Your Host
Autumn Kern
Autumn Kern is accompanying this pilgrimage to help lead the group in prayer, fellowship, and thoughtful engagement with each traveler.
Private Group
Public registration is not available for this private group.
★ Hosted by Autumn Kern
9 Days · England
Through the Wardrobe A Storied Pilgrimage Through England with Autumn Kern
Join Autumn Kern on a trip through England. This trip will visit Oxford, London, the Cotswolds, and more!
The Pilgrimage
Through the Wardrobe A Storied Pilgrimage Through England
Join Autumn Kern on a trip through England. This trip will visit Oxford, London, the Cotswolds, and more!
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Know Before You Go
What's included
✓ Included
- ✓Round-trip coach-class group airfare from Philadelphia, PA to London, England (added when available November; land-only reservations available now)
- ✓Airport taxes and fuel surcharges (subject to change until ticketing)
- ✓First-class hotel accommodations for 7 nights
- ✓Daily buffet breakfast at the hotel
- ✓2 restaurant dinners and one lunch (beverages not included; available for purchase)
- ✓Thames River dinner cruise with wine and dancing
- ✓Afternoon tea
- ✓English Tour Manager
- ✓All transfers via private, air-conditioned motor coach as per itinerary
- ✓All visits and entrance fees as per the itinerary
- ✓Baggage handling at hotels
- ✓Whisper sets
- ✓Select International Tours travel portfolio
× Not included
- ×Personal expenses incurred during the trip
- ×Trip Protection & Medical Insurance (strongly recommended — see Travel Protection section)
- ×Tips/gratuities for guides, drivers, and wait staff
- ×Beverages at meals (unless noted above)
- ×Airport transfers for land-only passengers
- ×Airline seat assignments and flight precheck-in fees
- ×Government-imposed destination charges
- ×Country-specific visa fees (unless noted in inclusions)
- ×Electronic Travel Authorization fees (ETA-UK) if applicable
- ×BAGGAGE CHARGES NOT INCLUDED IN TRIP COST:
- ×Any airline baggage charges
- ×Baggage handling at train stations, airports, and hotels in excess of one suitcase per person
- ×Any charges incurred due to excessive luggage including the cost of an additional baggage vehicle or porterage charges
See the official trip information for gratuities, shipping and handling, payment fees, and any optional-extension charges.
Day by Day
Your pilgrimage, mapped out
Tap any day to explore. Meals: B breakfast · L lunch · D dinner.
Day 1September 26
DEPART PHILADELPHIA
+
We meet at Philadelphia International Airport for our overnight flight to London, the first step of our storied journey together. Settle in with a book from your carry-on, perhaps an old favorite, as we cross the Atlantic as a group. As we work with group airfares, we are unable to request specific seats. If this is an important feature of the trip, please book your own flights and be sure to be at the airport prior to the group’s arrival time. Quotes for add-on flights and optional Premium Economy and Business Class upgrades are available upon request and quoted starting 120 days before departure”
Day 2September 27
STONOR PARK & ON TO OXFORD
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Landing early in the morning gives us a full day to begin our journey properly. From Heathrow, our Tour Manager leads us into the Chiltern Hills to Stonor Park, home to the Stonor family for nearly nine hundred
years, and one of the very few houses in England where Catholic Mass was celebrated in secret, and without interruption, through centuries of persecution. We tour the house and its private chapel, walk the walled gardens and deer park, and hear how the estate’s wooded valley later inspired Richard Adams’s book Watership Down. We continue to the riverside village of Henley-on-Thames for lunch on your own, with plenty of pubs and cafes along the high street, before a guided wine and beer tasting at the Chiltern Valley Winery and Brewery. From there we drive on to Oxford, checking into our hotel with time to settle in before our welcome dinner together. Overnight in Oxford.
D
Day 3September 28
OXFORD: SPIRES & STORY
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We begin in the heart of Oxford, the city of dreaming spires. We tour Christ Church, whose dining hall and cloisters inspired scenes readers will recognize, and the Bodleian Libraries, among the oldest in Europe. We browse the towering shelves of Blackwell’s, an Oxford institution for book lovers, and step through the sixteenth-century timber doorway on St. Mary’s Passage, long said to have inspired the wardrobe door into Narnia. The evening at leisure to settle into Oxford at your own pace. Dinner is at leisure. Overnight in Oxford.
B
Day 4September 29
TOLKIEN & LEWIS’S OXFORD
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Today is a full full day devoted to the Oxford of Tolkien and Lewis. We walk past Tolkien’s home on Sandfield Road (about a 45-minute walk) and visit Magdalen College (TBC), where he taught for two decades, and Merton College (TBC), whose storied grounds are tied to his years there. We visit Trinity College and pause for lunch at the Eagle and Child, the beloved pub where the Inklings gathered to read their work aloud, hopeful it has reopened in time to welcome our group. In the afternoon, we visit Holy Trinity Church as our coach drives us past several of Lewis’s former homes. Dinner is at leisure. Overnight in Oxford.
BL
Day 5September 30
A LEWIS COUNTRYSIDE WALK
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This morning, we visit Lewis’ beloved Kilns and have a guided walking tour through the Oxfordshire countryside that Lewis loved to ramble, quiet fields and hedgerows well suited to conversation, reflection, or simply enjoying the autumn air. One of Lewis’s favorite walks was through Port Meadow to the Perch at Binsey, where we can stop for lunch. From there, we travel into the Cotswolds, England’s storybook countryside of honey-colored stone villages, and check into our hotel. This evening we gather for a proper dinner together at the Bell Inn, a classic English pub at the heart of the village. Overnight in the Cotswolds.
BD
Day 6October 1
COTSWOLD VILLAGES & BIKES
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A day for wandering England’s most beloved countryside. We visit Adlestrop, the tiny village immortalized in Edward Thomas’s poem, which has a strong association with Jane Austen and St. Edward’s Church, tucked into the Cotswold hills. We also visit Stow on the Wold, considered by many the most picturesque of the villages. We browse a local bookshop before setting out along quiet country lanes by bicycle, a favorite pastime of Lewis himself, taking in stone cottages, dry stone walls, and grazing sheep at an easy pace. Bikes will be available for you to enjoy riding through the countryside. Dinner is at leisure. Overnight in the Cotswolds.
B
Day 7October 2
TO LONDON: BOOKISH LONDON & AFTERNOON TEA
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We travel from the Cotswolds back to London this morning. Our day in London begins with a panoramic city tour featuring the city’s highlights, including Parliament and 10 Downing Street. We explore Westminster Abbey, touring the nave and Poets’ Corner, a memorial to so many of the writers this group holds dear. We also visit one of London’s storied antiquarian bookshops, where first editions and centuries-old volumes line the shelves. Enjoy time browsing through books at Hatchards bookstore and Cecil Court, known as Booksellers’ Row. This is followed by a proper English afternoon tea at Brown’s Hotel in Mayfair, one of London’s oldest hotels, where Rudyard Kipling once wrote and which is said to have inspired Agatha Christie’s Bertram’s Hotel. After check-in, you have free time to explore the city on your own. Overnight in London.
B
Day 8October 3
GRAND LONDON: ABBEY TO THE TOWER – THAMES RIVER CRUISE
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A grand day among London’s most iconic sights. We pass through Trafalgar Square before reaching Buckingham Palace in time for the Changing of the Guard, schedule permitting. We board a boat for a River Thames cruise past the city’s landmarks, arriving at the Tower of London, where a Yeoman Warder leads us through nine centuries of history and the Crown Jewels themselves. This evening, we gather for our farewell dinner on a Thames River Cruise. During dinner, we enjoy a view of London from the river as we share stories from the week’s storied roads and toast new friendships before saying goodbye to England. Overnight in London.
BD
Day 9October 4
DEPART FOR PHILADELPHIA
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This morning we transfer to Heathrow Airport for our flight home to Philadelphia, carrying home new friendships, new stories, and, quite likely, a few new books.
B
Pricing
Choose how you travel
Most popular
Base Price
$4495.00per person
Land Only.
Solo Room (Additional Charge)
$1095.00additional
Solo Room (Additional Charge). Additional supplement.
ETA Required
ETA-UK is required for this pilgrimage.
Deposit
A deposit of $500.00 per person should accompany your registration by June 8, 2027.Final Payment
Final payment is due by July 28, 2027.Passport Validity
Your passport must be valid through April 4, 2028.Pilgrimage Information
Everything else for this trip
Travel Protection
Protect your investment against cancellation, illness and disruption.
Learn more →Terms & Conditions
Deposit, payment, cancellation and responsibility terms for this trip.
Learn more →Visas & Entry
Passport, visa and destination entry requirements.
Learn more →Know Before You Go
Packing, weather, electrical and on-the-ground practicalities.
Learn more →Two-Minute Travel Tips
Short, practical videos to help you make the most of your pilgrimage.
Learn more →FAQ
Registration, payments, lodging, walking, mobility and more.
Learn more →Private group pilgrimage
Private Group
Public registration is not available for this private group.
