Jane Austen tour in Hampshire, England
How this holiday makes a difference
Environment
We are a low environmental impact organization by definition. We are fully aware of our environmental responsibilities, we keep things simple, local, avoid environmental damage and cut down on what can’t be cut out. We operate from a simple home office and emphasize in our correspondence the need not to print unless necessary. Invoices are sent by e-mail rather than post, we use recyled paper when we can, and re-fill our print cartridges by hand. Paper waste is kept to a minimum, and any paper that is bio-degradable is re-cycled into one of our five compost heaps. Glass, paper and card, some metals and organic waste is re-cycled, as are old clothes.
We are virtually self -sufficient in terms of vegetables and fruit and have an extensive and productive largely organic allotment, we are reluctant to use chemicals or biocides on our food, and with the recent purchase of a poly tunnel we are even less reliant on internationally supplied supermarket produce. We eat seasonally and rarely buy either vegetables or fruit out of season.
Any leaflets we need are printed by a local print company, Greenhouse Graphics, a business we support that uses recycleable paper and which has won many awards for its environmental sensitivity.
We are sensitive to the carbon cost of driven miles and petrol and have recently bought a vehicle that runs on diesel which is very fuel efficient in term of miles per gallon, and are actively researching the case for conversion of the vehicle to bio-fuels. We use (carbon neutral) logs for heating, and ensure that the logs are from a local and sustainable source. We have facilities that reduce internal water consumption and collect rainwater for exterior water needs.
We are sensitive to the potential of visual pollution and when using coaches we encourage returning the coaches to a suitable coach park to reduce the visual impact on the environment. We are members of the Green Leaf Scheme.
We fully subscribe to the notion of localism. In terms of lunchtime stops for the Jane Austen tour I have recently changed supplier from a managed pub which is part of a national chain, to a husband and wife operation that is not only a strategic fit for my business, it also subscribes to local supply when possible. For example, roe deer was on the menu recently, culled from the local estate, local but national prizewinning cheese makers Tunworth cheese is produced a few hundred yards down the road, using milk from local cows, and eggs are used in the kitchen from their own (often rescued) hens kept in the pub garden.
All clients, especially Americans, love the country pub atmosphere, the log fires sourced from the local estate and the fact that the cordon bleu chef and landlady actually come out of the kitchen to explain, for example, locally sourced watercress soup and the secret of keeping it a beautiful colour green. This particular supplier is an asset to us and is an important part of the total visitor experience. We share the same values. I encourage clients to give some feedback and comment on the whole day, including lunch, and we are now number one in our respected categories on Trip Advisor.
We have an excellent relationship with the Jane Austen House Museum, and most of the volunteer and permanent staff have all taken the tour. As a supplier of part of the visitor experience, they are a crucial supplier to us.
Greenhouse Graphics is a local print company which has won many national awards for its work, and we use them to supply our print material. I buy diesel from the local Co-operative of which I am a member and fully support and endorse the co-op’s values and ethic.
Community
I was chairman of the Board of trustees of a local Arts Centre and still continue to support the centre in many ways. The centre is dedicated to promotion of dance, music and theatre and a showcase for local artistic talent. The cultural offer includes first exhibitions (New Contemporaries) for graduates of arts degrees drawn from local art colleges and universities. The centre is particularly proud of its links with ethnic communities. A Chinese officer has been appointed who works closely with the Chinese Community offering dance, fashion and language programmes. There are many dance classes celebrating the links with the Indian Community, and recently a Russian opera singer is being helped.
in her career in the UK. From Hip Hop to Bollywood, local guitarists and bands, the centre is an entrepreneurial hot house that helps many artists develop their careers. Computer classes are held for silver surfers who rapidly develop confidence in IT skills in effect enfranchising themselves into the essential skills needed this century. Exhibitions of international artists are also offered. Many of these activities are celebrated on stage at a free local festival in the summer, demonstrating to the wider community the range of accessible cultural products people can engage in at the centre.
Over the last year with two other volunteers I actively encourage and promote local musicians to play in venues in the town, we cherry pick usually new, emerging, talented players and give them a chance to perform where otherwise they wouldn’t. We have an extensive network of performers who are being nurtured and helped to develop, express themselves, and develop their artistic careers. With the support of the arts centre, many of these players eventually develop to perform competently in public in much larger festivals.
We have strong links with the Hampshire Fungi Recording Group and when running fungi forays note and log every species seen, noting dates and location and this data when collected and analysed contributes to the groups understanding of the rich variety of fungi in Hampshire My wife, Sue,who is also a dierector of the company, is a volunteer and active member of the Hampshire Fungus Recording Group and joins them on their recording forays when possible, and is the Publicity Officer for their annual exhibition at the new Forest Reptile Centre. Our own Fungi Walks Advice Sheets reinforce the ethic of sensitivity to the environment in the observation and picking of fungi. When operating our fungi walks we photograph rare fungi and submit the images to the HFRG.
Last year I raised £800 to help repair and re-hang the bells in Dummer Church, one of the churches we visit on the tour. A talk was given to people in the village explaining the relationship Jane Austen had with the place and the people in the 1790’s. I have since given talks to other local groups.
Landscape
On the Jane Austen, The Dancing Years Tour, foreign clients especially are amazed by the English landscape. Visitors need the physical landscape explaining so we stop, I explain the geology, topography, we touch chalk, we feel flint, they see thatch, I give them a spar to hold, and I explain the craft of thatching, (my stepfather was a thatcher), we touch hazel and quickthorn when I explain the enclosures during the 1700’s and stop and look at hedges…….we may take these for granted but Americans especially are fascinated, and by people’s ability to drive on one track roads. We visit churches that have memorials to the people Jane Austen writes about in her letters, we often meet churchwardens, who love to explain their church, we sometimes meet stonemasons who talk about their craft, all helping people engage with the community, which lifts the visitor experience. I explain the role hunting has played in the landscape and the function of copses, spinneys and talk about the gossip in the area in the 1780’s and 90’s. I have researched the diaries and letters of local families and tell clients the stories that were circulating that evidently informed Jane Austen as an author. This is a tour of the cultural landscape as well as a physical tour. To see the real landscape that an author grew up in gives clients a context that enriches any subsequent reading. To visit a church that dates back to 1080 and to have it explained, is an experience that foreign clients thoroughly enjoy, and to step in the footsteps of a favourite author makes Jane Austen fans very happy.
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