In May, 20 students from Stetson University and nearby Bethune-Cookman University shared a journey that covered 1,900 miles through the countryside of England, Cornwall, Wales and Scotland.

Part of the field course “The Early English Landscape,” the students had the opportunity for two weeks to see how man and nature have interacted over the past 5,000 years in Britain, and how the modern British and Scots choose to preserve that landscape.

Led by Dr. Kimberly Reiter, associate professor of History at Stetson, and her husband Dr. Michael Reiter, director of Integrated Environmental Science at Bethune-Cookman, the students first visited several Stone Age sites including Stonehenge, Avebury and Bryn Cellig Ddu, to discuss the outlook of Neolithic man to his environment and sacred world.

“Those first few days were record cold, even for England,” said Kimberly Reiter, “and certainly colder than most of our students had even endured. Imagine 20 Floridians on a ridge at Avebury, in a 40-degree wind looking over the most massive Stone Age complex in all of Britain. And yet they still wanted to explore everything!”

The group also looked at Roman and medieval landscapes, climbed ruined castles and visited landmark cathedrals, including Durham Cathedral, where the group was taken into some of the areas used to film Harry Potter.

“Actually walking these landscapes is key to beginning to understand the relationship of man to environment,” said Reiter.

Some of the favorite hikes included the tor (hill) overlooking a Bronze Age village immortalized in the Hound of the Baskervilles, a climb up Maiden Castle Hillfort, and a cliff hike up the Roman Hadrian’s Wall.

“I swear this is Dr. Reiter’s way of getting us to sleep every night!” said Stetson student Sabrina Macho ’15, a Digital Arts major from New Port Richey, Fla.

There was also plenty of time in the evenings for free roaming of the various towns and cities along the route, including the great medieval towns York and Durham, the English/Welsh seaside towns like St. Austell and Llandudno, and the great city of Edinburgh.

Along the way, the students had an impromptu demonstration of sacred drum acoustics at an ancient burial mound, experienced an Anglican mass dedicated to the medieval historian Bede, took part in some of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations, and a recreated the attack of Iron Age Maiden Castle, complete with bean bag ammunition.

Stetson student Juliette Wheeler ’15, a Discovery student from Bradenton who celebrated her birthday on the day the group explored the Welsh castles, wrote, “I was so excited for today. I bought a crown and could be a princess in a castle on my birthday.”

One of the unexpected highlights came on June 19, the day the Olympic Torch landed in England.

“We were 20 miles from the landing site, and I had hoped we could arrange the schedule to see the torch,” said Reiter. “But instead, we found ourselves stopped on the way to St. Michael’s Mount so that the torch could go by us as we watched from the coach.”

“It was only a glimpse that lasted a minute, but it was still a once-in-a-lifetime experience!” one student said.

The students returned to the United States exhausted but in amazement.

“Wow… What an amazing trip,” wrote Roger Wert ’13, an Integrative Health Science major from Roseburg, Ore. “I remember first hearing about this in class and thinking that it sounded interesting…. But I wasn’t sure if I really wanted to go or not, mostly because it was just a lot of money. Boy, am I glad I decided to do it. This has been an absolute experience of a lifetime. I wish I could put my finger on what my favorite part of this trip was. But to be honest every day I woke up and found myself saying ‘this is definitely my favorite place so far.’”

The field course will be offered again in May 2014. Alumni are always welcome. For more information, contact Reiter at [email protected].