Arrival at Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport, Kolkata, India

Airport pickup any time night or day. 

We will start the day visiting the atmsopheric Park St Cemetary - a little creepy and sad and also amazingly atmospheric.

Lunch at the iconic Indian Coffee house and onto the Marble Palace. This grand old Palace will leave you amazed with its eclectic collection of Victoriana and a glimpse into how the wealthy once lived.

Later in the afternoon to head down to Malik Ghat- the flower market. No way to describe this other than WOW, so come along for the experience under the edge of the famous Howrah Bridge. 

In the evening we will share a celebratory Welcome Dinner together.

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Leaving town this morning we will head out to rural Phulia, an area famous for its superb weaving. 

We’ll spend the day wandering around the village, seeing all aspects of fine cotton and silk weaving.

Check out the village market for gamcha- Bengali bath towels and other things destined for the local market. 

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We will start out early to wander around the ruins of its old Rajbari [Ruler’s mansion] and then visit the nearby sculpture village and an amazing garden.

Half way to Murshidabad we will turn off the highway to the peaceful fields around Plassey for a picnic lunch. Once a grisly scene of battle where Clive [of India as he was later known] orchestrated the defeat of the Nawab of Bengal through bribery and deception and annexed the rich state of Bengal for the British East India company. 

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Murshidabad is a wonderful town that times seems to have forgotten, once the principle seat of a very rich kingdom is it now home to a thousand wonderful photographs of crumbling mansions, palaces, mosques and temples, beautiful gardens and fields.

We will spend the day exploring many beautiful old places– a mansion housing a car that cost 80 Rupees, superb garden of Rajasthani merchants, a Palace of 1000 Doors. Yes, we love the place.

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A short drive out to a weaver’s village, experience the medieval feeling of the steamy silk processing rooms where they reel the silk off, the women working on spinning cotton threads for weaving and the river bank for washing, a hive of activity.

Lunch will be as the very lucky guests of a local family, a truly delicious treat. 

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Travelling across a landscape of rice fields, bananas, and mango trees, we are heading to a small village income generation project of Muslim design Kantha- geometrical motifs, bright colours, beautiful work. 

We are guests of the village, will share lunch and spend time with a group of local women who will be our teachers starting us off on a cushion cover for you to finish along our travels. 

If we are lucky we will see or even have the opportunity to purchase some older kanthas as well.

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Shantiniketan is the location of a University set up by Rabindranath Tagore, a Renaissance man and one of India’s most famous artists he became the first non-European to win the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1913.

Tagore was and is a major influence on the arts especially in Bengal and more widely in India. The University of Shantiniketan’ s degree awards are handed out by the Prime Minister of India each year.

We will start the day visiting our friend Mrs Khatun and through her tutelage start a fine silk kantha piece to work on as we travel and then in the afternoon tour the galleries and grounds of the University 

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Once capital to the Malla kingdom, Bishnupur is a lovely spot to wander around and visit its 400-year-old terracotta temples. Superb. 

We got lead astray on our last visit looking for the shell cravers, so this time we think we know which village to wander into and hope to find them, or else just enjoy a stroll through a nice village. Fingers crossed. 

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The legacy of poverty, whilst being addressed in India is still has work in progress. On arriving back in Kolkata we will visit The Mother’s House, home and headquarters of The Sisters of Charity. Mother Teresa and her group have done so much in building awareness about poverty and its effects.

Along the way you will have seen much Gamcha- the bright checked handwoven bath towels of Bengal, like us you might even be a little addicted to them by this stage. Today we will visit a designer who turns bright bold gamcha into fabulous fun clothes and accessories

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Heading out of town to one of the world’s biggest mangrove swamps and home to the largest population of Bengal Tigers- The Sundarbans National Park and Tiger Reserve. 

We’ll spend the days cruising, hoping to catch a glimpse of tigers as well as the many other creatures of the swamps- crocodile, birds, birds, birds, smaller cats, antelopes and reptiles. 

Night time we will retire to cosy cabins on shore. 

During our visit to the area we will visit a local village, an interpretation centre and the shrine where the local honey collectors pray before entering the Sundarbans, a dangerous occupation

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Time on the boat will allow time to work on our stitching as well as enjoying the view .

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Return to Kolkata today.

Let's celebrate our adventures with a farewell dinner tonight.

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Departures from Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport, Kolkata, India

We will drop you to meet your flights.

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