Hidden City Tour of Canterbury

01/10/2024

Now bookable on Eventbrite.

Join us for a journey through the secret spots of Canterbury in our Hidden City Tour!

04/09/2024

Groupon have approached me asking if I’d like to be included in their promotions, it’s just an initial conversation at the moment but let see if it pans out, I need to get more customers on my tours and if I could take 10 on each tour I’d be thrilled. Watch out for more details as they drop!

Found on Google from flaticon.com

02/09/2024

So much hidden in my city but to find it you need a special guide and that guide is me!
Book direct via my website www.thecanterburytours.com Hidden City Tour of Canterbury you’ll see so much more than even the locals and leave with memories and snippets of etymology you’ll use at your next dinner party or trivia quiz!

17/07/2024

This is the reason I have not posted for so long I’m waiting to get back to full walking fitness, after my TKR (Total Knee Replacement) on my right leg. After 18 months of waiting I’m getting there, now 3 weeks post op I can walk with and without my sticks.
My plan is that by August I will be back to full strength, and back to offering proper walking tours rather than in a trolley! Please book with confidence via my website after August 1st!
www.thecanterburytours.com

12/06/2024

Good feedback!

29/05/2024

Following Air BnB's bizarre cancellation of hosting my excellent tour you can no book via Ticket Tailor via the following link.

The Tour is based on the History of the City of Canterbury, and its architecture it also covers several aspects of English Lang...

24/05/2024

UPDATE:

I am going in for my delayed Knee-replacement operation now on 25th June 2024, and will need at least 6 weeks to recuperate, so I will not have any availability until Early August 2024. Please check the website prior to booking. As soon as I am released I will update the Calendar online.

15/05/2024

Walking on the river in watching people who can’t understand “Please do not walk on the Grass” their excuse when challenged “I can’t read the signs!”

15/05/2024

Delicious food, beautiful presentation and melted in the mouth the Lemmon posset was Lovely and creamy! Lucky to have them at with my oldest friend!

19/03/2024

I am just putting the finishing touches to my third book, "Haunted Canterbury Revisited", I am working in collaboration with Kirsten Mears of Norfolk, this is my second Ghost Story Book of Canterbury and its Haunted Past, I want to include as many stories as possible from local people, so my question is, do you have a story worthy of being included in the book, I have been researching for 30 years, but many people who have seen or felt a ghost are reluctant to share their stories, I respect that and I am happy to change your name or hide its location or if you are happy I will credit you with our contribution.

So get your thinking caps on and write me a ghost story preferably about a property you live in or visit, in or around Canterbury, and when I publish and it's included, I will send you an advanced copy as a thank you.

If you have yet to join my 'Ghost Tour of Canterbury' please consider booking via thecanterburytours.com and seeing what we have to offer, or join one of my daytime 'Hidden City Tours' from the Buttermarket, and discover many places you might well have overlooked whilst living in the city.

See here for links to my previous books. And thank you for your continued support.

Send your contributions to me directly via [email protected]

https://amzn.eu/d/dFGiiKQ
https://amzn.eu/d/59bc6mw

11/03/2024

Very sad news today, I've been told by a friend who was a vet for 30 years that my little scrawny cat (Squeaky) has all the signs of kidney failure, he's still eating but he's covered in sores and blood spots, he still lives a cuddle but he's spending most every day curled up on the kitchen table and screeching! He is a rescue cat from the RSPCA, in Hersden. Mum chose him and his brother (bubbles). I don't want to put him down as I've had to put others down in the past I'd rather let him fall asleep in my arms!
I love him and he's a good mouser but it's time to let him go over the rainbow bridge, not clear how long he's got but he's had the same symptoms for over a month. I'm sanguine about his future I gave him a forever home, and he's had a beautiful life, but all good things come to an end! Sleep well if you too have a Pet as they are in our lives for such a short time but we are in their lives for all of theirs!

03/03/2024

See if you can establish where I hid a cadburys Egg.

Cadbury Worldwide Hide
I've got exciting news! I've hidden an Easter egg for you somewhere on the Worldwide Hide map and written a clue to help you find it. Your egg will stay in its hiding spot until the 1st of April, so make sure you start searching soon.

Click this special link https://worldwidehide.cadbury.co.uk/egg/3145c6b1-47f8-4ff6-5de6-08dc3b5cf2c3 to open your clue and find your egg. Good luck!

This Easter, you can hide an egg anywhere in the world for someone you love with the . Check it out!

08/02/2024

Happy 212th Birthday to Charles Dickens!!! 🎂

Charles Dickens was a regular visitor to Rochester Cathedral. His final unfinished book, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, features a disguised version of Rochester Cathedral as a key location. The Cathedral would have looked more like this in his day.

02/02/2024

Local Canterbury History.

I am John Hippisley, and I have been offering walking tours both day and night, since 1991 of the City of Canterbury. 2024 marks 33 years in continuous business in the city, and to celebrate I am offering a 10% off to all local CT postcode holder residents.

Offer applies to all bookings made directly from my website www.thecanterburytours.com when making your booking select “Canterbury” when asked ‘where you are from’ and when asked ‘where seen’ put “NEXTDOOR”.

My Daytime tour entitled ‘Canterbury the Hidden City Tour’, Hidden City Tour of Canterbury starts at 10 am 12:30 pm and 3 pm from The Old Buttermarket Pub, in the Burgate, you choose what time is best for you. The Duration is 120 minutes. During the tour you will discover so much hidden history in the fabric and architecture we often walk past daily without giving it a second glance. Discover English phraseology, and the etymology of many English words on the way, and if you have a chance purchase a copy of my book “Canterbury the Hidden City Tour” available from Amazon follow the link. (https://amzn.eu/d/0MpTP5b)

My Night-time tour ‘The Canterbury Ghost Tour’ Canterbury Ghost Tour, covers a shorter route but is very History Rich with lots of hidden places too, and included stories I researched myself over the years, many locals have been on the tour already and all have enjoyed the gentle mix of History, Humour and Haunting. Duration 90 Minutes and meeting at Alberrys 38 St Margaret’s Street. Have a cocktail before the tour or get a spirit to steady your nerve. There is a book to compliment the tour also available from Amazon follow the link. ( https://amzn.eu/d/0MpTP5b )

Please support me like I try to support the community via this app, and local charities by offering complimentary tickets. If you are a local fundraiser, drop me a message below and I would be happy to help. I look forward to showing you round in person soon, check your calendar and book today.

Here are some recent reviews:

John is an extremely knowledgeable, charismatic and witty tour guide. I found the tour so interesting and it reminded us that history and local stories are everywhere but a lot of people (including myself!) are so caught up in the daily routine that we forget to pay attention to what's all around us!

Our tour was very atmospheric, being 2 degrees above freezing in Canterbury and with the city centre being mostly deserted and dimly lit.

Would highly recommend!

Really enjoyed this tour. John was the best ghost tour guide we’ve ever had. He had legitimate knowledge and passion about the ghosts of Canterbury and I bet he could have gone on past the 90 minutes (which went by quickly). Highly recommend this tour. Insightful, frightening (at times) and funny. Exactly what a ghost tour should be.

28/01/2024

Waiting in the shadows for my clients who are running a few minutes late!

27/01/2024

Yesterday I did something I've been putting off for ages. I went to my solicitor and wrote my last will and testament. Not as hard as I thought but it did raise some interesting questions, namely whom do I leave my estate to if my Sister predecesses me and I have no relations?

I realised that most if not all of my friends are older than me and the ones that are a few years younger might not be grateful for the inheritance. This also raised the question of my funeral and what I wanted to happen to my remains!

All pretty grim thoughts, I decided that in the event of my demise my corneas would be given to a person or persons who are in need of a replacement eye! Having volunteered so long with the Talking News and The Sittingbourne Blind Fellowship, and having lost my best friend who was also blind, it seems the right thing to do! I'm also looking into an LPA (Lasting Power of Attorney) for myself and Mum, as if she has a stroke or heart attack, I'd have to pay the utilities and all the bills for the foreseeable future.

They also asked about any assets, and that made me think too, not much to my name, and what about my cats, I too could have a stroke or worse, or become incapacitated through an accident!

I had written a hand written will some years ago but it was only witnessed by My Sister and as it turns out it would not have been legally binding in the event of my death.

Death and mortality are sadly taboo immotive subjects most of us do not even consider. My solicitor pointed out that dying "in testate" will often mean the Government will take everything after you're gone. You might even end up in a paupers plot!

More than one in 10 over 75s (12 per cent - equating to nearly 700,000 people) have not made a will. Some 22 per cent of 65-74 year olds (equating to 1.5m people) have not made a will. Only 30 per cent of people aged 75 and above have put a power of attorney arrangement in place, meaning 4m Brits do not have a POA.

Whilst you can get help writing a will to say MacMillan Cancer or the RNLI, they will ask for a donation and although you're not going to notice as you'll be gone, your living relatives might ask a question! The solicitor mentioned someone who came in to get their will written and then took the copy, then bought a 'will kit' from WH Smith's and copied all the details, only to save £250 and his new will was invalid so the state got the bulk of his estate! A truly false economy!

So whilst it's a pretty grim subject those you leave behind to mourn your passing might well smile more if you took the time to get a will written and witnessed!

So I urge anyone who has anything to leave behind organise your estate before you go! You might say well I won't know but others will! Stay safe everyone and don't become a statistic!