STUDENT TOURS & GROUP TRAVEL

Tour Details:

Welcome on a student day trip to Portsmouth Victorian Christmas Festival and Winchester (Christmas Market).

We should arrive about 10.30am and spend nearly 4 hours in Portsmouth Dockyard where the festival is taking place. Inside the dockyard is a recreation of scenes from a Christmas in Victorian age (19th Century).  Entrance onto all the historic ships on display such as HMS Victory are free to enter and included in the price your ticket. 

We then travel mid-afternoon to Winchester to see Englands ancient capital city and one of the largest Cathedrals in Europe. Next to Winchester Cathedral is where they have one of the best Christmas Markets available for you to see and buy some gifts for friends, family or even yourself! Also available to visit will be the Great Hall with the Round Table of King Arthur legend plus the Westgate Museum and much more.

Departure will be around 5.15pm arriving home about 6.30pm in Bournemouth and just after 7.30pm in Oxford.

Information on Portsmouth Christmas Festival:

This popular event is a wonderful mix of Christmas shopping with its Hampshire Fare, Gift and Boutique markets, festive food with the chance to see our traditional Father Christmas (dressed in green!) with his lovable baby reindeer and a huge variety of colourful characters and entertainment plus the Historic Dockyard attractions!

Glorious Festive Food
Traditional Victorian Christmas recipes featuring locally grown ingredients.

Lovely Christmas Market
Browse a glorious bazaar of arts, crafts, food and drink at the largest Christmas market on the south coast! Discover unique and unusual gifts for your loved ones at over 140 gift stalls, There will be plenty of opportunity to stock up on tasty treats and gourmet gifts for your festive season.

An enchanting encounter with Father Christmas and his lovable baby Reindeer! 
Meet Mother Christmas and help her to look after her four-legged helpers, Bubble and Squeak as they prepare for their busiest night of the year, Christmas Eve.

A taste of days gone by… 
There will be snow in the air and underfoot as you take a stroll along our Dickensian-style street amongst chimney sweeps, wenches, gentry and "Victorian Strollers" and keep your eyes peeled for Fagin and his gang of pickpockets and Penny Farthings whizzing by!

Join us in a spot of Victorian dancing, make a Victorian Christmas puppet or decoration and join Professor Mervyn Heard from the century before cinema for a genuine Dickensian Christmas picture show featuring vintage mechanical moving slides.

A huge variety of colourful characters and entertainment 
From the moment you arrive you will be greeted by the music of Jazz Magic, Festival Brass and Rose & Thistle Pipe Band, the firing and drumming of the Fort Cumberland Guard, sketches by the Wavy Navy group and marching and military displays by The Queen’s Royal West Surrey Regiment. 

You will find deliciously extraordinary fun including illuminated angels with neon halos and silly trumpets, Scrooge and Mr Cratchit in their musical carriage wishing you a bah humbug Christmas and giant walking candy canes! 

Pull up a chair in the beautifully ornate Fagin's Tavern and join in our programme of toe-tapping entertainment including the Eidelweiss Bavarian Showband and comedy sketches by Festival Players and end what will be a fantastic, memorable day with a traditional carol concert led by the Royal British Legion Victory Brass Band and A Choired Taste.

Amazing World-Class Attractions 
Your ticket includes entry to the attractions of Portsmouth Historic Dockyard. See the National Museum of the Royal Navy, HMS Warrior 1860 and the famous HMS Victory plus Mary Rose Museum, Action Stations and also available are boat trips of Portsmouth Harbour (weather permitting).

The Spinnaker Tower & Shopping at Gunwharf Quays
There is also an opportunity to endulge in some Christmas Shopping at Gunwharf Quay's designer outlet shopping centre, just 3 mins walk away. here you will also find many bars and restaurants as well as the Spinnaker Tower with its spectacular views across the Solent.