Secret Landscape Tours takes you on a 10 day tour of Wiltshire, Somerset, Dorset, Devon and Cornwall.

We visit many special places, including Stonehenge and Avebury, Glastonbury, Cadbury Castle, Tintagel, Dartmoor and Bodmin Moor. We will be experiencing stone circles, standing stones, stone rows, holy wells, fairy glens, ancient trackways and many other powerful places.

We will be staying in comfortable accommodation in Glastonbury and in beautiful Fowey in Cornwall.

This tour takes you to the main sacred sites in the west of England. We will experience some stunning and hugely evocative landscapes.

You have the chance to experience these special places with a friendly group of like-minded people but will also have the time for personal discovery.

The maximum number of people on this tour is 15. We like to keep our tours reasonably small.

Peter Knight, author of The Ancient Stones of Dorset and Thirteen Moons - Conversations with the Goddess among many other books, will be the guest speaker during our day at Stonehenge and Avebury. He is has huge knowledge of these sites and will help make this an unforgettable visit.

DATES - We run this tour three times in 2009:

• May 11th to May 20th

• September 14th to September 23rd

• October 5th to October 14th

PRICE

£1550 per person, £200 single supplement. The price includes all admission fees, all travel from London Heathrow airport to sites and return, guide fees and comfortable bed and breakfast accommodation. The price doesn't include air fares, or meals, apart from breakfast.

OUTLINE ITINERARY

DAY 1
Picked up from London Heathrow and taken to Glastonbury and your accommodation. Free late afternoon and evening.

DAY 2
Tour of Glastonbury.

DAY 3
Tour of Stonehenge, Avebury and nearby sites.

DAY 4
Wells Cathedral, Priddy Nine Barrows, Burrington Combe, Aveline's Hole, Stanton Drew Stone Circles, Cheddar Gorge.

DAY 5
Leave Glastonbury. We visit wild and beautiful Dartmoor, to explore some evocative ancient sites. Arrive at our accommodation at Fowey in Cornwall.

DAY 6
We walk along part of the Old Saints Way, a Neolithic track and also visit St. Duloe's Stone Circle. In the afternoon we enjoy the coastal beauty of Fowey.

DAY 7
We explore St. Michaels Mount and the stone circles, standing stones and holy wells of the West Penwith area of Cornwall, near Penzance.

DAY 8
Stopping off at Bodmin Moor to visit some prehistoric stone monuments, we travel to Tintagel and St. Nectan's Glen.

DAY 9
We leave Fowey and travel to Cadbury Castle, possibly the ancient Camelot. We then move on to historic Henley-on-Thames, where we stay the night.

DAY 10
We arrive at London Heathrow at 10am.

DETAILED ITINERARY

Our tours start at 9.30am and finish at 5.30pm.

DAY ONE - We pick you up from the Meeting Place, terminal 3 at London Heathrow airport at mid-day noon. We start our journey to the West Country, with a stop off for lunch in historic MARLBOROUGH. After lunch, we proceed to GLASTONBURY, where you are dropped off at your accommodation. We all gather together at 7.30pm for a group dinner, where we can meet each other and find out more about some of special places we will be visiting.

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DAY TWO - Our minibus picks us up at 9.30am. We visit the holy sites of GLASTONBURY, starting with Wearyall Hill, where grows the Glastonbury Thorn, inexorably linked with Joseph of Arimathea. We then visit Chalice Well, a place of healing and vision and linked with the Grail mysteries. From the well garden, we can see Glastonbury Tor looming above and we walk the path up this atmospheric hill, place of Gwyn ap Nudd, king of the fairies. After we have descended the Tor, we disperse for an hour for lunch and a quick look at the shops in the town.

After lunch we explore the Abbey ruins, an extremely early Christian place of worship, with probable Pagan antecedents. Legend has it that Joseph of Arimathea founded the earliest church here, on land already sacred.

The inspiration behind the building of abbeys and cathedrals can partially be found in the natural world, particularly in trees and it is to trees that we travel to next - Gog and Magog, the two ancient Oaks, that were thought to be part of an ancient processional route to the Tor. These two mighty trees, thought to be over 1,000 years old, have a strong presence, despite Gog now bearing no leaves.

For our final destination, we travel three miles out of Glastonbury, onto the Levels and to the site of the Old Sweet Track. This Neolithic trackway, set in wooded, swampy land similar to those early times, was found by accident by a peat-cutter, Mathew Sweet, hence the name. Most of the trackway was re-buried after archaeological investigation, and we can actually walk on it, a foot or so under our feet!

This tour ends around 5.30pm and we are free to spend the evening as we wish - perhaps a relaxing supper in a pub, or a meal in one of Glastonbury's many restaurants.

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DAY THREE - Today we visit STONEHENGE, AVEBURY, WEST KENNET LONGBARROW, SILBURY HILL and THE DEVILS DEN.

We start our day visiting Stonehenge, a drive of approx 90 minutes. We are joined for the day by Peter Knight. Peter knows the Stonehenge/Avebury area intimately and will help us understand some of the key functions of these ancient megalithic structures.

After an hour or so at Stonehenge, we drive to Avebury where we can walk amongst and touch the huge stones, one of which weighing over 50 tons! Peter will lead us to the sacred centre, where there was, up until the late 18th Century, a hugely tall Obelisk. Here we will gently attune with the stones.

After lunch at the pub in Avebury, we travel to the Devil's Den, a Neolithic Dolmen in a remote setting on the Wiltshire Downs. Many people have found this a uniquely powerful place.

The West Kennet Longbarrow is visited next. This structure pre-dates Avebury and was a place of burial and ritual during early Neolithic times. We can actually enter this site and Peter will help us commune with the Ancestors.

Silbury Hill is our last site. This unique man-made hill is a hugely mysterious structure and a prominent feature in the ceremonial landscape.

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DAY FOUR - We start our day with a visit to Wells Cathedral, based on the site of a Roman mausoleum. The first church was established here in 705 by King Ine of Wessex and was dedicated to St Andrew. The only remains are some excavated foundations and the baptismal font in the south transept.

The cathedral dates from the late 12th century. Wells cathedral has been described as "the most poetic of the English cathedrals". We spend a couple of hours in Wells, exploring not only the cathedral but also the Bishop's Palace, surrounded by a moat and the pool in which rise the springs which give Wells its name.

After Wells, we travel up to the Mendip Hills which rise above the city. We travel through the small village of Priddy, where an annual sheep fair and Gypsy horse fair is held every August. Just outside Priddy are the Priddy Nine Barrows, Bronze Age tumuli. These are a crescent of burial mounds, built to honour the leading members of a local tribe. We then stop for lunch at a nearby pub.

Burrington Combe is a beautiful gorge set deep in the Mendips. Here we visit the cave called Avelines Hole, where human bones were found, the earliest burial site in Britain, dating from Mesolithic times. Nearby is The Rock of Ages which inspired the famous hymn.

Stanton Drew Stone Circles, a 30 minutes drive, is our next site. Dating from around 2000BC, there are three stone circles at Stanton Drew, the Great Circle being one of the largest in the country.

Recent discoveries have found the remains of a highly elaborate pattern of buried pits which probably held timber poles, arranged in nine rings. This was an important ritual site, yet unlike Stonehenge and Avebury, is rarely visited. We will give ourselves time to attune to this special place. We end our day with a drive through spectacular Cheddar Gorge, one of the natural wonders of Britain.

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DAY FIVE - We are picked up from our accommodation at 9.30 and we say our goodbyes to Glastonbury, for now we will be travelling on our trusty coach to the small and very beautiful coastal town of Fowey in south-east Cornwall, where we will be spending the next few nights.

Our route takes us through the county of Devon and our first stop is at the market town of Ashburton, full of antique shops and art galleries and some lovely old buildings. We have an hour's free time here and then we all meet up at a wonderful tapas restaurant for lunch.

After lunch, we drive up to nearby Dartmoor. This wild, elemental and atmospheric area is full of ancient sites and legends. We travel to Dartmeet, a meeting place of rivers and one of the most beautiful areas of the Moor.

We move on to the haunted and mysterious Wistman's Wood, where on moonlit nights the wisthounds of the Wild Hunt are said to be heard.

Our final stop is to see the famous stone rows of Merrivale, enigmatic spirit paths, thought to date from late Neolithic times. We stop for tea in Tavistock, an ancient town with some wonderful old buildings.

We then drive through some beautiful country into Cornwall and arrive at our accommodation in Fowey. Our evening is free for us to settle in and have dinner in one of the plentiful restaurants and pubs in this exquisite coastal town.

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DAY SIX - Our day starts with a visit to Duloe Stone Circle, dating from the Bronze Age and consisting of 8 large quartz stones. This circle has a gentle feeling; set in green pastureland, it emanates peace and tranquillity.

We drive next to Lanlivery, where the church of St. Brevita boasts a tower 100 feet tall, the second highest in Cornwall. Here we also find part of the Saint's Way, a trackway stretching from Fowey to Padstow and so named because it was used as a route for the early Celtic Christian missionaries. We walk a mile or so along this historic path, seeing in the distance the hills of Bodmin Moor.

Our final stop this morning is Golant, a small waterside village on the banks of the River Fowey. We see the church of St. Sampson, one of the earliest recorded of all saints. St. Sampson travelled from Dublin to Wales and then on to Cornwall, probably utilising the Saint's Way. There is a holy Well by the church and we also visit the cave where St. Sampson had his shelter. Legend has it that the church here was the site of the tragic wedding between King Mark of Cornwall and Iseult, who by then was in love with Mark's nephew Tristan. In the distance stands the mound of Castle Dore, where King Mark was based. We take a walk along this beautiful part of the Saint's Way that runs along the River Fowey.

We return to Fowey for lunch, after which we have a free afternoon to explore this lovely town. There are many things we can do - explore the shops and atmospheric ancient streets of this town, take a ferry across to the little village of Polruan, walk along the coast to the ruins of St. Catherine's Castle, or just sit by the sea, reading a book by Daphne De Maurier, who lived for many years near Fowey and who is inexorably linked with this fascinating area.

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DAY SEVEN - Today we visit the Penwith area of Cornwall, an area which is steeped with standing stones, stone circles and holy wells. St. Michael's Mount, the classically evocative rocky island, topped with a medieval castle, the official residence of Lord St. Levan, is our first stop. This is an early Christian site, with probable pagan antecedents. There was a priory here, linked to the abbey of Mont Saint Michel in Normandy. Our next visit is to the Merry Maidens, a late Neolithic Stone Circle. This is amongst the best preserved of the Cornish stone circles consisting of 19 stones, with an entrance in the east. We also see The Pipers, two standing stones. We have lunch in Penzance and have a quick visit to Morab Botanical Gardens.

We then travel a couple of miles to Madron Holy Well, one of the most visited wells in Cornwall, as can be seen by the large amounts of rags or clouties, tied to the branches of nearby trees. These represent petitions or wishes for health. Here we also see the 4th century baptismal chapel.

Lanyon Quoit is a dolmen or burial chamber. In the 18th century the structure was tall enough for a person on horseback to stand under, but in 1815 it was torn down by a storm and one of the uprights broken in half, so there are only 3 uprights today. However, before this collapse, this dolmen was seen to be aligned with the cardinal directions, which gives people to believe that ritual activity was important here.

We move on to the famous Men-an-Tol holed stone, which consists of 3 upright granite stones: a round stone with its middle holed out and 2 small standing stones to either side. There is said to be a fairy guardian here and local legend ascribes healing, if one passes through the hole. The circular stone aligns exactly with the centre stone of Boscawen-Un stone circle and St. Buryan church. This is just one of the many aligments of Cornish sacred sites, which posits intentional positioning and knowledge of the movements of the sun and moon and the planets. We finish our day with a visit to Boscawen-Un stone circle.

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DAY EIGHT - We start the day by travelling through part of Bodmin Moor, a wild area of outstanding beauty. We visit the three great circles known as The Hurlers, which date from the early Bronze Age. Local legend has it that the stones represent local people who were turned to stone for playing the game of hurling on the Sabbath! These circles lie in a remarkable ceremonial landscape of stone rows, standing stones, cists, barrows and cairns. The numerous alignments apparent in this area suggest that the Hurlers may have been part of an ancient processional route. To the south-west are a pair of standing stones known as The Pipers. These may act as a "portal", giving access to The Hurlers from the west.

Having completed our explorations of this special area, we travel to north Cornwall and the small town of Tintagel, on the Atlantic coast, where we have lunch. Tintagel and Tintagel Castle, which we visit after lunch, are linked with King Arthur. The medieval historian Geoffrey of Monmouth cited Tintagel Castle as the birthplace of Arthur, who was conceived due to the machinations of the wizard Merlin. Merlin's Cave is situated on the beach below the castle. Archaeological discoveries discovered that an early Celtic fortress did exist here. Tintagel Castle is situated on one of the most dramatic sites in the whole of Britain. Situated on a rocky headland, with the sea crashing on the rocks below, this is a site of immense wild beauty.

We conclude our visit with a visit to St Nectan's Glen and Waterfall and the nearby inscribed labyrinths at Rocky Valley. St Nectan built a small sanctuary beside the Trevillitt River around 500AD. Just below his simple hermitage, of which little remains, is a waterfall and a rock basin, known as a "kieve" in the Cornish language. Here, at the foot of the waterfall, surrounded by high rocky cliffs, is a place of huge spiritual ambience. There have been many photographs of "orbs" at this special place, so bring your digital cameras!

The two small carved labyrinths at Rocky Valley are thought to date from at least 300 years ago and possibly even from the Bronze Age. They are an enigmatic emblem of our journey through life.

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DAY NINE - We pack our bags and are picked up from our accommodation at 9.30am. We travel to the county of Somerset, to visit Cadbury Castle, another site linked with King Arthur, who was believed to have held court here. The earliest settlement was in Neolithic times and the site was also occupied in the late Bronze Age and throughout the Iron Age. The castle was first a hill fort built around 400BC. It was re-fortified at least five times during the following centuries

Evidence shows that there was a battle during the Roman times, around AD50. Local tradition, first written down by John Leland in the early 16th century, tells that Cadbury Castle was King Arthur's Camelot, meaning "land by the River Cam".

There was a Great Hall at Cadbury during the 5th Century AD and it is thought that Cadbury was close to Arthur's eastern frontier and thus would have been a strategic site.

From Cadbury, we travel to the beautiful riverside town of Henley-on-Thames, where the annual Royal Regatta is held on the river. Here we spend our last night of the tour, with a chance to explore this historic town and perhaps have a walk beside the River Thames.

We join together in the evening for dinner, where we can share and evaluate our experiences over the last nine days and reflect on the memories given to us by some of the wonderful places visited.

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DAY TEN - We are picked up from our accommodation at 8.30am, to arrive at London Heathrow airport by 10am. For those staying on in England, there is an Underground train from Heathrow into central London. We say our "goodbyes" and travel on to our destinations, hopefully refreshed and enlivened by our recent adventures. Safe journey to all!

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