Address: 60 Third Avenue, Teignmouth, Devon, TQ14 9DP, UK
Telephone: +44 (0)1626 772068, Fax: +44 (0)1626 772068

Redcliff Study Centre has been running successfully for 21 years, teaching English as a Foreign Language. We are now expanding and adding a literature section which will operate independently. This website explains the new Thomas Hardy and West Country Literature courses which began in March 2003.

Details of the English as a Foreign Language courses can be obtained by contacting Redcliff Study Centre by 'phone, fax, e-mail or snail mail. The prices of the E.F.L. courses are somewhat lower than the Literature courses.

If you want Literature, please read this website. If you want E.F.L., please contact Redcliff direct.

Thomas Hardy and West Country Literature Tours

Welcome to this website. We are calling all Thomas Hardy devotees to consider a course on Literature lasting from 2 days to 2 weeks, in which we visit and actually walk the sites linked to his novels, poems, short stories and life. This venture takes us from Cornwall (Emma, Tintagel, St. Juliot and the outburst of love poetry in 1913) to Dorchester (Weatherbury, Marlott, Kingsbere, Mellstock and Bockhampton - the area around Bockhampton is rich in memories of "Tess" and "Far from the Madding Crowd"). My wife and I are offering courses which will involve as many aspects of Thomas Hardy as you wish, and / or other writers as listed below. We are very suitably placed between Cornwall and Dorset for such an adventure.

Addenda: This area is rich in literary talent. Other famous writers who are associated with the South West include John Betjeman, Agatha Christie, Charles Kingsley, Daphne du Maurier, Alfred Tennyson, Conan Doyle and Samuel Taylor Coleridge. We can visit sites associated with these writers. Visits of historical interest could include Oxford via Stonehenge and Avebury stone circles, Stratford via Bath and/or Wells, Dartmouth via Totnes and Dartington.

St Juliot Church - Cornwall

Thomas Hardy Statue, Dorchester

I have been teaching for a long time in schools but for the last 21 years have run my own Centre from our home here in Teignmouth, a seaside town in Devon. Students have come from many different countries and Hardy has always been part of the teaching programme as his influence on 20th century literature has been so significant and he seems so popular on the continent. I became hooked on Hardy in 1948 when "The Mayor of Casterbridge" was my set text for a national exam.

My own background: educated in Essex, two years military service, mostly in Germany, four years at Oxford, teaching in London, Australia, Yorkshire and Devon for 29 years. I am married with four daughters and three grandsons. My hobbies are teaching, travelling, reading, country dancing and folk guitar teaching and singing.

Accommodation and full board will be arranged for you in Teignmouth with friendly host families. There are single and double rooms available.

How to get to Teignmouth: There is a good bus / rail service from Heathrow / Gatwick or Victoria / Paddington, London. You will be collected by car from the local bus / rail station.
The M5 runs as far as Exeter and from there we are only 12 miles.

Redcliff English Study Centre
Home base for the tours and tuition

A group of students at Redcliff Study Centre

Travel while on the course: We have our own mini-bus available at all times for the full day excursions and shorter visits to Dartmoor, Exeter etc. The group size will not exceed 8. Please note that these courses are open to all ages between 17 and 70 plus. My oldest pupil to date has been 71.

Dates: The courses are available in 2005. The cost is £420 per week and pro rata per day. This price includes full board and lodging, tuition and guiding on each excursion. When we are not travelling on an excursion then the tuition will be c. 4 hours per day. There is no charge for transport but entrance fees for museums etc. are not covered. Most materials are provided. There is no V.A.T.

Interested? Please, for further details or clarification, contact us.

Testimonials:

"...personally guided trips to breathtakingly beautiful Cornwall and Dorset, gracious host families and a chance to understand the influences of some of England's best writers... ...Brian's knowledge and enthusiasm - whether climbing the tors of Dartmoor, wading in the sea at Tintagel or walking in Hardy's favourite haunts - makes the literature come alive." Sandy Stachowiak, Buffalo, U.S.A.

"...in 2004 I had the wonderful motivating experience of attending a Thomas Hardy literature course at Brian's Redcliff Centre. ...through Brian's talented teaching methods and the sharing of his vast literary knowledge, we returned home much richer in the English language." Carole Schwitter, Zurich, Switzerland.

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