A&T Travel only co-operates with guides who hold Blue Badges.

The Blue Badge is the qualification of the UK's professional, registered tourist guides. The first Blue Badges were awarded to tourist guides who were trained for the Festival of Britain in 1951.


There are now around 2,000 Blue Badge guides in England and Wales, just over half of whom are London-based. Blue Badge guides work in over 40 languages in coaches, in cars, on foot and on site. Blue Badge guides are the only guides (other than in-house people) authorised to guide in the Tower of London, Westminster Abbey, St Paul's Cathedral, Windsor Castle, Kensington Palace, Spencer House, Oxford and Cambridge Colleges, Shakespeare Birthplace, York Minster, Palace of Holyrood House and Edinburgh Castle.


We are delighted to offer best Blue Badge guides in London and Edinburgh. They all have many years of experience, passion and dedication to guiding and are happy to share their knowledge and expertise with tourists and visitors to make their experience enjoyable and truly memorable for many years.


Please find below short interviews with some of our guides. They are inviting you to see some of their favourite places and ready to share their well kept secrets.

 

Zuzana Cartwrite

Hello, I am Zuzana, a guide with 30 years of experience. I have been living in Great Britain for last 20 years, this country become my second home. I’d love to transfer this love for the country on my clients – to show them not only the monuments and sights, but customs, culture, life style. I want them to wish to return.

I am one of those lucky people whose hobby and work are united. My every working day is a holiday – I try to look through the eyes of my clients and therefore I see all visited place like them, for the first time. On my tours I like to combine usual sights with something “of the beaten track”. Example? We admire the skills of pre-historic people at Stonehenge, wonder how could they shape those megaliths. Why not to continue to Avebury, henge 5 x large. There we can not only walk between the stone, but touch them as well. Let’s take drowsing rods and find out if they really “talk” to each other. After such a walk we need coffee or tea – where else than in historical market town Marlborough. Nearly every visitor to UK goes to Windsor castle. Not far from Windsor is a hotel Great Fosters, 16C building, home to several generations of Royal Chief Justices. Lunch or 5 o’clock tea and walk in beautiful gardens are perfect final to any tour. In short – tell me what you are interested in and with your tour operator we will prepare really memorable experience for you.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ella Shtaingos

I have being living in London for 17 years and I find London as a jewel box full of lovely treasures. The more time you spend in London the more treasures will become yours. My favourite places are going to make your tour unforgettable.

Let’s visit London and its’s Houses of aristocracy:

Apsley House is the most splendid 18th century private palace still surviving in London. Build by architect Adam for Baron Apsley. House is the national hero the duke of Wellington

Kenwood House is a neo classical mansion remodelled by Robert Adam in 1764. The house contains the most important collection of paintings ever given to the nation by the Earl of Iveagh.

Blenheim Palace built for John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough in 1702. Winston Churchill was born at Blenheim Palace and also buried there.

 

 

 

Marina Starkova

Marina Starkova has qualified as a Blue Badge Guide in 2003 for London and South East of England.

Specialist Topics:

Education, Galleries, Interpreting and Translating, Media, Museums, Shopping, Horse Racing, Greyhound Racing, Walking Tours.

 

 

 

 

 

Elena Nicholls

I would like to welcome you to the Beaulieu Estate –home of Lord Montagu and his family and one of most fascinating  museums in Britain, The National Motor Museum. The museum was created by present Lovrd Montagu as a tribute to his father, one of Britain’s motoring pioneers who won the first ever medal in 1899 to be awarded to a British racing driver, in a British-built car, on the Continent.

With a collection of more than 300 vehicles, from the earliest days of motoring in the 1890s to Formula 1 racing cars, its an experience not to be missed.

The James Bond Experience features a legendary collection of cars and boats from the James Bond movies including the Lotus Submarine Car.

Among the owners of Beaulieu Estate throughout the history was 3d Earl of Southampton,who was a patron of William Shakespeare. With its 7,000 acres of land Beaulieu Estate became a favorite place for royalty to visit, James I and Charles I came often to hunt.

 

Eva Doyle

My name is Eva Doyle. I was born and raised in Poland. I studied at one of the main universities in Warsaw. After my graduation from University I decided to go abroad to gain some work experience and language skills. It was during this time that I met my husband Fraser. One year later we married and started our family. With time we decided to settle in Scotland - the native land of my husband. We settled in Scotland’s capital - Edinburgh. I liked Edinburgh from the very first day because I find it not only beautiful but also very friendly. It wasn’t difficult to fall in love with the rest of Scotland as well and soon I took a keen interest in my second homeland. I decided to study a 2 year course at Edinburgh University which enabled me to become a fully qualified guide in Scotland. My career offered me exactly what I always liked best - meeting new people and traveling across Scotland. Working as a guide I find that no two days are ever the same. I have been a guide for over 13 years now and I guide fluently in 3 different languages Russian, Polish and English. I would love to welcome you in Scotland! There is so much to do and to see. Each part of Scotland has something unique to offer to each and every visitor. Beautiful country views, unspoiled nature of the land, ancient castles and palaces as well as those which are still inhabited today by their aristocratic owners, breath taking islands, whisky distilleries where you can sample Whisky the world famous Scottish national drink, but most importantly a country were you will feel very welcome wherever you go. Touring Scotland offers endless routes and options. Among my very favorite are: Edinburgh - capital of Scotland officially considered one of the 3 most beautiful cities in Europe. East Coast of Scotland with it’s small fishing villages, the historic town of St. Andrews - home of golf and the oldest Scottish University. Sandy and rocky seaside beaches, spectacular castle ruin and picturesque ruins of the cathedral. Romantic Falkland Palace situated in the very beautiful small village of Falkland. Scone Palace - the place were the Scottish Kings were crowned in the past. Scone Palace was named as the official place of the death of Macbeth depicted in Shakespeare’s famous play Macbeth. Glamis Castle - birth place of the late Queen Mother and of the present queen’s sister the late Princess Margaret. Glamis Castle is still inhabited in 21st century by the queen’s relatives (Earl of Kinghorn and Strathmore and his family). Central Scotland and Northern Scotland offers a lot of the castles and palaces opened to the public in the height of the summer season. There are also many castles where people visiting Scotland can stay overnight and relax in the traditional atmosphere of the land. In the North and North East of Scotland in addition to the many castles built in a very romantic Disneyland style, visitors will also find about 50% of all the world famous Scottish distilleries most of which can be visited. Rugged West Coast of Scotland also offers picturesque views of the coastline with its many islands. Among those Arran, Bute and Island of Skye are most famous for their natural beauty and local attractions. Fishing in Scottish lochs and rivers offers a lot of excitement as the waters are rich in fish especially wild salmon and native brown trout. Hill walking, hunting, golf and curling are other activities that are readily available. Balmoral Castle situated in Northern Scotland, surrounded by forests and hills covered in dense heather is a favorite holiday location of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and her close family. Why don’t you come and visit the country where the Royal Family spends their annual holidays? Why don’t you come to experience the unspoiled beauty of the land? Look for the illusive loch Ness Monster? Go walking/ touring or go fishing during the day and sit in the evening by a cozy fire sampling world famous Scottish Whisky and freshly prepared local specialty food? Come to Scotland and relax in the land which is able to offer you all what your heart desires!

 

 

 

 

 Dolly Collins

Born in Scarborough, North Yorkshire. Educated at Friends Boarding School near Cambridge; First Degree – Russian Literature MA London University; second degree – History English and European – Phd Oxford

London, and some places close to London, are very interesting, but I love to show my clients the beautiful castles of the North of England and the incredible beauty of the Nature at the Lake District, home to many of our famous poets. One of these writers was William Wordsworth. Another, Thomas Gray, Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Robert Southey.

The famous critic and essayist, Thomas De Quincey, Chiefly known today for his “Confessions of an English Opium-eater” is one of the first to fully appreciate the revolutionary nature of Wordsworth’s and Coleridge’s talents. He also lived in Grasmere. This beautiful village consists of an intimate cluster of grey-stone houses on the old pack horse road that runs beside the bubbling River Rothay.

Brantwood Village, home to John Ruskin, social philosopher and art critic, and two more writers who changes children literature.

Arthur Ransome, Coniston resident his classic Swallow and amazons and Beatrix Potter, her home at Hill Top, near Sawrey, her husband office at Hawshead and the museum at Bowness. She is the mother of classics English literature.

To understand English thinking in some way, you have to read the stories of Beatrix Potter. It starts in England from the age of one. It develops children’s imagination. And the pub next to her home is our of this world.

But there are a lot more beautiful places to be seen in the Lake District. And we must not forget the national hero, Donald Campbell who, in 1955, had set a world water-speed record of 202 mph on Ullswater, bumping it up to 276 mph mine years later in Australia. On January 4h 1967 he set out to better his own mark on Coniston Water but, just as he jet powered Bluebird hit an estimated 320 mps, a patch of turbulence sent it into a somersault.

Also so many other interesting places which will give you an inside to be able to understand the English Yorkshire – fo much of the country is a short-hand for “up North” and all iots clichéd connotation  from flat caps factories to tight-fisted locals. But for part many Yorkshire born-and-bred (like me) are happy to play to the prejudice of southerners adopting an attitude roughly on pair with that of Texans or Australians in strongly suggesting that there’s really nowhere else worth considering.

IN ITS SHEER SIZE AT LEAST, WHILE ITS MOST STRIKING CHARACTERISTICS – from dialect to landscape – derive from long history of settlement invention, independence that is still for Yorkshire a source of pride today. Riddled with Viking place names medieval Abbey, English Civil War battle and the country homes and castles of nobles and industrialists.

Yorkshire’s boasts better beer, cleaner air and the people are friendlier than down south, but visitors can make up their own mind.

The must destinations are history-soaked: York, Harrogate historic spas, where Agatha Cristie loved for some period. Historic centres such as Whitby and Robin Hood’s Bay or Beverley centred on another soaring minster Richmond banked under a crag bound castle and Ripon gathered around its honey-stoned cathedral. Never to be missed!

Harewood House – stately home of Harewood. Conceived in 1759 by York architect John Carr and finished by Robert Adam, the furniture made by Thomas Chippendale and the landscaped gardens laid out by Capability Brown, To cap it all, a sweeping terrace designed by Sir Charles Barry (architect of the Houses of Parliament) overlooks the gardens. Still the home of the Earls and Countess Afttarewood.

You can view the grand state and private rooms, the old kitchen and servant’s quarters. Outside, fantastic Bird Garden.

The Brontes at Haworth: Emily Bronte – Wutheriing Heights; Anne Bronte – Agnes Grey; Charlotte Bronte – Jane Eyre. You can visit all the places who are mentioned in their novels and also their house popular walks and family vault.

Yorkshire Dales (“dales” from Viking word darl – valley) are beautiful nature places in the heart of Yorkshire.

There are a lot more beautiful castle and abbeys, but the most important about the Lake District and Yorkshire is to see the real English people and how they live and think, and to try to understand why we do sometimes or thing in that way.

Even Harry Potter works written is connected with these parts of England.

Hope to see you and take you around these most beautiful parts of England.

I can do many tours in my 34 years as a Blue Badge Guide but you have to break away from the everyday tours and do something unusual.