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April 23rd is the feast day of Saint George, who we like to think is best known for being the patron saint of England, and for possibly killing a dragon. But how did a Greek-speaking man, who lived nearly 2,000 years ago in what is now Turkey, come to be associated with England’s mountains green?

George was first venerated as a saint in Rome in the 8th century, and he started to appear in stories about saints in English soon after. According to these stories, George was a soldier in the Roman army who was horribly tortured and executed when he wouldn’t renounce his Christian faith (we’ll spare you the details) with the 23rd April being the traditionally accepted date of his death. The story of the incident with the dragon was invented a bit later.

Enter the Dragon!

George was travelling through Turkey, or perhaps Libya, when he comes across a weeping princess. Her distress is understandable – a local dragon demands human sacrifice, the victim is decided by lottery, and her number is up. She begs George to flee and save himself. He ignores her (typical) and slays the terrible, fire-breathing lizard in single combat. Or, so the story goes.

Elevation to Patron Saint

Legend has it that the special relationship between England and Saint George goes back to the Crusades, where Richard the Lionheart is said to have placed his army under the saint’s protection. The Saint George’s Cross – a red cross on a white field – was adopted by the crusading armies around this time, though they were not exclusively English. The symbol itself is thought to have been invented only shortly before this, as a century earlier sources had described Saint George’s banner as white. Even so the first surviving record that Saint George was celebrated by an English king only comes nearly 200 years later, when Edward III (known for starting the Hundred Years’ War between England and France) made him patron saint of his chivalrous Order of the Garter.

Even after this, the veneration of Saint George in England was not widespread until after Henry VIII reformed the English church. After the break from the Pope, England’s rulers wanted to forge a new identity for their kingdom and its people. Saint George seemed like a good bet – he was brave, committed to his faith, and warlike, perfect for a country at war with its heretical neighbours. The Tudors believed Saint George’s Cross represented a bloody crucifix, a reminder of Christ’s sacrifice.

Incidentally, the Henry VIII’s religious reforms led to the destruction of many of England’s monasteries, leaving many picturesque ruins all over the country many of which you can visit on our walking tours, such as Bolton Abbey at the start of The Dales Way or Lanercost Priory on our Hadrian’s Wall Walk.

Spanish Links

Saint George’s Day is also celebrated in other parts of the world, including the Spanish region of Catalonia! Here, it is tradition to give a book to a man you love, or a rose to a woman you love, on 23 April. If you like the sound of this, we have an incredible cycling holiday through the eastern Pyrenees that takes you from sleepy mountain towns like Olot, to the ancient city of Girona and the beautiful resorts of the Costa Brava. You can find out more here: The Pyrenees to the Mediterranean.

Today

For a long time, George was unique in the Church of England for being the only venerated saint who did not appear in the New Testament. His popularity says something about the way that Englishness has changed over time. Until the middle of the 20th century, the UK thought of itself as a great power, with a steely resolve (or stiff upper lip) committed to lofty-ish ideals. For example, Saint George appears in British recruitment posters from the First World War, urging young men to fight for their country. Today Saint George is immortalised in many a pub sign and reflects a more multicultural England (he was a Greek-speaker from Turkey, after all) that still stands up to bullies.

Englishness - Manners and Monarchy!

Here at the Carter Company, we specialise in luxury cycling and walking holidays around the UK. Although we do plenty of tours to the stunning Scottish Highlands or through wonderful Wales, this week is English Tourism Week, and to mark it we’re celebrating our favourite tours through this green and pleasant land, whilst reflecting on some of the things that make the country we call home special.

People all over the world probably know two things about England. Firstly, they know that our head of state is His Majesty, King Charles III. Our monarchy is one of the oldest in the world, and there has been a King or Queen of England since the 9th century. Secondly, they know that the English are polite, and indeed, today, the royal family – and their subjects – are generally quite well-behaved. But this wasn’t always the case.

Magna Carta

Until 1215, the were no formal rules about what the King could or could not do. King John’s barons rebelled against him, and forced him to sign a treaty, the Magna Carta, which gave some men some rights. This bout of misbehaviour led to the oldest constitution in the Anglophone world and is the basis of the rights that we, as well as many other modern constitutions, enjoy today. One of the four surviving copies of the Magna Carter is at Salisbury Cathedral, and this ancient city features in many of our tours of the West Country and Southern England. Our tour of England’s Great West Way passes through Salisbury on a cycling trip that runs from the arty city of Bristol (home of the internationally renowned graffitist, Banksy) to London.

Monarchy

If you’re interested in finding out more about the history of the royal family, you simply must stop at Windsor Castle - and Hampton Court Palace, on your way along the Thames. Windsor Castle – the world’s oldest and largest occupied castle known - was one of the late Queen’s favourite residences, but in the Middle Ages it was the site of numerous battles and sieges, when the English revolted against the occasional overbearing king. Hampton Court is the enormous estate built by Cardinal Wolsey and appropriated by the tyrannical Henry VIII, and the grandeur of its halls and gardens tells the story of England’s infamous Tudor dynasty. Although Henry VIII is best known for being an absolutely terrible husband, he is also quite important because the tensions around his reformation of the English church led to centuries of religious conflict – which certainly wasn’t polite! His distant descendent, Charles III, enjoys gardening and is a passionate environmentalist, which reflects a distinct mellowing of our national character since medieval times.

Landscape

England’s landscape is also complex (and let's not even start on the weather!). While we might think that the rolling hills of the Cotswolds and the Chilterns are typical of the English countryside, there is a great diversity of scenery the length and breadth of England. In the far northwest, you will find the Lake District National Park, whose dramatic mountains and lakeside villages were beloved by the Romantic poets. Hadrian’s Wall, the great Roman fortification that protected their empire from the Picts, begins just north of here, and our Hadrian’s Wall Walk takes you east through the rugged fells of Cumbria and Northumbria, all the while immersing you in England’s wild north. This tour ends in the cosmopolitan port city of Newcastle, which has been transformed in recent years – like many English industrial towns – into the ideal spot for a city break, with plenty of pubs, museums, and cultures from around the world.

All down the east coast, you will find the landscape surprisingly flat, not unlike the Low Countries in Europe. It is also surprisingly dry – not every English person carries a brolly! Many, many miles to the south of Newcastle, in Suffolk, you will find captivating coastal walks and desolate heaths, and quaint little villages that history has passed by. If you then chose to follow the coast, around verdant Kent and heading west, you would find the epic cliffs of Devon and Cornwall. Long ago, the coves and caves of these counties were used by smugglers to help sate our deep desire for affordable tea – some stereotypes about the English are, in fact, true!

This whistle-stop tour of England and its history has hopefully helped you untangle some of your assumptions about Englishness. We’re polite – but haven’t always been – and our landscape is beautiful – but more diverse than most could have imagined. But don’t take our word for it, come see for yourself!

This year marks the 250th birthday of Jane Austen (1775-1817), the novelist probably best known for Pride and Prejudice. Today, she is closely associated with Bath, where she lived for five years in the early-19th century. Indeed, the Jane Austen Centre celebrates her as ‘Bath’s Most Famous Resident’, which seems a bit unfair to Haile Selassie and Horatio Nelson.

AUSTEN IN WINCHESTER

Austen moved to the city at the age of 25, and lived there for five years. The time she spent in Bath was not her most productive, though we can see the imprint of her time there in her final works, Northanger Abbey and Persuasion. Austen left Bath in 1806, and spent the rest of her life in the port town of Southampton, the peaceful village of Chawton, and England’s ancient capital – Winchester.

Being treated for some unknown illness – thought now perhaps to be Addison’s disease – Austen died at a house on College Street, only a five-minute walk from her final resting place at Winchester Cathedral. In the summer of 2025, Winchester College will open the house to the public for the first time. In a peculiar twist, Colin Firth, who would go on to play Mr Darcy in the 1995 adaptation of Pride and Prejudice went to school in Winchester.

REGENCY SPIRIT

So, in the battle of the Austen attractions, how has Bath come to hold the crown? The simple answer is the Regency spirit that Austen’s novels, and their countless adaptations capture, is alive and well in Bath. You can see it in the sweeping curve of No.1 Royal Crescent, an outstanding example of Georgian architecture, and you can experience it at the Jane Austen Centre in Bath – it is a lovely, romantic exhibition, in an authentically decorated Georgian townhouse where you can dress in Regency gear and have a delicious afternoon tea. There is good reason that the Netflix romp-com Bridgerton, based in Regency England, was filmed in Bath. The film and television cameras that Austen’s adaptations have brought to Bath have made it an obvious setting for other, unrelated, productions, like Wonka (2023). The city also has a wide range of historical and cultural attractions, like the 2,000-year-old Roman Baths (where you can’t swim, sadly) and the modern Thermae Bath Spa (where you can).

ROYAL WINCHESTER

Winchester, while just as beautiful as Bath, has a different feel. Austen rests at the enormous, medieval Winchester Cathedral – one of the largest of its kind in the world – as do many of the Anglo-Saxon kings. History lays thick here – the 13th century Great Hall boasts a replica of King Arthur’s fabled round table, and the Westgate Museum tells the story of Winchester’s Tudor and Stuart past, when the town’s religious icons were destroyed once during the Reformation, and again during the Civil War. John Keats, a near-contemporary of Austen, wrote his ode ‘To Autumn’ during a stay in Winchester in 1819, and Founding Father Benjamin Franklin is said to have written his autobiography in nearby Twyford.

FOLLOWING IN JANE AUSTEN'S FOOTSTEPS

For all its history, Winchester has a stately, sombre feel. So Bath – a larger, livelier, town – takes the gold. But you can’t have too much of a good thing. Visit both (with us!). The Hotel du Vin in the centre of Winchester is the starting point of our new South Downs Way luxury walking holiday, which runs through the unspoilt beauty of the South Downs National Park. Taking between nine and twelve nights (our holidays are customisable) ensuite accommodation and breakfast is guaranteed at every stop. Walk through England’s green and pleasant land – in luxury!

Bath is a stop on many of our luxury walking and cycling holidays. Our Cotswold Ride to Bath takes you from the magnificent university town of Oxford, over the hills and through the valleys of the charming Cotswolds – featuring chocolate-box villages like Bibury and Burford – and on to Bath. A variant of this tour includes a visit to Stonehenge, the ancient megalith in the heart of southern England . If you fancy taking things at a statelier pace our luxury Cotswold Way holiday features ten days of walking south, beginning at Chipping Camden and passing through picturesque Painswick and wonderful Wooton-Under-Edge, and ending in Bath. Finally, our England's Great West Way cycling holiday has you spend a night in Bath on the twelve day journey from the trendy city of Bristol to England’s iconic capital, London – where Austen often visited her brother.

Portugal as a travel destination has been growing in popularity in recent years and rightfully so. Flanked by the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean, this travel destination is the perfect choice for avid foodies. Here are our top favourite things to eat whilst in Portugal.

PASTÉIS DE NATA: In Portugal it's not just socially acceptable to devour sugary pastries for breakfast, it's actually expected. You can savour these little beauties everywhere in Portugal for breakfast, as a snack or dessert. Be careful, they are quite addictive.

BOLINHO DE BACALHAU: Delicious fish cake with salted codfish as main ingredient. Also try the croquettas version. Excellent as a snack or accompanied with a glass of beautiful Douro wine.

SARDINES: Barbecued, salted, grilled or even mashed up in butter you will be amazed at the incredible number of options when it comes to enjoying sardines in Portugal.

CATAPLANA: A delicious stew based on seafood or a combo of clams and pork prepared in a cataplana pot, hence the name of the dish. It’s rich and full of flavour.

CHOURIÇO: A distant cousin of the Spanish Chorizo, this lovely pork sausage has many varieties depending on the region you visit and is fabulous to nibble on with a glass of Douro wine.

BIFANA: A Lisboan sandwich with thinly sliced pork that's been slowly cooked in white wine, garlic, and spices.

TRAVESSEIROS DE SINTRA: A fluffy puff pastry shaped like a pillow, sprinkled with sugar on the outside and filled with velvety egg and almond cream on the inside.

FRANCESINHA: This sandwich, originally from Porto, is not for the faint of heart. It contains sausage, roast meat or ham in the centre topped with melted cheese and a special tomato sauce infused with beer.

POLVO: Octopus is very popular and it comes in many variations throughout the country. Served cold or warm, we guarantee that olive oil and garlic are at least 2 of the base ingredients.

All this delicious food needs to be accompanied by quality wine. You’re in luck as one of the oldest and most alluring wine regions in the world is to be found in Portugal. The Douro Valley, declared a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2001, is a stunning region in the north of Portugal where the mighty Rio Douro meanders through the landscape. Although parts of the region do produce excellent regular white and red wines, the region’s true recognition comes from the different styles of fortified wine or port wine that are produced here. These are some of the recommended wines to try:

• Quinta de la Rosa 10 Year Tawny
• Quinta da Raza, Alvarinho-Trajadura 2021
• Quinta da Raza, Dom Diogo Padeiro 2021
• Real Cave Do Cedro, Aleixo Grande Reserva 1997

All perfect excuses to make Portugal your next travel destination. Your suitcase is waiting…

Winter sun in Provence is a new 5 night gentle walking tour especially designed for the winter months in Provence with its mild temperatures and blue skies lighting up the enchanting scene.

Stays are in buzzy locations – St Remy, the heart of Van Gogh’s landscapes in the Alpilles region, charming Isle sur la Sorgue in the different setting of the Luberon mountains and Avignon with its notable wine and gastro options. Arles can also be included in the tour. Our usual mix of luxury boutique hotels and short transfers to carefully crafted easy walking routes make this a holiday full of Provencal charm and flair.

It is available from November to the end of April.