Booking is now open for our Granta holiday in 2026. It is a 5-day tour to Scotland from May 27th to 31st 2026. We will be staying on a half-board basis in the four-star Glasgow Westerwood hotel in Cumbernauld, and we have a rich programme of excursions and guided tours to galleries and historic houses, many of which are associated with the life and work of Charles Rennie Mackintosh.

The cost of the tour is £799, with a single room supplement of £149. 

Full details of the tour are here:https://www.tailored-travel.co.uk/grantaartssociety_scotland_2026

You can also download the tour brochure with the itinerary and booking form are here:

https://www.tailored-travel.co.uk/uploads/docs/TTM4980%20Granta%20Glasgow%20Edinburgh%20Charles%20Rennie%20lo.pdf

Please send your completed booking form with your deposit of £100 to Nan. The address is on the form. Please contact Nan at taplin.nan@gmail.com if you have any questions. 

We have decided to try a new tour operator this year. We love Heritage and have travelled with them for many years, but for a tour of this length their price is prohibitive. Tailored Travel is widely used by many AS groups, and comes highly recommended by our sister society, South Cambs. 

Departing from Stansted on October 5, our 8-day tour will take us to many of the highlights of this fascinating jewel in the Mediterranean Sea. We will start in the East, staying at Zafferana Etnea - in the shadow of Mount Etna - from where we will visit Taormina, with its magnificent Greek amphitheatre, and we shall have a full day in Siracusa. 

Moving on to the centre of the island, we will visit the Villa Romana del Casale, famous for its very extensive and well-preserved mosaics, and then on to Agrigento for the night. The next morning we shall have a guided tour of the Valley of the Temples. 

Our final stop will be in Palermo, where we will stay for three nights. As well as visiting Palermo itself we will also take excursions to Erice, Monreale and Segesta. We return to Stansted on October 12. 

We will be accompanied throughout the trip by a tour manager. Hotels are all 4*, and transport is by executive coach. All travel costs and most evening meals are included in the tour price. 

The cost of the holiday is £1999, with a single supplement of £199. 

Click HERE to view the tour brochure and booking form. 

The tour is fully booked and we are holding a waiting list. Please contact Nan if you would like to add your name to the list. 

Our residential tour for 2024 is a trip to some of the treasures of the North East of England. The dates are Monday 22nd - Friday 26th April 2024, and in addition to some very well-known destinations (Harewood House, York Minster), we shall also visit some lesser-known gems (Temple Newsom, Leeds Art Gallery, Kirkstall Abbey). Free time has also been built into the itinerary to allow for some exploration of places of interest to individuals, such as the Jorvik Centre or the Transport Museum in York, and the Royal Armouries or some fine museums in Leeds. The tour is once again in the safe hands of Heritage Travel. We shall be based in Leeds, at the 4* Queens Hotel, and shall be accompanied by guides as required. 

Click HERE for the trip brochure.

Booking for the trip has now closed. We look forward very much to what promises to be a fascinating tour. 

March 21st - 24th 2023. Booking closes on December 12th 2022. 

The Golden Age in Holland witnessed a period of enormous prosperity, during a time when the Dutch Empire spanned the globe. Dutch Art also flourished during this time, with painters such as Frans Hals, van Ruisdael, Jan Steen, Vermeer and Rembrandt at the peak of their prowess. The works produced by these masters are best appreciated in the cities where they worked, in the galleries which boast the finest examples of the genre, against backdrops which have changed little in the intervening years.

We will be staying in The Hague, the home of the court and a centre of diplomatic and political life. It retains an 18th and 19th century air of dignity and elegance with broad streets and avenues along which many royal and other fine residences are located. From our comfortable base in The Park Hotel in the heart of The Hague, we will enjoy not only a series of visits within the city itself, to include the Mauritshuis and its supreme collection of Dutch Masters, but also we will visit the historic cities of Amsterdam and Haarlem.

The highlight of our tour will be the Vermeer Exhibition, presented by the Rijksmuseum in collaboration with the Mauritshuis in The Hague. It promises to be an exceptional exhibition offering a retrospective presentation of the life and works of Johannes Vermeer, displaying almost two-thirds of the paintings that he crafted, with works being transported from participating lenders all over the world. 

You can find full details on the attached brochure, and a booking form is here. Please also read the booking conditions. All bookings are made direct with Heritage Travel, and a deposit of £400 is required at the time of booking. 

This tour was originally planned for April 24 - 30 2021. Due to the Coronavirus pandemic, it has been postponed. When - and if - it is possible to offer it, or something similar, members will be informed via email and this page will be updated accordingly.

Please be aware that the attached flyer relates to the 2021 tour. We hope that the 2022 tour will be very similar, but the dates will change - of course - as may some other details.

Please do not attempt to make any bookings until you are informed that booking for 2022 is open.

The south-eastern corner of Sicily is famous for its magnificent baroque architecture as well as its proximity to the stunning Roman mosaics at Piazza Armerina and the majestic Mount Etna. Our 6-night tour will take you to Siracusa & Ortigia, Ragusa, Modica, Noto, Catania, Piazza Armerina, Taormina, Messina and Etna. Our tour guide Christopher Wellington will accompany us throughout the tour. Christopher has a degree in History from Cambridge and has spent most of his working life in Italy.

The cost of the tour is expected to be £1800 per person, with a single supplement of £225. This includes all transport (departing from Cambridge), accommodation in a twin room, all breakfasts, one lunch and four dinners with wine, all visits, gratuities and the services of the tour director. Other meals not mentioned above are at your own cost, and you are also responsible for arranging and paying for your own (compulsory) travel insurance.

Please note that it is possible that the price may change as flight costs can not be confirmed until April 2020.

Full details can be found on this flyer. A booking form is here. At this stage you are asked to provide simply basic details (name, address, place & date of birth, email) and to pay a refundable deposit of £50. If you would prefer to pay your deposit by BACS transfer the details are: a/c # 61437100: Sort code 40-05-30. Please identify the payment using your surname and also notify clare@ponderstravel.co.uk that you have made a payment.

If you have any queries please contact Neil Rushton nr10000@cam.ac.uk or Nan Taplin taplin.nan@gmail.com

We very much regret that this tour has had to be postponed because of the Coronavirus pandemic. We hope that it may run in a future year.

A visit to Shropshire, based in Ludlow, is planned for May 4 - 7 2020. You can find full details on the information leaflet. A booking form will be available from early October 2019. Come and see us at the lecture on October 15th.

Anyone interested in joining this tour is asked to contact Mary Bligh:

Phone 01223 566630 or Email MaryBligh@ntlworld.com          

Our most recent tour was a visit to Wiltshire and Dorset, from May 6 - 9 2019.

Highlights of the tour included Kingston Lacey, Salisbury (guided walking tour, and tour of the Cathedral), Mompesson House, Wilton House (guided tour), Athelhampton House (guided tour), Tolpuddle (guided walk), Sherborne Castle (guided tour) and Sandford Orcas Manor House.

Our hotel for 3 nights (half board) was the 3* Best Western Red Lion Hotel in Salisbury. You can find full details on the information leaflet.

May 7th - 12th. Art Treasures of Northern Italy.

Our 2018 tour took us to glorious Northern Italy. We spent two nights in Vicenza and 3 nights in Ferrara, and visited Verona, Mantua, Ferrara, Vicenza, Ravenna and Padua. Full details can be found on the information leaflet.