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Hamton Court Palace and the Thames © Wirestock Creators

Bibury, England © Milosz Maslanka

Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, England © Alexey Fedorenko

Windsor Castle, England © Darryl Brooks

Walking a Royal River - Art, architecture and history from the source to Hampton Court

Overview Practicalities Testimonials

Section:

Tour highlights

Walk between two and six miles a day from the source of the Thames to Hampton Court.
Along the towpath and through the gentle hills which flank the valley.
Visit villages, churches, country houses, gardens and palaces with regal connections from the Middle Ages to the present day.

‘The Thames is no ordinary waterway. It is the golden thread of our nation’s history.’ It is not to disparage Churchill’s irresistibly orotund metaphor to assert nevertheless that, by comparison with the other great rivers of the world, the Thames is puny. But therein lies its enchantment.

While in its lower reaches the river passed through what was for a couple of centuries the largest city in the world and host to its largest port, above the tidal limit at Teddington it was too narrow, too shallow and too meandering to contribute much to the industrial or commercial might of Britain in the early modern era. A vital channel of communication when oars and poles were the locomotive forces – not least to transport rulers and courtiers to their country retreats upstream of the capital – for much of its length the Thames is now a bucolic backwater.

This tour selects some of the most attractive stretches of the river to walk along, but it does not follow a linear journey from one end to the other. While resorting regularly to the towpath (now a designated long-distance trail, the Thames Path), the itinerary also ranges through varied countryside and gentle hills, and includes a representative spread of the best of the buildings, artefacts and art in the region.

As much as anything, this tour is an exploration of the English village. The numerous examples are as well-preserved as they are various. Parish churches and Iron Age forts, manor houses and major mansions, rapturous gardens and leafy churchyards, medieval, classical and railway-era bridges, associations with artists and writers, and of course quintessential riverine landscapes: these are chief among the attractions of the tour.

It omits the larger towns; as a travel writer put it in 1910, ‘You cannot rusticate at Reading’. Even Oxford is by-passed; to cram the city into an afternoon would be cruel.

Practicalities

Two sharing: A$6,280. Single occupancy: A$7,680.

Hotel accommodation; breakfasts, 1 lunch and 4 dinners with wine, water, coffee; transport by private coach; all admissions; all tips; the services of the lecturer and the tour manager.

The Swan, Bibury: a 4-star, former 17th-century coaching inn in the heart of the village. The Compleat Angler, Marlow: comfortable 4-star hotel, well-positioned beside the Thames with excellent views. Single rooms are doubles for sole use throughout.

This is a walking tour, graded easy. There are 7 walks and all are graded easy with the exception of 1 moderately strenuous route which involves a climb of 230 feet up to Wittenham Clumps. Some walks include ascent and descent, climbing over stiles. It is essential for participants to have appropriate walking footwear, be in good physical condition and to be used to country walking with uphill and downhill content. You should be prepared for the (sometimes inclement) British weather. Average distance by coach per day: 38 miles.

Are you fit enough to join the tour?

Between 10 and 22 participants.

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