The following itinerary should be read as proposed activities and is intended to give a reasonable idea of what to expect on Tour. Day programmes may shift or specific venues change.
Saturday 27 July – arrive at Youlbury Activity Centre 2pm and settle in. Approx. 7pm travel to Bucknell Village Hall for Saturday Night On and dancing with invited friends and sides. Supper or possibly early evening meal provided.
Sunday 28 July – 9.30 am: Tour dance workshop. 11 am travel to Binsey. Base ourselves at the Perch Inn for dancing and forays onto Port Meadow, to visit Lewis Carroll’s Treacle Well (holy spring at St Margaret’s Church), Godstow Nunnery where Queen Eleanor incarcerated Fair Rosamund. This is good place to view river traffic too. Lunch can be a self-catered picnic or bought at The Perch Inn and enjoyed in their garden overlooking the River Thames. This would be a good venue and day for other dancers to join us too.
Monday 29 July – visit Blenheim Palace and dance in Woodstock. Depending on how much we decide to do here this could be a whole day, with the public attractions and grounds, the Palace itself and the village of Woodstock to occupy us. Own lunch.
Tuesday 30 July – 10am travel to Headington. Visit William Kimber’s grave, dance outside The Chequers and have a catered lunch there. Move on to Elder Stubbs Allotment, a prize-winning community garden in Cowley. The gardens contain a woodlot, orchard and art installations.
Wednesday 31 July – 9.30 am set out for Warwick Castle or possibly Kenilworth Castle. This could be optional, done in the spirit of a Free Day. As anyone ‘doing’ Warwick Castle is not going to have much time for dancing. Dance in Leamington Spa. Own lunch.
Thursday 1 August – 9.30am leave for Bampton. Lynne – honorary NZ dancer lives here, so does Emma Bridgewater the pottery doyenne. Good specialist shops. Dance of course. Own lunch – there or in Wantage where there is a good market Square under King Alfred’s statuesque gaze. Hopefully meet up with Icknield Way for dancing et al. After lunch visit The Uffington White Horse and nearby Neolithic features including the long barrow known as Wayland’s Smithy. For keen walkers, this is the opportunity to tread the ancient Ridgeway track.
Friday 2 August – A tiki tour around Morris villages that we haven’t yet visited. All reasonable requests considered.
Saturday 3 August – Daytime, dance in Oxford City – pub crawl anyone? Dance spots could include Gloucester Green, Bonn Square, Radcliffe Square, University Parks, Botanic Gardens, Christ Church Meadow… Take time out from dancing to visit a museum, art gallery, Oxford Colleges, go shopping or punting. This is the day to invite everyone who wants to dance with us to come and join in. And that includes the Lammas Ale in the evening – most likely venue Wootton Community Hall near Youlbury. Evening feast will be catered and provided in the Tour cost.
Sunday 4 August – Pack up and leave.
The evenings are going to be long and light. There is plenty of room at the camp for workshops and socialising. The place is a vast woodland park. However there is an evening of skittles at Islip arranged, and in the planning stages, workshops in traditional style: Headington, Adderbury and Ducklington are all possibilities. Attending an active side’s practice night is also a possibility. Oxfolk, the Oxford folk club meets on Friday nights.
Travelling times have been kept within an hour. 45 mins is the maximum time to expect under normal road conditions and trips in and around Oxford are more like twenty minute drives.
lammastour 