In and Beyond Bath

On our way back from andalusia, spain, we stopped in london for a few days to enjoy that fantastic city. on one of the days, we took an early morning train to bath and joined two other travelers on a tour to stonehenge and as our gifted and talented guide called it, “secret england”. the latter turned out to be a visit to several small villages in somerset to explore their beauty historical significances. our guide, jules is a former history teacher and so he was able to really bring the history and importance of stonehenge (luckily in late september there aren’t hordes of tourists) and the weather was glorious! after stonehenge, we had a delightful pub lunch at the historic bath arms in wiltshire (naturally ordered the fish and chips). our next stop was at the village of mells and st. andrews church and cemetery. the church has a long history, dating back to the 15th century and has several significant decorative features including memorials to some who die in world war 1. i really get a thrill out of visiting old cemeteries, especially to connect with people who evoke emotional memories from my early life (i have visited pére le chaise in paris three times to pay homage to jim morrison!). so, i was really intrigued when jules led us to the cemetery at st. andrews. we stopped at a gravestone that brought back so many memories of my days at lawrence school, lovedale and our classes in english literature, reading first world war poems by wilfred owen and siegfried sassoon. i was standing at the grave of siegfried sassoon as jules played a recording of sassoon in his own words. i was 14 years old when we studied these poems about the horrors of war and at this time, i felt profound emotions that i had never felt during any travel visit or tour. sassoon had experienced the horrific trench warfare of ww1 when chemical weapons were commonly used, and he became a fervent antiwar activist till his death. hats off to jules and in and beyond bath tours for this moving yet wonderful experience. overall, our visit went great and visiting stonehenge and the countryside of somerset with jules was a fantastic day away from london.

I’ve no hesitation in giving this tour outfit five stars. we were driven through scenic routes to a half dozen extraordinary points of interest with stops for meals at characteristic but not touristy restaurants. our guide, max, is a historian with a sense of humor and his arsenal of knowledge spans many subjects, from linguistics to botany.

We were happy to find a cotswolds day tour that didn't start in london. max is a very lovely, warm, knowledgeable person. he picked us up at our hotel in bath in a conformable, clean vehicle and showed us the beautiful country side at a leisurely pace. the only comment i have to make that we are probably used to a much faster pace on our tours. he discussed points of interest as we went along and took us to some very beautiful spots. we appreciated the historical context of the tour and the different spots around the castle combe village. spending a day with max was like spending a day with a good friend. thank you max!

We did stonehenge and secret england tour in early june. max was our tour guide. we were reaching bath from london, he offered us to pick us up from the train station as we were reaching at 8.45 am and 9.00 am the tour starts. max is very knowledgeable he can speak about the flora, fauna and history of the villages. drive was very comfortable and you feel very relaxed enjoying the beautiful country side. after stonehenge, we stopped for lunch charming inn at the bath arms for lunch, food was very good. we also visited a church and castle ruin (nunney castle). if you are looking for not rushed relaxed tour look no further, we travelled with another family we were total 6 people in the tour.

Jules is very kind and responsive towards my queries prior the trip. customer service is top notch. roland who was my guide for the private tour was simply the best, and he's a great human being! roland has vast amount of knowledge about histories, architecture and he's a great story teller. i've learnt a lot from the tour today. he takes great interest in me as well as sharing his own personal stories with me. he welcomed me with an open heart and he's a great speaker as well as great listener. this is what bespoke service about in my opinion. our tour ended in the george inn, another historical place in town and roland didn't worry about the time as it was running out of the agreed tour time frame. i was collected and dropped off promptly at the hotel i'm staying in bath. i would be back soon to book another cotswold tour with roland in due course. highly recommended in and beyond bath, you would not be disappointed at all! thank you jules and roland.