#####################################################

ABINGDON & THE

COUNTRY CRUISE

This day begins and ends in beautiful Abingdon-on-Thames where the mediaeval buildings drip down into the water – quite unlike any other Thames side town. With a gentle walk, a little bit on the coach and a two-hour country cruise this new tour was a real crowd-pleaser last year and this year includes rare access to the ancient Abingdon Abbey buildings.

Please meet our Blue Badge Guide at 10.30am in the heart of Abingdon, 5 miles south of Oxford. There are cafés on the open Market Place where you can buy morning refreshments. Abingdon has a good claim to be one of our oldest towns with men and women living here on the banks of the river since the Iron Age.

With a wealth of local stories and traditions like Bun Throwing flat & compact Abingdon - a town of 200 listed buildings - is an ideal spot for a gentle town trail. A Benedictine Abbey was founded here in Saxon times. We weave our way through the ghosts of the old Abbey, which was run with all the brutal efficiency of a modern profit hungry corporation. We visit the little church by the gate that the monks built for the peasants and enjoy rare access to some of the mediaeval buildings by the river left behind when Henry VIII’s men dismantled the Abbey which offer a fascinating glimpse into the business life of the monastery, and also include a small theatre created at the time of the coronation of our present Queen.

After free time in the centre of town for lunch a short countryside drive takes us to the Folly Bridge on the edge of Oxford to board an Edwardian cruiser with an all weather cabin and a glorious open deck for a very pleasant two-hour cruise downstream through Christ Church Meadows and through the beautiful Iffley Lock out past Rose Island into beautiful open countryside. We negotiate the deepest lock on the Thames and pass magnificent Nuneham House built for the Harcourt family and saved Downton style by marriage to an American heiress.

Buy a cake from the rather good cake shop in Abingdon to bring on board and enjoy with a cup of tea (although there are cold drinks and bar drinks if you prefer) before we moor up by the curiously octagonal Old Gaol back in Abingdon where the coach will be ready to take you home at 4.45pm.

Adults & Seniors: £29

Available daily May to the end

of September 2017

For members who can’t climb the Abbey steps there is a pretty little garden they can wait in.

5 miles

2