British Barge ACTIEF - Hotel barge on the River Thames England Britain UK

- ACTIEF -

HENLEY FESTIVAL CHARTER CRUISE
DEPARTING JUNE ?, 2009 (TBA)

The Upper Thames, England

The highlight for this very special week is one of the premiere events of the 'English Season', a unique evening at the Henley Festival Of Music And The Arts. You will be mingling with the local aristocrats who will be dressed up in dinner suits and flowing evening dresses, sipping champagne from their punts or slipper launches.

This evening promises to be full of romance and magic. In the tents where the worlds greatest rowers performed last week at the Henley Royal Regatta, this week the best musical and comedic artists come together to entertain you for one very special night. As you walk the lawns, you will be able to admire gallery areas full of great sculptures and paintings, and roaming artists singing and performing.

As you look out from your riverside seat at the splendid view either side of the floating stage on the Royal River Thames, the music drifts downstream accompanied by the sounds of a few quacking ducks, a wedge of swans fly overhead and water lapping gently at the river banks. Many other guests listen from a small flotilla of beautiful, candlelight traditional launches.

It's what the summer was invented for, a truly spectacular evening with the stars under the stars. The memories of this spectacular evening will be with you forever...

Private transfer from the Goring Hotel in London to Actief’s mooring below magnificent Windsor Castle. After enjoying a traditional English Cream Tea you depart for a visit to Eton College, founded in 1440 and alma mater to Princes William and Harry. The Museum of Eton Life gives a fascinating insight into the education of Britain’s premier scions over the centuries. The evening commences with a festive champagne reception followed by dinner and your first night aboard.

The day commences with a morning cruise, stopping for coffee at the much-filmed gothic Oakley Court Hotel. Afterwards cruising continues through one of the most beautiful reaches on the river before arriving at our exclusive mooring at Cliveden. This magnificent estate, former home of Lord and Lady Astor, boasts amazing views and incredible gardens. First laid out in the 18th century they include a formal parterre, a wonderful water garden with a restored Pagoda made for the Paris Exhibition of 1867, a long garden with topiary and 18th century Venetian statues. Truly stunning.

Our cruise continues through unspoilt countryside, passing under Maidenhead Bridge, the largest brick span bridge in the world designed by Brunel, until reaching the medieval village of Hurley. Here you visit Peter Freebody’s Boatyard. Peter’s family has been involved in the river for 800 years and you can see traditional Thames river craft being lovingly built and restored. This is followed by a gentle walking tour of this beautiful village pausing at Ye Olde Bell, reputed to be England’s oldest Inn founded for visiting monks in 1135. The day ends with a late afternoon cruise along the world famous ‘Regatta Mile’ into Henley-On-Thames.

Henley is a wonderful old town founded in the 12th century and firmly on the map of Britain’s social ‘Season’ since the introduction of the annual Henley Royal Regatta in the 19 th century. This morning you tour the award winning River and Rowing Museum. No ordinary museum, this is a wonderful chance to learn something of the secrets, mythology, history and traditions of the River Thames.

This evening you will attend the premier black tie event that is the Henley Music Festival. With an absolute feast of world class acts to entertain you the preview programme includes big names such as Katherine Jenkins, amazingly successful Welsh mezzo soprano, amazing pop diva Dionne Warwick, and the Soweto Gospel Choir. As well as this there is a feast of visual arts and the Company of Roving Eccentrica, difficult to catalogue but very entertaining, jazz and swing music in the enclosure and other acts on the unique floating stage.

The day commences with a gentle walking tour of the stunningly quaint village of Sonning, chronicled in the great Doomsday book of 1066. Afterwards cruising continues through water meadows and more stunning countryside until reaching the picturesque Mapledurham Estate. Here you privately visit Elizabethan Mapledurham House, home to descendants of the same family since 1490, and Mapledurham Mill, a 500 year old working water mill. This was famously filmed in ‘The Eagle Has Landed’. Afterwards Actief cruises to your next overnight mooring at Pangbourne, home of famous ‘Wind In The Willows’ author Kenneth Grahame.

This morning’s cruise is through the steep glacier formed hills of the Goring Gap and the locks of Goring, Cleeve and Benson before reaching our final mooring at Shillingford Bridge. After lunch you visit Oxford – ‘City of Dreaming Spires’ where you will view the grandest of all Oxford’s Colleges, Christchurch. This was founded by Henry VIII in 1525 and is also the setting for the tale of Alice In Wonderland. This is followed by time for shopping and afternoon before returning to Actief. Tonight the Captain hosts his farewell dinner.

NOTE: This is a sample itinerary and is subject to change. On alternative weeks the cruise operates in reverse direction.