Seeking private guide for 3 days in London

[Lane412000]

We are looking for recommendations on a private guide/driver for the three days that we are in London April 2022.  We are open to spending one day traveling with the guide outside of the city to visit south like Oxford and Windsor.  Any suggestions are appreciated.

 

TIA

[John Bull]

Guides rated the most knowledgeable are known as "Blue Badge" guides  They are very strictly tested on their local knowledge of history etc.

 

I've driven a few coach tours of London with Blue Badge guides, they really do know their stuff.

But they may not appeal to everyone, they can be quite formal - one guide told me that they are encouraged to stick to facts, dates, etc.

You normally need to fix up a vehicle & driver (they can probably recommend), because they're purely guides, and because the car will have to drive around and/or park when they accompany you into your choice of sights.

Only blue-badge guides can accompany you into Windsor Castle (but the castle has excellent audio-guides) 

 

At the other end of the scale, on ho-ho buses with live guides they're much more fun -  facts are interspersed with well-rehearsed "off-the-cuff" stories, many of them embellished for comedic effect or simply  totally untrue. 

Because I'm no scholar, kings & queens & dates go in one ear and out the other, and I look for entertainment as much as for facts on ho-ho buses, they're my prefence, but they too are not for everyone.

 

A mid-point worth considering are London taxi tours. They're (mainly retired) black cab drivers, who are knowledgeable but not qualified guides. But these are one-man operations, so can't accompany you into venues.

 

https://www.guidelondon.org.uk/blue-badge-tourist-guides/

 

https://www.blacktaxitourlondon.com/

(this is one of several operastors offering black cab tours)

 

JB 🙂

 

 

 

[Post Captain]

Just a few comments from my own perspective (based on frequent visits to, and occasional part-time residence in London over a period of some 40 years!), to add to the excellent advice & suggestions already given by John Bull.

 

Although you have asked for recommendations for private driving tours, I would point out that, for various reasons, London is much more a walking city than a driving city.  So, in addition to the various driver-guide options JB has mentioned, I would also suggest taking one or more focused walking tours. 

 

Foremost among the walking tours, in my opinion, are those offered by and outfit called London Walks.  They offer a wide variety of different in-depth walks every morning, afternoon, and evening, each one centered on a particular area of London and a specific theme or historical period.  Each walk lasts around two hours and is led by a knowledgeable and (usually) quite entertaining guide.  Some of the guides are distinguished actors, including a few you might recognize from British television productions.  London Walks also runs some indoor guided tours (e.g., Westminster Abbey, St Paul's Cathedral, the British Museum, the V&A, Covent Garden...).  The groups are generally small, but you can also contact London Walks directly via their online website to have them tailor a private tour based on your specific interests.

 

In somewhat of a similar vein, you might be familiar with Julian McDonnell (aka "Joolz").  An actor/filmaker, he's best known for his quirky, humorous, and immensely enjoyable YouTube channel in which he explores particular areas of London--often fascinating byways that are off the typical tourist trail--and imparts little-known historical facts along the way.  He also leads private walks -- I once ran into him in Charterhouse Square while he was guiding a couple of foreign tourists (father and son) on a private walk.  You can find him by searching online for "joolz guides".

 

If London is a walking city, Oxford is even more so.  However, unlike London, Oxford is fairly compact, so it's possible to see and explore many of the highlights in a single walking tour.  Many of the tours take you inside the quadrangles, dining halls, and chapels of various colleges.  An online search for "Oxford guided walks" or "Oxford walking tours" will bring up a number of options.  You meet up with these tours in the center of Oxford itself, which is just an hour from London by train (departing from either Paddington or Marylebone stations).

 

 

 

 

Edited October 28, 2021 by Post Captain

[John Bull]

2 hours ago, Post Captain said:

Just a few comments from my own perspective (based on frequent visits to, and occasional part-time residence in London over a period of some 40 years!), to add to the excellent advice & suggestions already given by John Bull.

 

Although you have asked for recommendations for private driving tours, I would point out that, for various reasons, London is much more a walking city than a driving city.  So, in addition to the various driver-guide options JB has mentioned, I would also suggest taking one or more focused walking tours. 

 

Foremost among the walking tours, in my opinion, are those offered by and outfit called London Walks.  They offer a wide variety of different in-depth walks every morning, afternoon, and evening, each one centered on a particular area of London and a specific theme or historical period.  Each walk lasts around two hours and is led by a knowledgeable and (usually) quite entertaining guide.  Some of the guides are distinguished actors, including a few you might recognize from British television productions.  London Walks also runs some indoor guided tours (e.g., Westminster Abbey, St Paul's Cathedral, the British Museum, the V&A, Covent Garden...).  The groups are generally small, but you can also contact London Walks directly via their online website to have them tailor a private tour based on your specific interests.

 

In somewhat of a similar vein, you might be familiar with Julian McDonnell (aka "Joolz").  An actor/filmaker, he's best known for his quirky, humorous, and immensely enjoyable YouTube channel in which he explores particular areas of London--often fascinating byways that are off the typical tourist trail--and imparts little-known historical facts along the way.  He also leads private walks -- I once ran into him in Charterhouse Square while he was guiding a couple of foreign tourists (father and son) on a private walk.  You can find him by searching online for "joolz guides".

 

If London is a walking city, Oxford is even more so.  However, unlike London, Oxford is fairly compact, so it's possible to see and explore many of the highlights in a single walking tour.  Many of the tours take you inside the quadrangles, dining halls, and chapels of various colleges.  An online search for "Oxford guided walks" or "Oxford walking tours" will bring up a number of options.  You meet up with these tours in the center of Oxford itself, which is just an hour from London by train (departing from either Paddington or Marylebone stations).

 

 

 

 

 

Here's "Joolz" piece on London's black cabs. 

 

 

Incidentally, as you'll see in the clip, they don't have to be black - but they do have to conform to the "Conditions of Fitness", things like the small turning circle, minimum headroom for passengers, and more lately wheelchair-accessible.

And note the piece about the historic green wooden cab-drivers' shelters in central London - only cabbies are allowed to sit inside, but Joe Public can buy snacks & drinks from the takeaway window - way cheaper than the cafes & coffee shops 🙂. 

 

For many years I had a vintage London cab, a 1936 coachbuilt Austin 12/4 which like many of her sisters had been pressed into service with the Auxilliary Fire Brigade during the blitz of 1940 / 41.

After the war she operated out of Waverley Station in Edinburgh, then when she was cashiered out of service she was bought by students who drove her on a European tour.

I bought her many years later,  and used her for historic vehicle rallies. She paid her way because she was very popular for weddings - a little limousine with none of the limousine pomp but a folding roof. 

Here she is outside Southampton's ancient Bargate

 

JB 🙂

 

 
 

 

[Post Captain]

On 10/28/2021 at 4:37 PM, John Bull said:

 

And note the piece about the historic green wooden cab-drivers' shelters in central London - only cabbies are allowed to sit inside, but Joe Public can buy snacks & drinks from the takeaway window - way cheaper than the cafes & coffee shops 🙂. 

 

I first noticed these during one of my rambles in London in the early 1980s.  According to one online article, 61 such shelters were built between 1875 and 1914, 13 of which survive today (or at least as of 2017, when the article was published.)  Today all of them are designated as Grade 2 listed buildings--who knew?

 

https://www.amusingplanet.com/2017/09/londons-cabmens-shelters.html

 

On 10/28/2021 at 4:37 PM, John Bull said:

For many years I had a vintage London cab, a 1936 coachbuilt Austin 12/4 which like many of her sisters had been pressed into service with the Auxilliary Fire Brigade during the blitz of 1940 / 41.

After the war she operated out of Waverley Station in Edinburgh, then when she was cashiered out of service she was bought by students who drove her on a European tour.

I bought her many years later,  and used her for historic vehicle rallies. She paid her way because she was very popular for weddings - a little limousine with none of the limousine pomp but a folding roof. 

Here she is outside Southampton's ancient Bargate

 

JB 🙂

 

 
 

 

 

Wowzie!  What a magnificent vehicle, and a fascinating story, JB.  The only place I've ever seen one of these was in a British period tv drama.  (Probably Poirot?)

[Post Captain]

On 10/28/2021 at 1:32 PM, Post Captain said:

 

 

In somewhat of a similar vein, you might be familiar with Julian McDonnell (aka "Joolz").  An actor/filmaker, he's best known for his quirky, humorous, and immensely enjoyable YouTube channel in which he explores particular areas of London--often fascinating byways that are off the typical tourist trail--and imparts little-known historical facts along the way.  He also leads private walks -- I once ran into him in Charterhouse Square while he was guiding a couple of foreign tourists (father and son) on a private walk.  You can find him by searching online for "joolz guides".

 

 

 

 

 

 

Indeed, just now looking through some photos I took during a walkabout in London in April 2019, I discovered these two, which I'd forgotten I'd taken.

[KBs mum]

Easiest way to get to Oxford is by train. Oxford Station is in the centre near the colleges etc. Likewise Windsor is easy by train. 

Once there most places in both are easy to walk to. 

[KBs mum]

On 10/28/2021 at 9:37 PM, John Bull said:

 

 

 

For many years I had a vintage London cab, a 1936 coachbuilt Austin 12/4 which like many of her sisters had been pressed into service with the Auxilliary Fire Brigade during the blitz of 1940 / 41.

After the war she operated out of Waverley Station in Edinburgh, then when she was cashiered out of service she was bought by students who drove her on a European tour.

I bought her many years later,  and used her for historic vehicle rallies. She paid her way because she was very popular for weddings - a little limousine with none of the limousine pomp but a folding roof. 

Here she is outside Southampton's ancient Bargate

 

JB 🙂

 

 
 

 

You used to have a 'Gumdrop'?! Severe vehicle envy going on now!