Introductory notes and pictures to our most popular Tours
One of the wonderful aspects of touring with a qualified driver guide who has a great deal of experience is that the tour can be tailored exactly to suit your requirements.
Be it a day in London or several days in London to cover the area in greater depth, English country tours to classic places such as Stonehenge, Bath, Stratford Upon Avon, Windsor, Hampton Court, Warwick Castle, Chartwell. Or shall we go exploring an individual subject of special interest to you such as castles, historical country houses, English country gardens, cathedrals, gourmet tours through France, World War I battle sites, the D-Day landings, French/Italian/Swiss Alpine tours, a drive along the Cote d'Azur, vineyards of France, the fascinating city of Bruges or the wild and rugged country side of Ireland?
A very short list and description of the most popular English tours is given here under but the major feature to remember is that we offer specialist knowledge and that any combination of places in Europe can be put together to suit your time, your interests and your budget.
Welcome to our site where we will tell you about the many personalised and tailor-made exciting, satisfying and informative sightseeing tour possibilities.
Enjoy a private tour with us on your visit to London, England, Ireland, France or indeed anywhere in Europe. Let me assist you in proposing a made-to-measure sightseeing package designed especially to suit your interests, budget and pace!
Chartwell ~ Churchill’s home, the place to find out about his amazing life Hever ~ Nearby to Chartwell is this truly lovely moated Manor House set in beautiful rose gardens and also having a maze. Ancestral home of Anne Boleyn. Penshurst Place ~ Famous for its Hammer Beamed Baronial Hall. Ancestral home of the Sidney family stretching back to the Elizabethan era. Knole ~ An Elizabethan Calendar Stately House set in one of the last remaining deer parks, to be enjoyed by you as it was also by Henry VIII, on his visits. Leeds Castle ~ Its reputation as a romantic Ladies Castle is well founded and much aided by the fact that it is still to this day fully moated and sits in wonderfully landscaped grounds.
Be introduced to the development of London's 2,000 year history, as well as contemporary aspects such as museums, galleries, parks or where the best shopping, restaurants and hotels are situated. Your guide will open your eyes to the secrets of the past and today's life in our capital. A one-day tour is long enough to drive by the major sites, witness the Changing of the Guard, a brief visit to either Westminster Abbey or St Paul's and also experience over 900 years of British History at the Tower of London.
Half day visits to both these royal palaces can be undertaken in one day, although it is quite a tight schedule. Windsor Castle, which was created at the same time as The Tower of London is not only our Queen's official home but where heads of state are entertained in the State Apartments. Hampton Court, by the River Thames like Windsor, is however quite a contrast to Windsor - being primarily a Palace based upon pleasure rather than fortification.
Castle Hill showing the Round Tower at Windsor Castle
Stonehenge & Bath
This is a classic but also another fascinating combination. On the one hand there is the still only partially understood civilisation that created Stonehenge and the reasons for its existence - and on the other hand we visit a beautiful city with real personality, which whilst being motivated by speculation has resulted in an elegant and distinguished 18th recreation of a Roman City. Furthermore in Bath one can explore the luxury the Romans enjoyed in their bathing spa. There are also special little highlights to the day such as a visit to a preserved and restored house displayed exactly as a family in the period of the society of Jane Austen's day would have enjoyed. Time allowing, we can drop in on one of two villages which still exist exactly as they were from the 14th-16th centuries.
Stratford Upon Avon & Warwick Castle
Once again an amazing combination of different periods in our history. In the case of Warwick Castle, we see one of Britain's most dramatic castles and within, we see wonderful displays developing room by room, illustrating the Earls of Warwick who can be thought of as Royal movers and shakers, and by total contrast a Royal Weekend Party at the turn of the 19th century.
But Stratford Upon Avon is entirely about the life and times of Shakespeare which can be discovered at five different sites centred around the place of his birth.
Churchill’s home, the place to find out about his amazing life. A visit to Chartwell is your chance to get to know one of Britain's greatest leaders, Winston Churchill, on a very intimate level. This was the house that was acquired by WLSC in his wilderness years in the 1920's. It was greatly modified by him to suit his gargantuan grip on life. Not only this but this is a large and very delightful house and grounds to visit, always leaving visitors with a specially warm feeling about their personal pilgrimage to the saviour of the free world. More about Chartwell
Blenheim Palace
This was the Palace gifted by Queen Anne, on behalf of the nation, to the first Duke of Marlborough in gratitude for the Duke's victories over the French in the wars of the Spanish succession, culminating finally in the Battle of Blenheim, and hence the name. This is an absolute masterpiece of Baroque architecture, created by Vanburgh, and there is the chance also to discover the State Rooms as well as Churchill's birthplace and the wonderful grounds in which the Palace stills glows in the glory created by the landscape artist Capability Brown. More about Blenheim Palace
We offer the exciting possibility to explore the charming, fascinating, natural, and unspoilt Isle of Ireland. Whatever you are looking to enjoy its there in Ireland. Maybe its heritage, personal or otherwise. If you seek beauty tied up with a certain mystery its here too. And something else is special to Ireland. You will soon discover that the Irish are really interested in visitors and want you to have a good time. And you will too, on a Peter West Tour. Their CHARM is legendary and you will find that it works a magic spell upon you. One that you are going to relish The hospitality of the Irish is legendary and leaves one with a very special memory and experience which visitors take back home and forever crave having never forgotten the experience. Furthermore the cuisine and accommodation is second to none, very reasonably priced against the rest of Europe
Tours purely to the Cotswolds, only, are less frequent and are suitable for people who want to have a leisurely day, seeing beautiful towns and villages without heavy historical interest. More often than not visitors want to try to cover too much in one day and so we often do our best to encompass, Warwick Castle + Stratford upon Avon + a little of the Cotswolds all in one day ! ! Cotswold Architecture & Buildings are unique and rather beautiful, in the way that they use a particular type of Limestone known as Oolitic Limestone from the Jurassic period which is quite unique and beautiful , please see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oolite .
The skill used to make dry stone walls and the way that even roofing tiles are sliced out of the stone is quite astounding and very labour intensive. We are likely to see places like Chipping Camden, Chipping Norton, The Slaughters, Stow- on-the-Wold & Burton-on-the-Water at least on this day. Please see www.cotswold.gov.uk/ for more information.
More than not, on these tour days we go to a particularly lovely Restaurant ~ see www.bucklandmanor.co.uk which is also a Hotel and is set in beautiful surrounding fields & woods with sheep roaming around the area. The Wool from the Sheep in this region is the reason for the areas wealth and fabulous buildings right through from the 12th century through to the 18th century. Think of this wealth as being equivalent to today’s oil industry. Think about the fact that even tapestries were made from wool and the Flemish skill in making those tapestries. Our cooperation with the Flemish in this trade and wars with the French, as a consequence, are legendary. With the advent of the industrial revolution labour became more expensive and new clothing materials came about, for example cotton, which meant that that wool was less in demand.
Manufacture rather than Agriculture grew in the 19th century leading to much poverty in a once wealthy area. Release from this misery began to fade with the introduction of a railway system in the 1830’s and continues to grow even today. But this is now a part of England much occupied by wealthy retired people and weekenders as well as visitors from all over the world. There are few places that young couples can afford unless earning very much above the national wage.
