Fair Park Walking tour -- audio website review

Photo taken by Sara Schmidt 2013

photo taken by Sara Schmidt 2013

When I went on my trip to England in July 2013, I was excited about going into Henley and seeing the Harrison's home, Friar Park.    Of course the disappointment was that you can only stand at the gates and glare past them.   When I stood at the gates, I could only imagine what was beyond the front path from the few books and articles I have read over the years.

However---the days of dreaming is over!   While you still are not allowed to go past those front gates (something I highly recommend all of you doing!), our friends at the Campfire Network has done the next best thing.    They have set up a website that has an audio tour of every nook and cranny of Friar Park.

For the past three days, I have been going through the audio files, and enjoying the trip through the many gardens of Friar Park.    The tour starts with a basic history of Friar Park, starting in the 1800's and with Sir Frank Crisp and explains some of his quirky reasons for making the property as interesting as it is.

The audio files are reasonably short (most between 3 minutes up to 24 minutes).  I liked that each section was broken up into sections, because I was unable to listen to the entire tour in one sitting.  I loved the voice of the narrator!   It was very soothing and he emphasized important words.  He did not sound robotic or like he was reading a script.   I usually do not like audio books because I always feel like the narrator is robotic or overly dramatic.   I was entertained by the audio files.

I liked learning the reason why it looked like visitors were walking on the water at the lake at Friar Park.    There were a bunch of interesting stories, such as the snow on the Matterhorn, that were just fascinating.

In going through this audio tour, it was easier for me to understand why George Harrison enjoyed living in Friar Park.   George was just as quirky as Sir Frank and George did an amazing job keeping up the gardens at Friar Park.  

Having gone through the audio tour, I now feel like I have a better visual picture of Friar Park.   I thoroughly enjoyed  going through the site and found it to be educational, fascinating and fun.

Campfire Network is going to do audio tours for the Dakota Building and Tittenhurt in the near future.   I am excited to hear all about those Beatles homes as well!

If you would like to go on this audio tour, visit the website at www.campfirenetwork.com   There is a special deal for all readers of Meet the Beatles..for Real.   If you sign up for membership before the end of October you will get 20% off!    The code is MTB116