British Guild of Tourist Guides

20/06/2024

Mythical, magical, mystical - a small selection of neolithic standing stones fit for a Summer Solstice across the UK.

Today signals the start of summer in the northern hemisphere and the beginning of winter south of the equator. Today's Summer Solstice is the earliest since 1796. Enjoy your longest day in the UK!

Discover the UK's awe-inspiring standing stones with

20/06/2024

Westminster Abbey looking amazing in the afternoon sun.

20/06/2024

Found this picture of me taken last week by Yorkshire Post photographer Jonathan Gawthorpe on the online version of the paper. Maybe a little feature will be appearing on Saturday!

19/06/2024

Sunset silhouettes and a trail of glistening waters on a private boat tour with Mark Conroy The London Expert Guide 😍

📷 Mark Conroy The London Expert Guide

Tower Bridge

19/06/2024

Mighty Edinburgh Castle - the birthplace of King James VI of Scotland and later James I of England, who was born on this day in 1566.

Look out for the ‘laird’s lugs’, hear the gun timepiece and the story of the 21 pirates of the Caribbean or the beer-drinking elephant, see the dog cemetery, listen out for the haunting Lone Piper...

Discover Edinburgh & its Castle with https://britainsbestguides.org/tour/edinburgh-city-tour/

18/06/2024

Gladys Marie Spencer-Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough, as winged sphinx at Blenheim Palace.

Born Gladys Deacon, hers is a remarkable story involving high society, scandal, murder, adulation, eviction, reclusion. She captivated and inspired some of the greatest literary and artistic names of the Belle Époque ... and there's also the story about her nose.

Discover the stories of Blenheim Palace with

https://britainsbestguides.org/tour/blenheim-palace/

📷 Tabby Lucas Cotswold and Oxford Tours

17/06/2024

We just had to share this wonderful panoramic view of Tower Bridge opening 😍

Originally powered by steam, Tower Bridge has used electro-hydraulic power since 1976 to lift its 66m central span. The highest-ever number of bridge lifts in one day was 64, back in 1910.

It's a magnificent sight to see and with you'll get all the history and stories of this iconic London landmark!

📷 Mark Conroy The London Expert Guide https://britainsbestguides.org/guides/mark-conroy/

Tower Bridge

17/06/2024

Sunny greetings from a sunny afternoon at Westminster Abbey, London.

Did you know that this 'Royal Peculiar' was founded by monks in 960 AD, on a small island on the Thames called Thorney Island? And did you know that its maginificent Cosmati Pavement predicts the world's future?

Discover the past, the (possible) future and delight in the present with a guided tour of Westminster Abbey with https://britainsbestguides.org/tour/westminster-abbey/

📷 Danny Parlour, London Blue Badge Tourist Guide

Westminster Abbey

16/06/2024

Lovely meal at the Bell Inn, Sapperton in the Cotswolds. There is a beautiful garden too when it doesn't rain!

I'm a local Blue Badge Tourist Guide offering guided tours of Oxford and the Cotswolds.

16/06/2024

When you're giving a Jurassic Coast tour, as a Fathers' Day treat from a daughter to her dad, and you unexpectantly meet a local palaeontologist who invites you into his workshop to show you his latest find, a plesiosaur front flipper - a top marine predator from 203 million years ago 😮

You never know who you might meet or discover on a guided tour with

Happy Fathers' Day! ❤️

15/06/2024

The view of the spectacular Red Arrows flypast over the Tower of London from Tower Bridge, a few moments ago, as part of today's Trooping the Colour parade 🇬🇧

On behalf of we send best wishes to His Majesty The King on his official birthday!

📷 Danny Parlour, London Blue Badge Tourist Guide

Historic Royal Palaces

14/06/2024

Public art can help shape a place's cultural identity and foster a sense of shared heritage and memory.

Take a fascinating contemporary art stroll with Mr Londoner in and around the London Bridge neighbourhood with his latest blog 'In a River a Thousand Streams' https://britainsbestguides.org/blogs/in-a-river-a-thousand-streams/

📷 Mr Londoner (aka Antony Robbins)

Join Mr Londoner on an eclectic art stroll around London Bridge

13/06/2024

All eyes on London this Saturday for the spectacular Trooping the Colour ceremony, the King's Official Birthday.

250 musicians, 20 pipers, 240 military working horses, some 1000 soldiers of the British Army’s Household Division and an enormous wolfhound (😍) will deliver a magnificent and unmissable pageant.

This is 4 year-old Turlough Mór (aka Séamus), the 17th official mascot of the Irish Guards, who has been training for the big day and will no doubt be stealing the show on Saturday!

His official name is derived from Turlough Mór, King of Connaught from 1106 -1156 and High King of Ireland from 1136 -1156. The Irish Guards have had a wolfhound mascot since 1902. And in case you're wondering, Turlough Mór is pronounced 'Tur-Lock more'

Enjoy a Royal London Tour with https://britainsbestguides.org/tour/royal-london-tour/

12/06/2024

Hope you're all having a supercalifragilisticexpialidocious kind of Wednesday!

📍The Mary Poppins bronze statue at 'Scenes in the Square' Leicester Sq, London. This is one of many classic and contemporary film characters dotted around the area.

Did you know that the character of Mary Poppins is based on the author's (P.L. Travers) great-aunt Aunt Ellie, which she once described as 'an everyday enchantress, a woman who will scold a child for wearing a coat in a warm room but also one who will take her charges to a midnight congress of animals at the zoo, and on an afternoon trip around the world.'

Take a walk and a selfie with your favourite screen character at Leicester Square with

📷 Danny Parlour, London Blue Badge Tourist Guide

11/06/2024

Mimesis at W***y Lott's House, Flatford, Suffolk.

The beautiful landscape of the Dedham Valley served as inspiration for some of John Constable's most famous landscape paintings. Walk along the River Stour or visit Flatford Mill or W***y Lott's House and see how art imitates life in the paintings of John Constable who was born on this day in 1776.

Discover the man and the art on a Constable Country Tour with
https://britainsbestguides.org/tour/constable-country/

10/06/2024

09/06/2024

Westminster Hall's magnificent oak hammer-beam roof, the largest medieval timber roof in Northern Europe.

Commissioned in 1393 by Richard II, this design masterpiece was the work of chief mason Henry Yevele and carpenter Hugh Herland. Both prolific master craftsmen of the late 14th century.

Westminster Hall is the oldest part of the parliamentary estate and has played a central role in the major institutions of the British state since the 11th century.

Take a power walk with and discover nearly 1000 years of political power in London.

📷 Danny Parlour, London Blue Badge Tourist Guide

08/06/2024

08/06/2024

The stunning Isles of Scilly - a captivating archipelago off the Atlantic coast of Cornwall.

This is very much an off-the-beaten-track destination full of charm, dazzling white beaches, dramatic coastlines and a heritage that dates back to the Stone Age. Testament to the Scillonian warm hospitality is the story of how their kindness in the 19th century saved these islanders from attack during the subsequent world wars.

Explore this island paradise with https://britainsbestguides.org/tour/isles-of-scilly-tour/

07/06/2024

Pie and Mash - a veritable cockney classic and probably London’s original fast-food 😋

The pie is traditionally filled with minced beef, served with mashed potato and liquor (aka parsley sauce). Over the centuries, each Pie and Mash shop has added its own take, with a secret ingredient here or a different pastry-rolling technique there.

And what about the eels?! In the mid 19th Century, the eel population in the River Thames was plentiful and jellied eels was also a common meal, often served with pie and mash.

For a taste of London tradition take a culinary walk with

📷 Danny Parlour, London Blue Badge Tourist Guide

06/06/2024

A small panel of the magnificent Overlord Embroidery at the D-Day Story Portsmouth.

This 83 metre hand-stitched Embroidery tells the epic story of D-Day - the largest single seaborne assault in history, involving over 156,000 Allied troops on the beaches of Normandy on 6th June 1944. By the end of August that year, two million Allied soldiers were in France.

The thousands of people involved on D-Day set the Allies on a decisive path toward victory during World War II. We remember their sacrifice on this 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings.

📷 Mark King

The D-Day Story

05/06/2024

The iconic Jubilee Clock at Otley, Yorkshire. This clock tower was built in 1887 to celebrate the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria‘s reign.

The historic and quaint market town of Otley has played a significant role in the history of Britain, from pre-historic art, to stone quarried here and used for the building the Palace of Westminster, London.

It also happens to be the birthplace of world-famous furniture designer Thomas Chippendale, who was born on this day 1718. The teenage Chippendale left Otley to make his fortune in London. He became a cabinet-maker, designing furniture in the mid-Georgian, English Rococo and Neoclassical styles. His 1754 book, 'The Gentleman and Cabinet Maker’s Directory' is considered to be the first interior design book.

Discover Yorkshire's famous sons and daughters with

04/06/2024

Blue Badge Tourist Guides were yesterday guiding groups of US & Canadian visitors at Bletchley Park and other WW2 sites as part of the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings on 6 June.

This is the Enigma T, T244 (1942), at Bletchley Park. This Enigma machine was developed for war time communications between Germany and Japan. The traffic it generated was rarely intercepted and difficult to break. This was due to its unique rotors which were scrambled, its encryption significantly strengthened by five additional notches on its rotors - most Enigma models had only one notch per rotor.

Discover war-time Britain with

📷 Mark King

Bletchley Park

03/06/2024

Stratford, East London, all dressed up for Pride Month 🌈

📷 Danny Parlour, London Blue Badge Tourist Guide

Westfield Stratford City

02/06/2024

Sir Edward Elgar leaning on his Sunbeam bicycle, nicknamed "Mr Phoebus" surveying 11th century Hereford Cathedral.

Born on this day in 1857, Elgar is usually associated with Worcester but he also lived and composed in Hereford. He regularly cycled along the lanes here and in the beautiful Herefordshire and Worcestershire countryside.

Walk in Elgar's footsteps in Herefordshire and Worcestershire with 👇

https://britainsbestguides.org/tour/hereford-herefordshire-tour/

https://britainsbestguides.org/tour/worcestershire-and-the-malvern-hills-tour/

📷 Philip Halling https://britainsbestguides.org/guides/philip-halling/

01/06/2024

At the start of Pride Month, we're featuring the Warren Cup (c15BC-AD15), British Museum, London.

This Roman silver-stemmed wine cup (originally with two handles) is decorated with two scenes of male lovers. The cup could not be displayed for much of the 20th century as homosexuality was not legalised in England and Wales until July 1967.

Happy Pride Month from

01/06/2024

We have weekly and monthly tours currently running around the Bridgewater Canal area. There are multiple dates available.

31/05/2024

A touch of British whimsy on a Friday 😊

A Mini Cooper adorned with a well-clipped hedge, at the Cotswolds Motoring Museum in Bourton-on-the-Water.

Discover the playful, the unexpected and the beautiful in the Cotswolds with
https://britainsbestguides.org/tour/cotswolds/

📷 Helen Michael

Cotswold Motoring Museum

30/05/2024

Fine Roman art and engineering combined in St Albans, Hertfordshire.

This is a detail of a Roman hypocaust floor - ancient underfloor heating systems allowing hot air to circulate under the floor and through the walls of buildings.

This mosaic was made of tesserae (cut stone or tiles) set into a thin layer of fine mortar and polished with abrasive stones or beeswax.

Discover Roman, Saxon, Norman, Tudor ... Georgian, Victorian & present day St Albans with This fascinating city is only a 20 minute train ride from London!

https://britainsbestguides.org/tour/st-albans-tour/

30/05/2024