Piper Tours

04/07/2024

Is anyone not in floods of tears?
Sir Andy Murray, tennis legend, one of the 4 with Federer, Nadal and Djokovic who took the game to new heights, and a tower of strength to British tennis, specifically, and sport in general. He has more matches to play, but Wimbledon has paid its respects to a master, and true fan of the game.

04/07/2024

Gorgeous summer wild flowers at Hampton Court Palace! Historic Royal Palaces are looking after our honey bees

26/06/2024

Life of a guide! Yes it's stupid-o'clock early, but at least it's not hot (we are having a mini hot spell of 28C)
It's Viking cruises by the way, they get the best mooring in London at Greenwich!

16/06/2024

Princess Anne's face says it all! For 10 mins the heavens opened like a monsoon, then the rain stopped. Nothing more British than the sea of brollys as the spectators followed down the Mall to the Palace for the fly past. At least none of the soldiers fainted of heat stroke this year!

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

13/06/2024

With a starring role by the regimental mascot, an Irish wolfhound. Look out for him at Trooping the Colour on Saturday!

05/06/2024

01/06/2024

Glorious Chartwell - Churchill's delightful family home nestled in the verdant Kent countryside!

24/05/2024

What a glorious evening guiding members of the Cambridge Society of London around Wapping. St Katherine's Dock was looking even prettier and more photogenic than normal as it is full of survivors of the Dunkirk "little ships". These were the brave little ships that answered the Admiralty's call 26 May to 4 June 1940 and crossed the Channel to Dunkirk to rescue British and French troops stranded in France on Dunkirk beach and brought them home or shuttled them to larger navy warships waiting offshore. 338,000 troops were saved, when Churchill had thought they might get only 20-30,000. Sadly 90,000 were left in France to face 5 years as POWs.
Well done and thank you to those who care for these brave "little ships" today.

14/05/2024

An unusual colour palette, but an interesting concept. Overall very successful to my mind.

🎨Today, The King unveiled a new portrait by Jonathan Yeo. The new work depicts His Majesty wearing the uniform of the Welsh Guards, of which he was made Regimental Colonel in 1975. The painting will ultimately hang in Drapers’ Hall in London. The artist said of the experience of painting His Majesty:

"It was a privilege and pleasure to have been commissioned by The Drapers' Company to paint this portrait of His Majesty The King, the first to be unveiled since his Coronation. When I started this project, His Majesty The King was still His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales, and much like the butterfly I've painted hovering over his shoulder, this portrait has evolved as the subject's role in our public life has transformed. I do my best to capture the life experiences and humanity etched into any individual sitter's face, and I hope that is what I have achieved in this portrait. To try and capture that for His Majesty The King, who occupies such a unique role, was both a tremendous professional challenge, and one which I thoroughly enjoyed and am immensely grateful for."

27/04/2024

Everyone loves a photo opportunity, even HRH....

Sophie, the Duchess of Edinburgh enjoying her moment as she walked at the famous pedestrian crossing of the Abbey Road, the same crossing where the four members of The Beatles were photographed in 1969 for their studio album, Abbey Road.

The Duchess of Edinburgh joined the Orbis UK at their annual visionaries event held at the Abbey Road Studios in her capacity as the global ambassador for The Prevention of Blindness.

21/04/2024

I'm back from my spring break with a bang with the tulip festival at Hampton Court Palace!
Bulbs symbolise spring and tulips are particularly appropriate for Hampton Court due to William (of Orange from the Netherlands) and Mary's 1700 renovation of the palace, during which they brought their Dutch influences to England. The 17th century was the year of tulip fever, and William and Mary loved tulips in the gardens and displayed in blue and white china inside.
Note: Photos start with tulip displays in the Tudor palace, then the Baroque Palace. Find the wooden sculpture of a jousting Henry VIII in a flower bed of tulips in his old tiltyard (where jousting took place) and the replica hexaganol Tudor wine fountain now flowing with tulips. Enjoy!

29/12/2023

I have found my favourite Christmas tree - it's made of BOOKS!! The tree is sponsored by Hatchards book shop and is made of traditionally bound books, lit books and old-fashioned library staircases.
As if that weren't enough, it has quiet sheltered niches around the bottom where you can sit and shelter from the hurly-burly of the holidays whilst listening to an extract read from classic literature. Perfect 😀
It's in the main concourse of St Pancras station.

23/12/2023

Time for a cosy drink in front of a roaring fire I think. Where could be better than The George on Borough High Street? It's Britain's last galleried coaching inn. Maybe take a copy of "A Christmas Carol" and think of Dickens who knew the pub well

21/12/2023

A Christmas Bauble for you from King's College Great Hall

30/11/2023

The gorgeous Hop Exchange in Southwark, built in the later 19th century as an open trading floor for hop factors and merchants to sell/buy hops (a bit like the old stock exchange) surrounded on 4 sides by offices.
Do my school friends recognose the coat of arms? It's our school badge, also known as the Kentish horse, as the vast majority of hops were grown in Kent and brought up to London to be traded. Notice the beautiful imagery of hops in the ironwork. An underused Victoriam gem of a building!

23/11/2023

1st Christmas tour of the year and the lights are looking wonderful!
Covent Garden doing traditional decorations brilliantly, and Carnaby Street doing neon alternative lights!

11/11/2023

A beautiful, haunting piece of music, written by English composer Edward Elgar during WW1 to honour the fallen. I thought it would be appropriate for Armistice Day.

Sir Edward Elgar's 'The Spirit of England' is a work for chorus, orchestra, and soprano/tenor soloist in three movements composed by Edward Elgar between 19...

06/11/2023

Blackwell, the Arts and Crafts House (post 3/3)
The most surprising room has to be the all white drawing room, where cosy oak gives way to delicate plasterwork and a distinctly feminine feel. The ceiling is completely covered in floral and geometric designs and a gorgeous frieze based on the rowan tree encircles all walls.
Again "rooms within rooms" are created around the fireplace and in a huge bay window that perfectly frames views of Lake Windermere below

06/11/2023

Blackwell, the Arts and Crafts House cont...
The dining room has the most exquisite decoration, with hessian wallpaper that was hand block painted and stencilled with local flowers. Again there is a "room within a room" based around the inglenook fireplace with comfy padded benches and exquisite stained glass

06/11/2023

I might have found THE perfect house! As many of you know, I am a fascinated by architecture, interiors and design. I am continually researching this field to make myself an "informed layperson" who can bring architecture and design alive for my clients. One of my favourite styles is Arts and Crafts, which flourished at the end of the 19th / early 20th centuries.
I recently visited Blackwell, the Arts and Crafts House on the eastern shore of Lake Windermere in the Lake District. It must be one of the best preserved and most complete Arts and Crafts houses in the country.
It was built c1900 for a wealthy Manchester industrialist called Sir Edward Holt and his family, as their summer holiday home in the Lakes. The architect (who was also responsible in detail for the interior decoration) was Mackay Hugh Ballie Scott, known for designing Arts and Crafts domestic buildings, furnishings and furniture.
The house revolves around a central double height Main Hall, modelled on medieval baronial halls. But this hall is far from grand, with warm oak carving, a stunning peacock wallpaper frieze and huge inglennok fireplace. Best of all are the "rooms within rooms" that Ballie Scott created, private, cosy spaces within the larger whole such as the huge bay window inglenook next to the fireplace (perfect for reading a murder mystery with a pot of tea), the minstrels gallery / indoor treehouse for the children above the fireplace, and the cosy seating within the panelled walls where the family would have reclined watching billiards.
More posts to follow.....

09/10/2023

A week ago I spent a wonderful day guiding a Cambridge alumni group around Hampton Court Palace. Although it was 1st October it was warm and sunny all day. I didn't lose anyone in the maze (!) and the Tudor and Baroque Palaces were gorgeous. Photos show:
Me and my Dad in the Rose Garden with the Tudor Palace behind
An interesting view of the Tudor Palace across the Kitchen Gardens with some giant black cabbages (like mini palm trees) in the foreground
The gorgeous Fountain Court
The glamourous King's stairs to William III's King's Apartments
I look forward to returning this weekend with the 2nd group!

06/10/2023

I popped into the beautiful Theatre Royal Drury Lane today to soak up its recently restored Regency glamour (BIG thank you to Andrew Lloyd Webber!). It's currently showing Frozen, which is not quite my thing, but it is still worth a visit for its lovely Cecil Beaton bar and for afternoon tea in its elegant saloon.
Uniquely it has 2 royal boxes, one for the King and one for the Prince of Wales. In 1794 George III and his son Prince George (Prince Regent /George IV) actually came to blows in the foyer. A few years later the theatre burned down so, when rebuilt in 1811, the theatre was provided with 2 royal boxes on either side of the stage, with 2 separate staircases to reach them!
Photos show:
Afternoon tea
The central rotunda
The signs either side of the rotunda to either the King's Side or the Prince's Side
Entrance to the Prince's Box
The Cecil Beaton Bar
With its wonderful sketches by Cecil Beaton of costumes for My Fair Lady
Photo of the cast of My Fair Lady in Beaton's costumes

30/09/2023

Is 30th September too early for Christmas decorations??
Liberty don't think so, their Christmas shop opened in August!
If you like Arts & Crafts or Art Noveau fabrics, wallpaper, homeware or fashion, then Liberty is a must to add to your itinerary when in London.
Photos show their gorgeous internal atrium, the Christmas shop and really classy Christmas stockings made with the Liberty tana lawn fabric for which they are so famous.

28/09/2023

Unbelieveable! Mindless vandalism by a stupid thug destroying a beautiful and historic tree.

Truly saddened to learn that the Sycamore Gap tree at Hadrian's Wall has been deliberately felled.

This iconic tree was a major landmark in Northumberland & much loved by our North East tour guiding community who shared its story and many a photo memory with so many visitors from across the globe.

24/09/2023

I am a HUGE fan of The Queen of Crime! For fellow fans, head to see 2 of her plays currently on stage in London; The Mousetrap ( the longest running play in the world, since 1952) and Witness for the Prosecution (brilliantly staged in the old London County Hall which stands in for a courtroom perfectly).
If you want to attend a Whodunnit play put on by a pretty useless and accident prone provincial Amateur Dramatics society, try The Play That Goes Wrong for good old belly laughs!

On 15th September 1890, Agatha Christie, British crime writer, was born in Torquay, Devon. You can see the Agatha Christie Memorial by St Martin’s Cross near Covent Garden in London.

Find out more about Agatha Christie in London via: https://www.guidelondon.org.uk/blog/around-london/queen-crime-agatha-christie-london/

Photo Credit: © Diagram Lajard via Wikimedia Commons.

08/09/2023

It's been a year since the terrible news of HM The Queen's death. I will be taking a moment to remember her.

Today marks one year since the death of Queen Elizabeth II, the longest-reigning British monarch in history.

Although she held the keys to many royal residences, Balmoral Castle, in Aberdeenshire, was her favourite.

This was her private holiday retreat, the place where Prince Phillip proposed to her, she spent part of her honeymoon here, she loved the nature, the long walks, the privacy ... and it's amidst her beloved Scottish Highlands that she peacefully passed away. Her legacy lives on here, across the UK and across the globe.

📷 Public domain

04/09/2023

I haven't guided much this year due to family issues, but I am back to work this week and in fighting form, looking forward to doing the job I love!
I wanted to share the below email which I received in the middle of a very sad family time, which made me smile from ear to ear. I'm so lucky to have a job I love and clients who are so enthusiastic, curious and kind:
"We finished our total 1 month Europe trip on 01/08/23 and now we are all back to Australia. There were so many times when we visited those famous Church and Museum we cannot help but missed your excellent guilds for us in London. With your guidance, every piece of "history" becomes so much fun and interesting.....When we visit Louve at Paris, it was rather "dry" experience because we don't know much about the Museum and the artworks, Sienna [teenage daughter] got so bore and wanted to go within the first 30 minutes, she told me "mum we need a Paris Caroline". Just would like to thank you again for your great work and makes our London experience super special and memorable - btw, I am watching a movie named "The Imitation Games" I am so excited to tell Scott "Caroline has explained to me how this Enigma machine works ..."
I hope you all have had a wonderful summer and have the pleasure of working with such lovely people in your own lives.

16/08/2023

A stunning piece of Norman Romanesque architecture!

Did you know the Chapel of St John the Evangelist once stored historic documents? 🤔 By the 13th century, the chapel was used less frequently and it gradually became the house for important state records. This was until they were moved to a new Public Record Office in 1858 📜