Quaker Journey

Travel from the United States to Manchester, England and overnight at the four-star Clayton Hotel (adjacent to the airport) or other lodging. Early arrivals generally go into the city together from the hotel for dinner and an evening stroll.

We take a charter coach from The Clayton Hotel to our home for the week, Glenthorne Quaker Conference Centre and Guest House, in Grasmere (what William Wordsworth called The loveliest spot that man hath ever found).

Over afternoon tea, we orient ourselves to Glenthorne and our week together. The rest of the afternoon is open for rest, local exploration, or other activities.​​​​​​

• Welcome and introductory talk by our British Quaker guide
• Brigflatts Meeting House
• Colthouse Meeting House
• Fox’s Pulpit/Firbank Fell
• Hawkshead Village
• Lancaster Castle/Prison
• Pendle Hill
• Preston Patrick Meeting House
• Quaker Tapestry Exhibit, Kendal
• Saint Andrew’s Church, Sedbergh
• Sawley Meeting House
• Settle Meeting House
• Swarthmoor Hall
• Meeting for Worship and final thoughts

You can see his reflections about the power of experiencing "1652 Country" in this 2010 article by British historian and Quaker Roy Stephenson, our 2013 and 2018 guide.

Wednesday and Saturday are open for rest, local exploration, and other activities using local transport or on foot.

Possibilities include:

• writer William Wordsworth’s Dovecote Cottage, Allan Bank, and/or Rydal Mount homes
• the Wordsworth Museum
• his grave at St. Oswald’s Church
• Sarah Nelson’s Grasmere Gingerbread Shop
• Beatrix Potter’s house
• the Heaton Cooper Studio (an art gallery and shop)
• the garden of local storyteller Taffy Thomas
• the ruins of the Roman fort Galava
• a hike up Helm Crag
• a cruise on Windermere Lake
• the Blackwell Arts and Crafts House
• a visit to Morecambe Bay
• a walk to Easedale Tarn
• biking around the countryside
• local bus service northward to the town of Keswick (home of the Cumberland Pencil Museum) and the Derwentwater lake
• Mosedale Meetinghouse and Coffee Shop
• the Castlerigg stone circle
• and more!

If you need an additional enticement, take a look at the beautiful photos in this UK newspaper story, 10 Reasons Why You Should Visit the Lake District!

We take our comfortable charter coach from Glenthorne to the Manchester Airport and Oxenholme Station for travel to the United States or other destinations.

We anticipate at least one pre-trip potluck and informational meeting to which all participants will be invited.

We also hope interest warrants at least one post-trip potluck open to all travelers.

We're glad to include anyone at a distance via video-conferencing.

Please note itinerary details are subject to change.

We'll have various opportunities for reflection and sharing, for small-group walks, for shop and pub visits, and for other optional activities.

Some participants may schedule additional travel in Europe before and/or after the specific trip dates.

For many years, Philadelphia Yearly Meeting (PYM) has sponsored Quaker Pilgrimages to England. For the CFS staff members who'd participated, the Pilgrimage was an unparalleled experience that continued to have an impact deepening their appreciation of our Quaker roots and practices.

In Spring 2012 a group--Cesanne Berry (Durham Early School head), Charlie Layman (Lower School teacher and staff clerk), and Natasha Shannon (Lower School art teacher), with organizing support from Lynn Drake (CHFM) and Nikki Vangsnes (DFM)--felt led to consider whether we might be able to replicate the experience for interested F/friends in our local Quaker communities using the same Quaker retreat facilities, itinerary, and contacts in England. They were delighted that PYM organizers were willing to share all their information and help facilitate connections with “1652 Country Pilgrimage" planners in England.

So, in August 2013, 10 Chapel Hill Friends Meeting (CHFM) and eight Durham Friends Meeting (DFM) members joined eight current and retired Carolina Friends staff members for the weeklong adventure. Learn more about their journey in this We & Thee article.

The power of that trip led Nikki to join with CFS Director of Extended Learning Anthony L. Clay (a 2013 participant) and Lower School teacher Lynn Pickles (a native of the Lake District) to organize another iteration of the trip. In July 2018, almost 30 travelers joined once more with British historian, Quaker, and guide Roy Stephenson for a week in Cumbria.

The significance of 2013 and 2018 seems to call for another such experience, so Anthony, Lynn, and Nikki are now looking to Summer 2024. Won't you join us?!

Anthony L. Clay
Carolina Friends School

Anthony returned to Carolina Friends in August 2009 as the first Director of Advancement, responsible for alumni, parent, and grandparent relations; development; communications; community partnerships and outreach; and other aspects of the School’s external relations. In 2016-2017, he transitioned to the new Director of Extended Learning role, supporting after-hours, summer, and other enrichment programs for students, adults, and families and now is launching and leading our new Institute for Teaching and Learning.

An Arkansas native, he earned baccalaureate degrees magna cum laude in International Relations and History and an Asian Studies Certificate at American University and then completed an M.A. in History and received Phi Beta Kappa honors at Emory University. Anthony has worked as a teacher--in subjects including U.S. history, government and politics, debate, and economics--and as a college counselor at four schools (including Carolina Friends from 2002-2005). He's grateful that his own children were nurtured by Quaker values and dedicated teachers at CFS.

Lynn Pickles
Carolina Friends School

Lynn has always been passionate about teaching math, writing, and cultural geography, and feels very much at home at CFS as she was born in Nelson, Lancashire, in the shadows of Pendle Hill, a cornerstone place in the history of the Quaker movement. She and her husband John have a son, Leon, and they enjoy traveling whenever the opportunity presents itself. If neither John or Leon are able to travel with her, Lynn has been known to take her Scottish Terrier, Lewis, with her to Europe (given that he is the proud owner of a European Union Pet Passport)!

Lynn grew up working in her parents’ fish, fruit, and vegetable shop in the 1950s in the days when British money was not based on the decimal system, and calculators had not been invented. She has always maintained that those experiences shaped her world-view and trained her to think mathematically.

Her formal post-secondary education took place at St Martin’s College in Lancaster, England, and she then taught in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa for four years. She and her husband came to the U.S., to State College, Pennsylvania, in 1978 where Lynn worked as a Special Education Teacher and as a Young Adult and Children’s Librarian for the County.

She undertook a second Education / Math degree and a Masters Degree in International Affairs and Linguistics at Ohio University, prior to moving to Morgantown, West Virginia. There, a group of parents asked her to start an alternative elementary school, and to create and oversee its growth from an initial KG class to a Pre-K through 6th-grade program. Lynn later moved to The Lexington School, in Lexington, Kentucky, and then to the Duke School in Durham before working in Lower School Forest Class at Carolina Friends School. Now retired, she has come full circle.

Nikki Vangsnes
Durham Friends Meeting

Since 1985, Nikki has been active in the Durham Friends Meeting where she has served in various capacities, including clerk of the Meeting. Currently she is clerk of the Board of the American Friends Service Committee. Nikki is also a former member of the Carolina Friends School Board of Trustees and parent of three alums. Since 1999, she has worked as the Associate Director of the Trent Center for Bioethics, Humanities, and History of Medicine at Duke University.

With 2013 and 2018 guide Roy Stephenson.

The trip fee (to be finalized in Fall 2023) will include all lodging and meals at Glenthorne Quaker Conference Centre and Guest House and ground transportation to and from the Manchester airport and to and from historical sites. It will also cover entry fees, tour guides, and gratuities.

Airfare will be a separate, individual cost.

A $500 deposit will be due at the time of application and refundable if we can fill your space.

Registration will open as soon as possible in Fall 2023.

If you'd like us to keep you updated on this or other trips, please complete this brief notification form.