:: Heritage Tours ::
DAN HERITAGE TOURS
For further details and bookings TEL: (01606) 41597
WEAVING WEST RIDING TALES
Saturday 15th November
Northwich Memorial Hall
9.00am - £13.00
Pick-ups at Winsford, Moulton, Davenham, Sandiway, Weaverham, Hartford and Castle.
A ride into the hills and heights of Bronte country. A morning stop in Hebden Bridge gives the chance to explore this old town where the houses are quite literally built one on top of the other in a steep valley. In recent years it has become a mecca for arty and new age people to gather so there are unusual things in the shops. We will give you time to look around and perhaps find unusual Christmas gifts.
Halifax Piece Hall is a magnificent 18th Century building based on an Italian Piazza. Over 300 rooms were provided on three floors where merchants set up their benches to receive pieces of cloth brought in from the hand looms in farms on the moors. Today, the rooms are homes to numerous specialist shops including antiques, books and crafts. A market place is at the centre and the hall also contains an art gallery with ever changing modern art exhibitions. One part of it is devoted to the Calderdale Museum which tells the story of the district and the woollen textile industry. It is interesting to compare this with the cotton trade we saw in Lancashire.
There are pubs and cafes in and around the Piece Hall so lunch time will be spent there. The day will conclude with a visit to Shibden Hall; looking romantic in the twilight. It was the setting for the 1991 version of Wuthering Heights with Ralph Feines playing Heathcliffe there. It is believed to be the Thrushcross Grange which features in the original book. A 15th Century house it was extensively refurbished in Victorian Romantic Gothic style and also has outbuildings with reconstructions of past interiors from inns to shops.
For further details Tel: 01606 41597
CHRISTMAS TRIP "ALL ABOARD"
Sunday 14th December
Northwich Memorial Hall
9.00am - £30.00 including 3 Course Xmas Lunch
Pick-ups at Winsford, Moulton, Davenham, Sandiway, Weaverham, Hartford and Castle.
How do you fancy Christmas Dinner on the Orient Express dashing to exotic places? So did we until we saw the cost. So why not settle for a ride along the Golden Valley in Derbyshire instead.
The area has recently been declared a World Heritage site because of the importance of the River Derwent to early trade. We will start at Cromford Mill (recently featured on the BBC "Restoration" programme) which is where Sir Joseph Arkwright fled from persecution in Preston to set up the first cotton spinning mill in England. It is credited with being one of the birthplaces of the Industrial Revolution, and the mill is now restored as a museum. The village itself contains fascinating relics of the early industrial community which was set up around the mill.
Lunch will be on the Midland Railway Centre's steam train line. It runs through the Golden Valley for 7 miles from Butterley Station to the new exhibition hall and train shed where a collection of restored and waiting to be restored engines and rolling stock are on show. The Midland was noted for luxury in the 19th Century and was the first company to introduce Pullman cars and dining carriages to English railways. Your meal will be served in a dining carriage whilst being pulled along by one of the society's Steam Locomotives.
Christmas Lunch consists of choice of Soup or Fruit Juice, Roast Turkey, Beef or Spicy Vegetable Roast, choice of Sweets, Mince Pie, Mints and Coffee. Please make you choice when booking your ticket.
PLEASE NOTE: Places must be booked and paid for in full by Friday 21st November.
For further details Tel: 01606 41597
