E L T I P S V R T

It has been 400 years since the voyage of the Mayflower, where dozens of religious refugees set sail out of Plymouth heading for the New World.

And there is still a packed calendar of events waiting in America for later in the year.

The Plymouth 400 programme commemorates the arrival of the Pilgrims and the first harvest festival – the roots of the Thanksgiving pig-out.

You can find the action around Plymouth, south of Boston in Massachusetts, where they are thought to have landed in 1620.

Get a real taste of it at the Plimoth Plantation – a fascinating living museum recreating early 17th-century life.

It tells the story of the Plymouth Colony from the perspective of both the Pilgrims and the Native Wompanoak tribe so you can really appreciate their contrasting ways of life.

The grounds are spread over 120 acres on the banks of the Eel River and there’s a visitor centre, craft centre and bakery as well as the Wompanoak Homesite.

Here you discover how life was before those 100 passengers and crew turned up on their shores.

Unlike the people you’ll meet in the attraction’s English Village, the staff are not role players – they are all native people dressed in deerskin, fishing, building boats and generally doing their thing.

Take a short walk to 33 Sandwich Street where the two-storey timber Jabez Howland House still stands. It is the only remaining house where the Pilgrims lived.

And to think 35 million descendants of these settlers have been born, including Clint Eastwood, Marilyn Monroe, Benedict Cumberbatch and Winston Churchill. Make time to visit the

GO on board the replica Mayflower II for a historical treat. Built in Plymouth, Devon, in the 50s, it has been restored and renovated for this centennial year.

TRY out the Hearth ’n’ Kettle Restaurant, which serves up Pilgrim themed food such as Mayflower cranberry pancakes and a Hungry Pilgrim breakfast.

HEAD to Court Street and find the Cork + Table. It offers topnotch international

cuisine.

Plimoth Grist Mill, at Town Brook, and learn how the Pilgrims ground their corn using water power. You can pick up some of the cornmeal that is still made here too.

Cross the street to the entrance of the town burial ground and head up to see the location of the first fort. Nearby is the National Monument to the Founding Fathers with dazzling views of the bay.

Ceremony

Berthed at the waterfront near Plymouth Rock is the Mayflower II, a full-size replica of the original ship.

You can board it – to meet more costumed characters and hear exciting tales of that historic 66-day journey across the high seas.

You can also take a meandering walk along a nature trail starting at Brewster Gardens. Follow it to the source of Town Brook – the main water supply for those early settlers. Or explore the two great ponds on the Plymouth Town Trail. It’s a dream destination for anyone who likes their holidays heavy on history and culture. Even more so this year.

The Plymouth 400 opening ceremony has been pushed back to the end of June, and keep checking its website for updates. But it will be worth the wait – expect a giant cultural celebration, including a waterfront lobster bake.

Following on in August, there will be a Wompanoak Ancestors’ Walk through Plymouth to highlight the 69 original villages.

Then in September, the freshly spruced-up Mayflower II will be in Provincetown during the Swim for Life, where hundreds of brave folk dive in to raise money for charity.

This is where the Mayflower first dropped anchor, but it was thought the sandy earth was unsuitable for farming so they did not hang about.

Still, any history lover will happily berth here.

FACTFILE: America As You Like It has a five-night package to Massachusetts from £1,049pp, including Virgin Atlantic flights, one night at the Four Seasons in Boston and four nights at the Hotel 1620 in Plymouth, plus car hire. See americaasyoulikeit.com. Visit plymouth400inc.org for updates on events.