THE PARDUBICKA RACE AND
GREAT HOUSES IN EAST BOHEMIA
11-14 October 2013
We are organising a small group to go the most exciting steeplechase in Europe, which falls on Sunday 13th October this year. East Bohemia is filled with fine castles and collections, many in private hands, and we will cover the best. Driving up from Prague via the legendary silver mine city of Kutna Hora, our visits will include the magnificent Late Gothic cathedral and the newly-opened Art Museum. We will have lunch at a charming Baroque castle owned by two collectors of contemporary art, and continue to Hradec Kralove, where our hotel is located in a landmark Art Nouveau building. There will be time to visit the important fine and decorative arts museums. A day in the countryside will take us to a private castle with Arts & Crafts elements grafted onto Baroque, featured in World of Interiors, as well as the extraordinary hospice at Kuks, and the Colloredo-Mansfeld house at Opocno. The following morning we hope to walk the famous course, and visit the racing museum in Slatinany. In the afternoon we will visit the Baroque Kladruby stud in a historic parkland setting, and in the evening go for drinks Kinskys, who founded the race in the 1840s, followed by dinner at Castolovice, a privately-owned country house. The final day will be devoted to racing; we will watch from a box with local trainers and cognoscenti, continuing to Prague for evening flights after the final race.
NB The tour will be accompanied by John Pinfold co-author of the recent illustrated book The Velka Pardubicka and the Grand National, from which our image is taken.
Cost per person £845. Single room supplement £145 (the tour is costed on 12 people). Meeting point to be arranged depending on arrivals.
