TOUR WITH US
ANNE & ELIZABETH:
MOTHER, DAUGHTER, TRAITORS, QUEENS
TOUR DATES
1-9 MAY 2027
Anne Boleyn & Elizabeth I
QUEENS. TRAITORS. ICONS.
As Anne Boleyn awaited her execution in the Tower of London at the hands of the swordsman from Calais, she knew already that her marriage to Henry VIII had been dissolved and that her beloved daughter, Elizabeth, had been declared a bastard.
As ‘thunder rolled around the throne’, we can only imagine how Anne’s thoughts and prayers for Elizabeth’s safety were foremost in her mind. She need not have worried; Elizabeth’s penetrating mind and sharp intellect would steer the young princess through terrifyingly dangerous waters to eventually taste the sweetness of her deliverance.
Elizabeth was declared Queen of England following her half-sister’s death on 17 November 1558. While her mother had changed the course of English history through her relationship with King Henry VIII, Elizabeth would prove her most enduring legacy.
With Elizabeth’s accession came the dawn of a bright new future. While England prospered, Elizabeth forged the cult of Gloriana and the Virgin Queen, creating a legacy many still revere as England’s Golden Age.
On this 8-day tour, we aim to weave together the stories of these two women – mother and daughter; their triumphs and tragedies, their rise and Anne’s fall. We will visit some of the places that were pivotal in their lives, knowing that it is only time and not space which separates us from the past.
SO, ARE YOU READY?
For more details of the itinerary and pricing, or to book your place, click the button below:
MEET YOUR HOSTS
YOUR TOUR CO-HOSTS
Sarah
Morris
Founder of ‘The Tudor Travel Guide’ and author of ‘In the Footsteps of Anne Boleyn’ and ‘In the Footsteps of the Six Wives of Henry VIII’.
Adam
Pennington
Founder of ‘The Tudor Chest’ blog and podcast, historian and author of ‘Henry VIII and the Plantagenet Poles – The Rise and Fall of a Dynasty’.
YOUR ITINERARY
HERE IS WHAT YOU CAN LOOK FORWARD TO DURING THE TOUR…
DAY ONE: INTO BOLEYN COUNTRY…
Pick up in Central London and Transfer to Norwich
We will be picked up early from central London and transferred to our hotel in Norfolk, checking in at the Elizabethan-style Dunston Hall, a four-star luxury hotel in Norfolk, the county of Anne Boleyn’s birth.
In the afternoon, there will be time to settle into our accommodation. Perhaps you will choose to enjoy the hotel’s spa with its gym, indoor and outdoor swimming pools, sauna and steam room – or maybe you would like to book a spa treatment to help you unwind and prepare for the adventures ahead. The choice is yours…
On this pivotal day in the Tudor calendar, when our thoughts rest with Anne Boleyn, we will come together to enjoy a private 3-course dinner in the hotel in the evening. A welcome talk from your co-hosts, Sarah Morris and Adam Pennington, will set the scene for the week ahead.
DAY TWO: A SLICE OF TUDOR LIFE
The Old Hall: Live Like a Tudor Courtier…
There is nothing like experiencing a taste of Tudor life to bring the past vividly to life, and on this first full day of the tour, you will have the opportunity to do just that!
You are invited to go on progress to revel in a typical Tudor day of ‘pastime with good company’ at the Old Hall, a privately owned, early sixteenth-century manor house just outside the ancient city of Norwich.
Under instruction from the King’s Master Archer, you will practice your archery by shooting at the butts. Afterwards, the King’s Falconer will talk about the birds of prey used to hunt quarry for the table. You can get close to these majestic creatures and, if lucky, perhaps even fly some of them.
Our merry disport will work up an appetite. In the afternoon, we will dine on an authentic feast of Tudor food (recreated from a menu served to Henry VIII during a visit to West Horsely Place in 1533).
Brigitte Webster (author of Eating with the Tudors) and one of the UK’s leading Tudor cooks will prepare our meal. As we eat, she will share the processes used by Tudor cooks to prepare such a meal and answer any questions about Tudor food.
Afterwards, we will be joined by Professor Simon Thurley, one of the most revered architectural historians of our time. Professor Thurley will give us a talk about the Boleyn’s property portfolio. Then finally, as dusk approaches, we will be treated to a concert of Tudor lute music to round off the day. The whole day will be a unique and extraordinary experience not to be missed!
DAY THREE: IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF THE BOLEYNS
Blickling Hall and Norwich Cathedral
Today, we go on the trail of the early Boleyns. We start the day touring Blickling Hall, which is believed by many to be the place of Anne Boleyn’s birth. We will uncover what remains of the Boleyn’s former residence and stroll to the local parish church to see several early brasses, all memorials to Anne’s Boleyn forefathers.
Along the way, we will be accompanied by Claire Martin, historian and the author of Heirs of Ambition: The Making of the Boleyns. Claire will discuss how the Boleyns rose from relatively low beginnings to reach the pinnacle of Tudor society.
We will travel to Norwich, Norfolk’s county town, in the afternoon. Our focus will be on the cathedral, where some of the early Boleyns are buried and where Elizabeth I visited during her 1578 visit to the city. Afterwards, Sarah will lead a walk through Norwich’s old town.
After a short rest at our hotel in the late afternoon, we will return to Norwich to dine at The Rooftop Gardens, where there are spectacular views out across the city towards the cathedral.
DAY FOUR: THE RISE OF THE FALCON
St Margaret’s Church, Tivetshall and Hatfield House
Having checked out of our Norfolk hotel, we travel south to our next port of call: Hatfield House, Princess Elizabeth’s much-loved childhood home.
Hatfield was one of Elizabeth’s most cherished childhood homes and the place to which she returned again and again. Here, Anne Boleyn spent precious time with her daughter, though harmony was fragile. At Hatfield, Anne clashed with Princess Mary over Mary’s refusal to acknowledge her as Henry VIII’s lawful queen.
Although much of the Tudor palace was later demolished, the surviving range, gatehouse and courtyard still allow us to step into Elizabeth’s world. It was here that she faced real danger during her sister Mary’s reign and here, in 1558, that she learned of her accession beneath the famous oak in Hatfield Park. In the Old Palace, she held her first council and appointed William Cecil as her chief minister. We will stand in the great hall where that moment unfolded and enjoy a special private audience with Elizabeth, reflecting on her mother and her years at Hatfield.
Our visit also includes a private tour of the house, with the opportunity to see the celebrated Rainbow Portrait and precious artefacts connected to one of England’s greatest monarchs.
Along the way, we will slip into a tiny, secluded Norfolk church to view a rare Tudor survival: Anne Boleyn’s white falcon badge displayed beside Elizabeth I’s royal arms on a sixteenth-century rood screen. A quiet, extraordinary glimpse of mother and daughter, preserved against the odds.
DAY FIVE: THE RISE AND FALL OF ANNE BOLEYN
The Tower of London
Our journey into Anne Boleyn’s story reaches its most powerful setting at the Tower of London, where triumph and tragedy unfolded within the same ancient walls. Spending a full day here allows us time to explore this extraordinary fortress at a slower, more reflective pace, tracing both Anne’s meteoric rise and her devastating fall.
We will start the day at The Queen’s Stairs, where Anne once stepped ashore amid royal splendour in 1533, welcomed as England’s anointed queen during the magnificent celebrations surrounding her coronation. Just three years later, she returned by the same river route, this time a prisoner. Nearly thirty years on, her daughter Elizabeth would make that same fearful journey, uncertain whether she would leave the Tower alive. Few places in England hold such layered echoes of a mother and daughter bound by fate.
With our expert Blue Badge Guide, we will walk the path Anne and Elizabeth took from the water’s edge to the royal lodgings, imagining the shifting emotions that accompanied each step, from ceremony to dread. Together we will explore the wider Tower complex before visiting the site traditionally associated with Anne’s execution on Tower Green, a place of quiet gravity where history feels intensely close.
By day’s end, the Tower reveals itself not simply as a prison, but as a stage upon which the Tudor dynasty turned. Returning to our centrally located London hotel, we carry with us the emotional weight of the day, having stood in the very spaces where a queen lost her life and her daughter’s destiny began to take shape.
DAY SIX: IMMORTALISING THE DYNASTY
Westminster Abbey
Twenty-five years after Anne Boleyn’s execution, the Boleyn falcon would once more take flight. This time, it was in the shape of her daughter, Elizabeth.
On this final day of our immersive tour, we return to central London. We spend the day celebrating Anne’s life and possibly her most outstanding legacy, her daughter, who, against all odds, survived to be crowned Elizabeth I at Westminster Abbey on 15 January 1559.
Your tour guides will recreate the splendour of coronation by taking you to all the key places associated with this most ancient of ceremonies. Along the way, you will hear how Elizabeth incorporated the memory of her mother into her coronation, and you can stand agog in front of the chair in which both Anne and Elizabeth were crowned.
Of course, no visit to Westminster Abbey would be complete without a tour of the Lady Chapel, constructed by Henry VII in 1502 as a majestic mausoleum to the Tudor dynasty, where your guides will recount the extraordinary tale of the rediscovery of Elizabeth I’s tomb during the 1800s.
Before we leave the abbey, we will climb to the heights of its triforium to visit the Jubilee Galleries, celebrated for its spectacular views over the world-famous Cosmati pavement and Edward the Confessor’s tomb.
DAY SEVEN: ELIZABETH – LIFE UNDER HOUSE ARREST
Leeds Castle
On this penultimate day of our time together, we visit the only surviving Tudor palace: Hampton Court.
Built by Wolsey in 1515, in its day, Hampton Court Palace was one of the most splendid Renaissance residences in England, and its courtyards, corridors and chambers echo with the ghostly voices of its Tudor past.
This was a place that both Anne and Elizabeth knew well, and several significant events affecting both of their lives took place here. For Anne, there was the rarely discussed and heartbreaking loss of her second pregnancy in the summer of 1534. For Elizabeth, Hampton Court saw the Queen close to death when she came down with smallpox there in the Spring of 1562, aged 29.
While you may have visited Hampton Court before, you will see the palace afresh on this tour as your hosts recreate the layout of the lost State and Privy Apartments of Henry VIII, aided by our Blue Badge Guide.
We will also have an exclusive visit to The Royal School of Needlework (based at Hampton Court) to enjoy a talk by a world expert on Tudor clothing and fashion, Eleri Lynn (author of Tudor Fashion) on how Anne used clothes to affirm the infant Elizabeth’s status and how, as adults, they both used fashion to impress. Afterwards, there will be free time to explore the palace and its extensive grounds and muse on the people who once roamed its corridors.
DAY EIGHT: LEGACY
Hever Castle
Twenty-five years after Anne Boleyn’s execution, the Boleyn falcon would once more take flight. This time, it was in the shape of her daughter, Elizabeth.
On this final day of our immersive tour, we return to central London. We spend the day celebrating Anne’s life and possibly her most outstanding legacy, her daughter, who, against all odds, survived to be crowned Elizabeth I at Westminster Abbey on 15 January 1559.
Your tour guides will recreate the splendour of coronation by taking you to all the key places associated with this most ancient of ceremonies. Along the way, you will hear how Elizabeth incorporated the memory of her mother into her coronation, and you can stand agog in front of the chair in which both Anne and Elizabeth were crowned.
Of course, no visit to Westminster Abbey would be complete without a tour of the Lady Chapel, constructed by Henry VII in 1502 as a majestic mausoleum to the Tudor dynasty, where your guides will recount the extraordinary tale of the rediscovery of Elizabeth I’s tomb during the 1800s.
Before we leave the abbey, we will climb to the heights of its triforium to visit the Jubilee Galleries, celebrated for its spectacular views over the world-famous Cosmati pavement and Edward the Confessor’s tomb.
Our final adventure will be a trip to the National Portrait Gallery to visit the newly presented Tudor rooms and get up close to two iconic portraits, one of Anne Boleyn and one of Elizabeth I, before we head back to our hotel to raise a glass of bubbly to two women: ‘Mother, Daughter, Traitors, Queens’, who together changed English history and still hold us in their thrall over 500 years later!
DAY NINE: FINAL FAREWELLS
The Woodlands Hotel, Cobham, Surrey.
After a leisurely breakfast at The Woodlands Hotel, there will be final farewells as we say goodbye for now, taking fabulous memories of an incredible week with us.
Until next time!
For more details of the itinerary and pricing, or to book your place, click the button below: