London: 5 day luxury South West of England private tour

High satisfaction. Lots of fun.

10 out of 10 experience. Ian, our host, was knowledgeable, personable and competent. Plain and simple: Our trip was very successful in a large part due to Ian. I would highly recommend him.

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Very disappointed with this company and guide.

I was very surprised to see so many positive reviews with this company. Our time with Ian was not pleasant. He was rigid and rude. We missed two places on our itinerary and we were not able to see many sites on the first part of our trip. We asked if we could hike as we were in two national parks and were told “No” in a very rude manner. He had me in tears twice after we exchanged our views. I decided to apologize since we were going to have to be with him for the next week but he never apologized at all. We were disappointed in the hotels we stayed at. They were budget motels with few amenities. I am hearing impaired so could not hear most of what he said and he did not appear to care about that. He would use a microphone occasionally. When we were in the car. My husband had to interpret quite a bit. He did not help with our luggage and berated one of the receptionists in a motel. We almost ended our trip halfway through and in hindsight, I wish we had. This was a trip we had planned for over a year and has been on our bucket list for several years. It was not as memorable due to his boorish behavior. I would never travel with this company again and we are planning another trip to London next year.

Response from the operator: Im sorry to hear that your tour did not meet your expectations. It was beyond my control when your flight arrived ½ a day later than your itinerary had scheduled which resulted in missing 1 location on the first day. I feel that this impacted on your enjoyment of the remainder of your tour. On your 11 day tour I drove over 2000 miles throughout England and Northern France. The customised itinerary was drafted and agreed with your Booking Agent in America 6 months before the tour began. Each day I informed you of how much time the itinerary allowed you to spend at each location. On day 2, you made the decision to spend longer at a particular location to undertake an unscheduled sit down lunch. I explained to you at the time this would be okay, but time factors would mean that we would have to miss the next location as the itinerary for the rest of the day was packed – which you agreed to. Other than those 2 locations, every location listed on your itinerary was visited. I even took you to additional places on other days as once meeting you both I got a better idea of what locations you enjoyed more than others. I also offered to take you back to revisit the missed location from day 2 on the way back down south, but you said you did not want to go there anymore and preferred to spend your time at a different location. I was never informed by your Booking Agent about your hearing impairment when your tour was booked in with me, but I always put the microphone on when speaking within the vehicle so clients in the rear of the vehicle can hear my guiding of the locations. I was unable to turn to speak directly to you as I was driving. The hotels booked were all agreed before the tour, they were all named on the itinerary with links to view them which was sent months earlier. The itinerary is provided in advance so clients can make any comments or amendments. The hotel standard was the standard of the tour budget which were 3-4* hotels in England and France. I always load and unload luggage at the hotels personally, so my vehicle is not damaged in the process and sometimes I have to sort out issues with hotel bookings which unfortunately did happen on this tour. Time for hiking in UK was never built into your itinerary, it was built into the France part of the tour. On hearing from you how you wished to hike more, I adapted day 3 and day 4 UK itinerary to accommodate this. Amending your itinerary resulted in extra expense to myself personally, for example by paying for your admittance to a National Trust Park. I did not mind doing this as I always put my clients first and do all I can to ensure they enjoy their tour. You mentioned you nearly ended your trip halfway through, however it was actually my suggestion as I felt you were dissatisfied with my efforts to achieve your tour goals. I feel your dissatisfaction stems back to the late airport arrival on day 1. I offered to refund your money and also replace my services with another tour guide. However, you apologised for being disrespectful and asked to continue. Im sorry my best was not to your liking and will use your comments to ensure other clients are less disappointed in the future.

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Excellent tour in a beautiful area of the UK

I took a 6 day tour of South West England with two others and had an excellent experience. Ian was very prompt, knowledgeable of the area and its history and created an upfront itinerary which he adapted to our individual preferences. The car and ride was comfortable with bottled water on hand. A truly great experience in a most beautiful part of the country. We will definitely use Travel England Tours for future trips in the UK.

Response from the operator: thank you for the kind review ian

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You can't go wrong with Travel England and Ian

Ian was wonderful from start to finish. I was able to make adjustments that suited our group to the 5 day Cornwall and Devon tour, and once we were on the tour we were able to adjust for weather and time without problem. Ian was a terrific and solicitous guide and accommodated all our needs. He was also incredibly knowledgable about the region and we saw so much! If we vacation again in the areas he serves we will certainly book with him again.

Response from the operator: Thanks again for the booking and the very kind review. Ian

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We experienced incredible views, amazing landmarks & learned so much about history thanks to Ian!

Ian and Travel England Tours are awesome! My mother and I spent 8 days traveling with Ian around South West AND South East England. We made so many good memories and had a blast thanks to the organization and communication provided by Travel England Tours. To start, we had a zoom call about 6 or 7 months prior to our trip where I explained what we were interested in seeing. He then put together an awesome itinerary! This led to one of the best vacations I'll ever have. We visited Stonehenge, Lulworth Cove/Durdle Door, Plymouth, Post Bridge, Tintagel Castle, Land's End, St. Michael's Mount, Bath, Lacock, Canterbury, Dover Castle and Brighton to name a few! And all the while in an extremely comfortable and safe vehicle. Ian knows so much about the history, the people and the land in all of the different regions we went through. He's basically a wikipedia page for every location and could answer every question we had. We experienced incredible views, amazing landmarks, learned so much about historical figures and time periods - it's just the best thing ever. One last thing I'll say is that we are from the states but we have Cornish ancestry. I told Ian ahead of time about some of the genealogy work I did and wouldn't you know it, he was able to incorporate a trip to St. Maybn where we found the gravestone of my 5th Great Grandmother! Ian knew the whole area so we were able to see what our ancestors saw by walking through their village and going to the church where they were baptized. Absolutely phenomenal experience! My mother and I will remember it forever and without a doubt, talk about it constantly. Thank you so much Ian!!

Response from the operator: What a great time we had, I used to live in St. Maybn, that was very handy indeed, thank you for a brilliant time with you and your mum. until we meet again. Ian

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