The Carter Company ~ authentic travels by bike and on foot
T +44 (0)1296 631671 /// E-MAIL US  
April 2023
 
 NEW TOUR - THE SOUTH DOWNS WAY
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We always love discovering new gems to share with you on our tours and recent visits the team have made to Kent, Norfolk and Sussex and have got us all excited and champing at the bit to put new itineraries together.
 
The only thing holding us back is being so busy at this time of year organising all your lovely holidays that we don’t have the time to spend getting our new tours as perfect as possible!
 
We did manage to get the new Luxury South Downs Way walking tour finished and are really excited by the both the beauty of the area and its panoramic views and also the history and quintessential ‘Englishness’ of the villages as the route winds its way from ancient Winchester to the old fashioned seaside town of Eastbourne.   Some of the highlights are below...
 
Dust off those walking boots and get in touch!
 
Happy browsing!
  HISTORY OF THE SOUTH DOWNS WAY
Although designated a National Trail in 1963 and opened in 1972, the tracks and paths that have been linked to form the South Downs Way have been used for around 8000 years.  Early occupation in the area began 2000 years later in the neolithic period and there is still evidence of tribal hill forts such as that at Old Winchester Hill (now a nature reserve) from the Iron Age.  Bignor Roman Villa suggests that the Romans also used these trails.




   
A settlement since the Iron Age and once home to the British Belgae tribe, Winchester became one of the largest towns in Roman Britain by surface area and became the capital of King Alfred the Great’s Saxon Kingdom of Wessex.  The cathedral was originally built in 1079 and remains the longest Gothic Cathedral in Europe.  Now the historic streets offer a great variety independant shops and eateries.
 
 

   
Recorded in the Doomsday Book as Amberley, the land where the castle stands was gifted to Bishop Wilfred in 683 AD by Ceadwalla King of Wessex.  Over 400 years the timber framed hunting lodge built in the early 12th Century was transformed into fortified manor house by its many resident bishops and although partially destroyed in the Civil War eventually passed into private ownership and restored, becoming a luxury hotel in 1989.
 
 
  THE SEVEN SISTERS, BEACHY HEAD AND EASTBOURNE
The Seven Sisters are a series of chalk sea cliffs, whose dips and swales are the remnants of dry valleys gradually being eroded by the sea.  They lead to Beachy Head the highest chalk cliff in England and part of the longest undeveloped stretch on the south coast – and the reason the cliffs retain their bright white colour.  Close by the seaside resort of Eastbourne with its art galleries, Victorian pier calls itself the ‘sunniest place in the UK’ and a fitting end to your walk.

 
 
CONTACT US
Tel: +44 (0) 1296 631 671   hello@the-carter-company.com
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The Carter Company, The Red House, Aston Clinton
Buckinghamshire, HP22 5EZ