Welcome
As we race to do all those last minute Christmas things before the big day, I am looking forward to my ‘big boys’ arriving from Australia on Monday.
It will be the first time since last Christmas we will be all together and I am really excited about their impending arrival.
We are all ready, decorations wise, for Christmas. Here’s a picture of our tree this year.
We had a big year Traveling Through History together, didn't we?
This week we will be reviewing where we went and jogging our memories on some of the fabulous places, steeped in history you can find in the UK and Europe up until September.
I have included new photos in this issue, so you get extra glimpses of where we have been!
I hope you enjoy looking back as we busy ourselves with these last few days before Christmas.
Only two issues to go, to round out the year!
Michelle
Savvy Travel Historian
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Yearly Highlights - Issues 1-13 - June - August
June Theme - Castles
In June we traveled around the UK to four impressive castles.
First up was Hever, childhood home of Anne Boleyn, the best known of Henry VIII wives and mother of Elizabeth I.
Hever also boasts an impressive Tudor village next door that provides accommodation and we really enjoyed our stay there. Highly recommend!!!
You can re-visit Issue 1 here:
Highclere Castle was the focus of Issue 2 and is home to the Earls of Carnarvon and the fictional home of the Earls of Grantham in Downton Abbey.
As you approach from the long drive, the first glimpse of the castle is seen, which is also the way we see it in the first movie.
Goodrich Castle was next up in Issue 3.
This impressive medieval Norman ruin located near Hereford is steeped in history, with the lookout from the top of the castle providing sweeping views over the Wye Valley.
Stokesay Castle in Shropshire is one of the best preserved manor houses from the 13thC in existence and was our featured article in Issue 4.
Stokesay, with its impressive 17thC gatehouse, is well worth a visit.
July Theme - Priories
July saw us turn our attention to priories that were dissolved as part of the dissolution of the monasteries during Henry VIII’s reign.
In Issue 5 we traced the history of the Dukes of Norfolk and their substantial ties to Thetford Priory. It was one of the most influential monasteries in East Anglia.
An in-depth read of its history can be found here:
St Olave's Priory was next up, and we discovered that it dated back to the 13thC and the reign of Henry III. It was dissolved early in the suppressions, in 1537.
Wenlock Priory in Much Wenlock operated as a monastery for almost 900 years. Connected with Lady Godiva and her husband Lord Leofric, Wenlock Abbey buildings are now used as a private house, overlooking the ruins of the former priory.
Castle Acre Priory was perhaps one of the most enjoyable visits of the many priories we have been too. The splendour of the former monastery with its lodgings that were converted into a house after the dissolutions, is evident upon visiting. Well worth going to!
August Theme - Paris
In August we traveled to Paris and spent 5 weeks looking at the Top 5 things to see and do, Museums, Monuments and what could be done if you only had one day.
Iconic ‘must see’ places in Paris made our ‘Top 5’ list!
The Eiffel Tower, Musee du Louvre, Musee d'Orsay, Versailles and the Catacombs are all covered. Re-discover their histories in the link below:
Probably one of my favourite issues was writing about the different museums in Paris that weren’t the ‘Big Two’ from the previous issue. The l’Orangerie, De Cluny, Rodin, Arts et Métiers and Georges Pompidou museums were all covered in this issue.
[Musee De Cluny]
Click here to take another look
Most cities have their fair share of interesting monuments, but in Issue 12 for ‘Monument Week’ we took a look at some of the best; Arc de Triomphe, Napoleon's Tomb, the Luxor Obelisk in Place de la Concorde and Fontaine du Palmier were all covered.
[Napoleon’s Tomb - Invalides]
Re-visit them here:
Only one day to really see Paris?
Issue 13 gave you a walking day tour to see some of Paris’ top sites that we hadn’t visited the rest of the month.
[Sainte Chapelle]
Issue 13 - A Day Tour of Paris
Next week we'll do ‘Christmas in the UK’, before another round up to finish out the year.
Michelle is a speaker, author, content marketer, historian and mother of 3 boys.
After 25 years in business and as the ‘Content Marketing Queen’ for the past 12 years, she has helped countless small businesses understand and develop their content strategies and focus on a customer first approach.
Savvy Travel Historian is her passion project, and her weekly newsletter is available on Substack, Paragraph and Mirror. The latter two allows you to collect each Issue as an NFT.
Michelle is co-host of the Business on the Bloc podcast, a weekly show which talks about the digital media revolution and how it applies to B2B marketing, sales and operations. The show is recorded live every Wednesday at 4pm EST/ 9pm UTC on LinkedIn, YouTube & Bolt+.
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