Ventures with Verity Blue Badge Tourist Guide

18/11/2024

Take a Hike!

I don’t know if this still has the same sentiment, but when I was younger if you said this to somebody, you were telling them to ‘Go Away’, ‘Leave me alone’ ‘That’s a stupid idea’ etc.

I was amused to find that yesterday in the US it was National Take a Hike Day.

This reminded me that although in many ways we share a common language with those over the pond, in many ways we don’t and this can lead to some confusion.

For some reason hiking isn’t a term used much over here in Britain.
We just tend to use the generic word ‘walking’ and then qualify it with what type of walking we are talking about. Walking in town, walking in a park, walking in the countryside.

However, this difference of language has caused some confusion when I am working with clients from the US and they want a countryside walk long our rights of way network. Sometimes they really don’t realise that it is what they would call a hike and the path may well be a bit uneven, a bit muddy and a bit overgrown. Oh… and there may be stiles to get over as well!

Much of my work comes through other agents, so if I can I try to make sure that I can have some direct contact with the client who is going for the ‘countryside walk’ and have even been known to meet them with some recent photographs of the condition of some of the path. White trainers really don’t cut it!

Is there a term used in your work which can lead to confusion between you and your customers?

08/11/2024

Sadly, no longer in the War Memorial Park, this was always my favourite bit of chainsaw sculpture.

However, the park itself is still beautiful.

20/10/2024

Coventry really is a great place to visit.

12/10/2024

Not once……..but twice unlucky.

Where am I talking about?

I’m talking about Coventry’s third spire.

Coventry is known as the City of 3 spires. These were the 3 city centre spires which survived the bombing during World War II.

One of them is the spire of Holy Trinity Church. The church itself suffered very little damage apart from to some of its windows.

The second is the spire of St Michaels, now part of the cathedral ruins.

The third one has 2 names. Sometimes it’s known as Greyfriars Spire and sometimes it’s known as Christ Church Spire. In fact it has a third name as it’s now Dhillon’s Brewery Spire Bar!

If you walk all around the spire there are some really curious parts to it. You see, this spire was once part of a 13th Century Franciscan or Greyfriars Priory. During the dissolution of the monasteries (which included priories as well) the priory was destroyed, but for some reason the spire and tower remained.

By the 19th Century, the population in the city centre had increased and it was felt that a new city centre parish church was needed. The land around the spire was cleared and Christ Church was built, using the area under the spire as the chancel. If you walk around the spire today, you can see the remains of this 19th Century building, which is in limestone, rather than the red sandstone of the spire and tower.

The church sadly was a victim of World War II bombing, not during the raid of 14th November but in the sometimes forgotten series of raids in early April 1941. Once again, the surrounding building was destroyed but the spire remained. As so many people had had to move out of the city centre, it wasn’t felt necessary to rebuild the church in the city centre.

What remains is now a Grade II* listed building with Historic England. Fortunately a use has been found for it as sadly, an unused building will gradually fall into disrepair, however important it may be.

You can now visit it as it is a bar, run by Dhillon’s a Coventry brewery.

The spire doesn’t feature on my usual Cathedral Quarter Tours, but we do go past it when I do a tour of the route of Coventry’s City Walls. Not only do I do this route as an in person guided walk on an occasional basis, but I also offer it as a Virtual Tour. Contact me if you have a group who would like to learn more about Coventry’s medieval city wall either in person or as a virtual tour.

Historic England Dhillons brewery group

07/10/2024

Tomorrow morning I will be doing a walking tour in Stratford-Upon-Avon. I shall certainly stay on afterwards to see this.

Hopefully our current roads?are better than those that the stagecoach used to drive along!

05/10/2024

Why is there a carving of a bee on a building called Woolstapler's Hall?

This autumn I thought I would share some quirky facts about the places I love to visit.

This week it's in the Cotswolds market town Chipping Campden.

As a Blue Badge Tourist Guide part of my job is to bring places to life, telling stories about the buildings and the people.

This story is one of a bee, some wool and a love of beautiful things.

First of all ..the wool.

This building is Woolstaplers Hall in Chipping Campden. It's the oldest building in Chipping Campden, built around 1340 as the building where the wool fleeces (or staples) were traded. It was an important building as trading in wool was what made Chipping Campden an important market town in the region.

Second ..... the bee.

In the early 20th century a man named Charles Robert Ashbee lived here. The carving is a REBUS a puzzle based on somebody's name. There's a bee surrounded by Ash leaves.

Third ....a love of beautiful things. C.R.Ashbee set up a Guild of Handicrafts in Chipping Campden bringing craftsmen artisan workers away from the slums of the East End of London to work as part of a co-operative in the more healthy countryside.

Sadly he couldn't make it pay and most eventually left Chipping Campden.

However, his legacy lives on in this beautiful carving and today there are several crafts places in Chipping Campden.

So, next time you're out and about look at some of the details on the buildings. Maybe you'll discover a story about them.

I'm a Blue Badge Tourist Guide working in the Heart of England region (the Midlands). I offer city, town and countryside walks as well as coach commentaries.
VisitEngland Visit Cotswolds England British Guild of Tourist Guides

29/06/2024

A great day in the sunshine with a family group from the USA.

Spent the morning in Oxford and then the afternoon at Blenheim Palace before they head off to Bourton-on-the-water this evening.

09/06/2024

Sat in the sunshine outside the Ashmolean Museum. What a change from all rhe recent rain!

Waiting to meet my group for a walking tour of Oxford.

23/05/2024

Today I'm in Coventry waiting for a group who are coming by train.

If you have a group visiting Coventry and want to travel by train, I can plan your tour to start from the station forecourt.

Contact me to arrange.

17/05/2024

Why choose a self-guided audio tour?

As a working tourist or tour guide I love doing in-person tours as I get to meet lots of interesting people from different places and backgrounds.

BUT..... I can't be everywhere at once

AND..... not everybody wants a guided tour in the same place at the same time

SO..... to encourage more people to explore Coventry I have produced a self-guided audio tour which takes you on a journey around Coventry's cathedral quarter and a little way beyond.

Published on the VoiceMap platform, once purchased it is yours to keep FOREVER, including any updates.

There will be UPDATES as already they have started some work on improving the area around one of the stops.

Why not check it out this weekend? It only costs about £5.50 (the price varies a bit as it changes with the exchange rate).

You can also try out the first 3 stops for FREE

See below for the link for the first one, starting in Broadgate by the statue of Lady Godiva


Visit Coventry
St Mary's Guildhall
Coventry Cathedral
Herbert Art Gallery & Museum
Coventry Transport Museum
Coventry Transport Museum
Britain Express
Historic Coventry Trust
C&W Chamber of Commerce

02/05/2024

Coventry has a lot of music history. Delia Derbyshire was involved with the original music for Dr Who - you know the waa waa music.

I remember watching the first series largely from behind the sofa. Those Dale's scared me to death.

18/04/2024

One of my favourite views.

This photo came up on my memories from 3 years ago when a was preparing a 5 mile work from Kenilworth Castle out towards the site of the Pleasance- a pleasure palace built by Henry V to get away from thecrowds and relax after Agincourt.

Now there are just earthworks as it was taken down by another Henry, (Henry VIII).

The area between the castle and the earthworks of the Pleasance can be rather wet as it was once a huge mere or lake which helped make the castle pretty impregnable.

If you have a group who would like to explore the countryside, around Kenilworth Castle, but don'tfeel confident about taking them off road, as well as being a Blue Badge Tourist Guide, I'm also a Lowland Walk Leader, so why not contact me. To misquote a certain train company- I'm trained to take the strain!

17/04/2024

Do you only visit Stratford upon Avon to see the Shakespeare properties?

If you’re used to associating the Warwickshire market town of Stratford upon Avon with William Shakespeare, you may find this view of Stratford rather unexpected. This is certainly not how Stratford upon Avon would have been in his time.

This view is looking across Bancroft Basin, towards Bridge St where the road bridge crosses the Stratford upon Avon Canal.

During the 19th Century this whole area would have been full of boats, warehouses and industrial activity. What you are looking at now is the canal basin which was completed in 1816. The canal was so busy that in 1826 a 2nd basin was built, but in 1902 this was filled in and is now the Bancroft Gardens.

The canal was built during a period of time often referred to as ‘canal mania’. The canals were the motorways of the 18th and early 19th Century and provided essential transport links which helped to fuel the industrial revolution. 18th Century roads were little more than mud tracks and during wet weather the waggons and stage coaches would get bogged down in mud but during hot dry weather they became even more treacherous with the deep hard ruts that formed in the mud.

Canals, artificial waterways to link up England’s major rivers, the Thames, Trent and Severn were regarded as the answer. Like many of the early canals this one was built to carry coal, specifically from Birmingham and the Black Country towards Evesham and Bristol, via the River Avon and the River Severn.

An Act of Parliament was passed in 1793 to allow building to start on the canal, but costs escalated and the initial money raised soon ran out. The first part of the Stratford Canal, which linked the canal system just south of Birmingham at King’s Norton with the Warwick and Birmingham Canal at Kingswood was completed by 1802. However, as each individual canal tended to be built by a separate set of investors there were the inevitable arguments. In particular over WATER.

As Birmingham is higher up than Stratford and boats can’t go up or downhill, in order for boats to travel between Birmingham and Stratford you needed to build locks. You can think of these as a bit like lifts or elevators for boats. The problem is that each time a lock is operated, water is lost from the canal system. So the original navigation at Kingswood junction was a bit tortuous to say the least.

The canal only went as far as Kingswood junction until 1812, when William James became involved. He was interested in improving transport of all types and as he had owned shares in the canal since 1793 he pushed to continue the canal as far as Stratford, with the aim of creating a route between the River Severn and the Midlands.

Finally by 1816, the canal had reached Stratford and could then link with the River Avon, to transport goods (mainly coal) down river towards Evesham.

To read more about Stratford's industrial past visit my website to read the rest of the blog.

To book a tour looking at Stratford's development as an industrial transport hub, DM me.

13/04/2024

The walk up to Broadway Tower in the Cotswolds features in this list.

It is a stunning walk.

If you would like help planning a walk in the Cotswolds as well as being a Blue Badge Guide for the region, which includes the Cotswolds I'm also a qualified Lowland Walk Leader (this covers anything which isn't high moorland or mountains).
DM for details of how I can help.

Walking Englishman
Walks Around Britain
Walking Britain

13/04/2024

This should be really interesting. A lot of work has been put into improving the look of the cemetery and clearing the paths.

Great to hear about the diverse mix of people who have ended up being buried there or who have memorials.

Some very famous. Some not so.

12/04/2024

The bluebells are all starting to come put early this year.
Our local woodland is full of spring flowers.
On our The Ramblers Wellbeing Walk last Tuesday we saw about 8 different species, including the bluebells.

Bluebell season is here! Have you spotted any popping up in your local woodland areas yet?

Here are 10 of our favourite places to spot them:
- Parkhill Inclosure, Forest of Dean
- Hackfall Woods, North Yorkshire
- Staveley, Lake District
- Arger Fern & Spouse's Vale, Suffolk
- Rushall Farm, West Berkshire
- Skirrid, Wales
- Grotto Copse & Sidown Hill, Hampshire
- Inchcailloch Island, Loch Lomond
- North Cliffe Wood, Yorkshire
- Outwoods Bluebell Walk, Leicestershire

Get the routes for each of these walks here 👉 https://ow.ly/hWpr50Racui

08/04/2024

Hoping to see colleagues at this travel show in October.

Register now for Group Leisure and Travel Show 2024