Step back in time, discover clues to our Tudor past, and…
…Walk with a Wench!
SORRY!
Mistress Alice is committed elsewhere this year and will not be available to conduct the guided walks. If you contact Totnes Tourist Information they will be able to advise you of alternative guided walks of the town, including the Totnes Ghost Walk on a Tuesday evening, from Easter until Hallowe’en. Enjoy your visit to Totnes -it is a fantastic town!
A ‘Tudor Totnes’ Guided Walk lasts about an hour and a quarter.
In June, July and August you can join the walk without needing to book. Just meet your costumed guide, Mistress Alice, in the Market Square, Totnes, at 11.30am and 1pm on Tuesdays. The walk costs £5 for adults, £1 for accompanied children. There is a free ‘Tudor’ lavender bag for anyone who pays with Totnes pounds! Alice blends interesting facts with entertaining anecdotes to bring the 16th Century town to life.
Alternatively, ring to book a private guided walk: dates/times to suit, discounts for groups of ten or more.
The Tudor Totnes Guided Walk
We begin in the Market Square, with a few thoughts about the sights, sounds and smells of the sixteenth century town. We take a gentle walk around the top part of the town, taking in views of the Narrows, the Butterwalk, the Church and the Guildhall, and Nicholas Ball’s house, paying attention to all the important issues, such as crime and punishment, merchants and trade, rich and poor, and looking closely at architectural clues to the town’s past. The walk is full of interesting information, based on extensive research, and shared with great enthusiasm by Mistress Alice. We finish outside the Elizabethan House, home of Tudor merchant Walter Kelland, now Totnes Museum, with the thought that you might like to explore inside.
Elizabethan Tuesdays
On Tuesdays, from May through to September, it is Elizabethan Day in Totnes. From 9am till about 2pm, in the Market Square, there is a charity and craft market, manned by townsfolk in Elizabethan costume and at 11am there is entertainment, with Tudor music-making and Tudor dancing being examples of the attractions. There are also Stocks. In June, July and August you can meet Mistress Alice at 11.30am or 1pm at the market to enjoy the guided walk - she is the one with the shepherd’s crook! Sorry, Mistress Alice will not be there to meet you during 2010.
Totnes Carnival Week
Totnes Carnival Week features a range of traditional events, from Sunday 8th to Sunday 15th August 2010, including the famous ‘Odd Object Competition’, ‘Picnic in the Park’, and the Grand Carnival procession on Saturday 14th August, starting around 6pm.
Totnes Orange Races
On Tuesday 17th August 2010 the annual ‘Orange Races’ take place, with entrants chasing oranges down the High Street. The event commemorates a visit to the town by Sir Francis Drake in the 1580s, when he presented ‘a fair red orange’ to a little boy in the street. There are different races for different ages - entry is free and oranges are provided!
Other attractions…
While you are in the town, why not visit the Museum, the Guildhall, the Costume Museum, and the Norman Castle (English Heritage)? There is also a vast array of interesting little shops to browse, from the top of the Narrows down to the river Dart, and more than our fair share of tea shops, coffee houses, and eateries. If you are familiar with the town you will know that it is compact and that everything is within easy walking distance, albeit on the side of a steep hill - all the more reason to pause frequently and take in the ambience! On the edge of the town there is the Rare Breeds farm and the Steam Railway.
Tips for a stress-free visit
If you arrive at the bottom of the town, by Riverlink from Dartmouth, or by bus or coach, or if you park there, and don’t fancy the walk up, you can take the yellow ‘Bob the Bus’ to the Narrows at the top of the hill. It leaves the bus bay opposite the Royal Seven Stars hotel (just along from the Information Centre) at approximately a quarter to the hour. If you get the 9.45 or 10.45 you have plenty of time to enjoy the walk down through the historic Narrows to the Market Square and Elizabethan market. After perusing the market stalls and enjoying the entertainment, you have the option of taking the guided walk, in June, July and August, or you can enjoy wandering down through the High Street and Fore Street and back to the beautiful river Dart at the bottom.
Private bookings for groups:
‘Mistress Alice’ can be booked for private guided tours of ‘Tudor Totnes’ or ‘Totnes Through Time’ for clubs, societies, coach parties, visiting groups. School parties have the option of booking the walking tour (please email the number of children in the group for a quote) or booking a full day ‘Totnes Experience’, details on links below. Currently not available.
Find out more -
Links:
Accomodation -
The Royal Seven Stars Hotel, tel. 01803 862125, email: enquiries@royalsevenstars.co.uk
(photo credits - Totnes Image Bank)
Totnes Times ‘Letters’ page, 18 June 2008:
‘Since moving to Totnes three years ago I have enjoyed learning about the history of this beautiful town. So it was with great interest that I went on a new walking tour of ‘Tudor Totnes’, with costumed guide, Mistress Alice. Starting at the Civic Square we enjoyed a leisurely stroll down the High Street to the Guildhall, finishing at the museum. Along the way, I gleaned all sorts of historical facts about the town and its listed buildings and gained some fascinating insights into what it must have been like to live in Elizabethan Totnes. I’d like to take this opportunity to recommend this tour to all Totnes residents. You don’t have to be a tourist to enjoy it.’
~ Gill Harper
Feedback:
‘Thank you so much for such an enjoyable session and truly bringing Totnes to life for our group.’ - Leader, local youth club
‘Brilliant storyteller.’ ‘So interesting - thank you.’ - Adult visitors to the town