Dreamscapes Travel & Lifestyle

W e'd just left John's boyhood home. I asked why it didn't look like the one in the lennon biopic, nowhere Boy. "Because it isn't," Phil confi rms. "Even though she had permission to fi lm the house, the director thought it too posh for the working class portrait she was aiming for. In fact, it's the other three lads who were working class, not John." after a quick peek through the gates of strawberry Field, our 20-member group boards a luxury coach complete with laminate wood fl oors, intermittent Wi-Fi and a killer sound system then heads down penny lane, humming along to the tune of the same name. phil points out the Barbers shop and the "shelter in the middle of the round- about" before herding us into the Cavern Club where The Beatles, Gerry and the pacemakers, The Who, The stones, Queen and more recently, paul McCartney have all performed. soIRÉE WITh ThE loCals local experts such as phil, a travel photographer and Beatles afi cionado of 20 years, are the main- stay of Trafalgar Tours along with their uber-pro- fessional travel directors and local hosts who open their homes to Trafalgar's clientele. arriving for dinner at Whitwell hall, an English country house outside of York, we're greeted by the Bell family bearing trays of spar- kling wine in a wide entrance hall complete with a grand staircase leading to the fully visible upstairs hallways. To escape the chilly october night, we crowd around the roaring fi replace in an adjoining sitting room fi lled with overstuffed furniture, plush carpets and full-size oil portraits of extended fam- ily members, past and present. Invited to wander freely, I head into the main kitchen heated by a mammoth aGa cooker, pop- ular in England since 1929, to chat with staff as they prepare the roast pork, mashed potatoes and braised vegetables. overhead, Mrs. Bell's 300 tea- pots decorate the shelves around the room. Fresh drink in hand and two rambunctious dogs in tow, I rejoin the group in conversation about our trip. Earlier that day we'd stopped by Quarry Bank Mill, a well-preserved cotton mill and museum dedicated to the child apprentices of the Industrial Revolution before settling into historic York, home of the beautiful gothic cathedral, York Minster. ENGlaNd aNd sCoTlaNd GREaTEsT hITs B y S h e r e l P u r C e l l "on HiS way to paul'S HouSe wHere tHey wrote lyricS toGetHer, JoHn lennon would cycle acroSS allerton Municipal Golf club deliberately tearinG up tHe GreenS," SayS pHil coppell, our liverpool Guide and acquaintance of paul Mccartney. W Phil confi rms. "Even though she had permission to fi lm the house, the director thought it too posh for the working class portrait she was aiming for. In fact, it's the other three lads who were working class, not John." strawberry Field, our 20-member group boards a luxury coach complete with laminate wood fl oors, intermittent Wi-Fi and a killer sound system then heads down penny lane, humming along to the tune of the same name. phil points out the Barbers shop and the "shelter in the middle of the round- about" before herding us into the Cavern Club where The Beatles, Gerry and the pacemakers, The Who, The stones, Queen and more recently, paul McCartney have all performed. soIRÉE WITh ThE loCals local experts such as phil, a travel photographer and Beatles afi cionado of 20 years, are the main-

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