2 nights

• Visit Wray Castle, Hill Top, Beatrix Potter Gallery in Hawkshead: Start the tour with a stop at Wray Castle where Beatrix Potter was a teenager on holiday in 1882. It was here that Beatrix spent her 16th birthday, met Canon Hardwicke Drummond Rawnsley, one of the three founding members of The National Trust, and started her lifelong love of the area. This was where it all began for her (entrance included).
  Then enjoy a drive through the steep and twisty narrow Lakeland roads set in the charming pastoral landscape, to Beatrix Potter’s home in Near Sawrey. On arrival, enjoy a walking tour of the village pointing out all of the places that Beatrix knew and used in her illustrations for the famous books. At the end of the village you will arrive at Hill Top, a 17th century farmhouse which was the home of Beatrix Potter (entrance to Hill Top and Gardens included). Beatrix wrote many of her famous children’s stories in this little house. Then we continue to Hawkshead, “the prettiest village in the Lake District”. Your guide will take you on a short-guided walk around the village and then take you into the Beatrix Potter Gallery where you will be able to see original Beatrix Potter manuscripts and illustrations.
• Alnwick Castle: Alnwick Castle is a castle and country house and the seat of the 12th Duke of Northumberland. The castle has gained massive popularity when it was used for the exterior and interior of Hogwarts of the Harry Potter films.

Edinburgh
5 days, 5 nights

• Harry Potter Tour of Edinburgh: You’ll discover the magical locations that inspired characters and scenes in the series, visit the places where JK Rowling wrote the books. The tour will include a stop at the Elephant House. Opened in 1995, The Elephant House has established itself as one of the best tea and coffee houses in Edinburgh. Made famous as the place of inspiration to writers such as J.K. Rowling, who sat writing much of her early novels in the back room overlooking Edinburgh Castle. Where J.K. Rowling may have written some of the Harry Potter book.
• Kirriemuir: Kirriemuir is known as the gateway to the glens. This fairytale town is perhaps best known as the birthplace of Sir JM Barrie, creator of Peter Pan, whose childhood home has been carefully restored as a museum.