Seymour Travels Small Group Tours

  “It rained again last night! I am heading towards the great abbey in Tavistock. My friends…. Other Templars… will be awaiting my return. Two months ago we had word that the king of France had sent out orders to hunt us all down. Many have been captured by his constables and men-at-arms already, and I have no doubt that many of them will perish. The King has a vendetta against us…. It is thought that his reasoning is based on the fact that he owes our ‘order’ huge sums of money, and that he fears our strength. My mission has been to find out the real causes for this injustice against us, and to find out what, if anything we can do. My news is not good and my brothers will be dismayed. My travel has been arduous, and trekking across France and England has been perilous. Spies are everywhere! I am fearful. Many of our friends on continental Europe are fleeing…I am told that they flee to the mountains, East and West. We ourselves, should hide in our Northern mountains. Sanctuary will...

  Climbing out of our tour bus, I invite everyone to ‘walk this way’….. I navigate my way to a ‘rubble field’ on the moor…. One of many such piles of stones that stretch away into the distance. I stand between two stones…. A doorway…. And I invite them into my home. Nine intrepid explorers and myself step back in time as we cross the ancient threshold and into a home that was last lived in four thousand years ago. I ask everyone to take a seat on one of the stones that make a crude circle amongst the marsh grasses and peat bogs of Dartmoor. We all sit. There is a mist hanging in the air and a couple of Dartmoor ponies graze peacefully on the tor ( a volcanic plug made of granite), in the distance…..it’s peaceful. As everyone breaths, our breath turns into steam and is taken away on the soft moorland breeze, that in turn makes us wrap our jackets around our bodies for warmth. I start to tell everyone about the lives of the folk who once lived in this house…. How they lived, what the...

Now Back Home In Britain I Had To...... After such an epic, five month long adventure, traveling through Europe and North Africa, I decided that I should become familiar with my own shores. The British Isles are a beautiful collection of islands and I knew nothing about them apart from what I had learnt in my history and geography classes at school. So, now back home in Britain I had to plan another trip. My initial idea was to hitchhike and backpack up to and through Snowdonia and Anglesey, two gorgeous areas of North Wales. An area that always intrigued me…it was calling. Having consulted maps and photographs of the area I decided to head straight into the mountains (and National Park) of Snowdonia. I wanted to camp on Mount Snowdon's slopes, and hike the beautiful valleys at my leisure and for my pleasure. So packing my rucksack, once again I set off. I ‘thumbed’ my way up to North Wales in the space of a day. It was an uneventful trip and eventually I found myself in the tiny v...

Onward to Fes... And A Scuffle ! I'm sitting here, at this moment, drinking tea..... a nice cup of tea ! I'm English  and its what we do! On a fateful morning, many moons ago, we decide that we had to move on. And it was over a cup of sweet tea that we made our plans. We'd already spent several days languishing in Ouezzane....the people were wonderful and we'd been enjoying the food immensely... but our feet were itching and wanderlust was driving us onwards.  Our next destination was to be the medieval fortress city of Fes. You may ask why ? My simple answer is because its there and we wanted to see the place that gave its name to what is, a rather odd hat with a tassle. So off we went. The public bus was once again our main means of transport. Hiking across the mountains was not an option in those days. There was too much risk attached to it. Hitchhiking was 'improbable' because of the lack of roads with vehicles on them. So once again it was to be a beaten up...

Afrique ! I’ve been asked to write a little more about my 'escape' from the British Isles, that took place many years ago. As I previously mentioned, I was a 17 year old who needed to get away from the 'woes' of my life. I had decided to embark on a backpacking and hitchhiking trip, across Europe and into North Africa. Now remember, this was in the days before mass tourism, and we were going to a place that was having trouble of its own. North Africa, namely, Morocco, and Algeria were in the throes of Civil wars, that we knew little about....but more on that in another blog. My friend and I (he is also a Rick Steves guide now) had agreed to meet on the outskirts of Bath, our hometown. It was a wet and very windy evening. It was also dark. We laughed at each other as we stood there with our military style backpacks and gear, our wind cheaters on and a bedraggled piece of cardboard in my hands. That piece of cardboard was our secret weapon ! On it was written the one w...

Saxon Shore Forts If you’ve ever toured around the coast of England, you may well have discovered one or two, strange Roman oddities, called Saxon Shore Forts. Indeed, you may even have come across one or two along the coast of Northern Europe. Portchester Fortress During the middle of the 3rd century, Rome deemed it necessary to set up a separate strategic command, in order to control and protect trade through the English Channel. As the Empire proceeded to collapse, the shore forts created along England’s coasts were separated and out under its own command known as, ‘The Count of the Saxon Shore’. Just the name, should give you a clue as to why these formidable fortresses were built. Being coastal, they were essentially military ports AND garrisons. However, as we have very few mentions of these places from Roman sources, their use is somewhat clouded. Were they fortresses which protected against Saxon incursion or were they built on territories already settled by t...

English Landscape Gardens. Because I’ve created a new Cotswolds small group tour, that will include a couple of very special gardens, I thought that I should write a little piece on England’s gardens....landscape gardens in particular. Over the years, I’ve been fortunate enough to visit some great gardens scattered all over  the British Isles, and I have to say that the Brits are justifiably proud of this aspect of their culture. The predecessors of the landscape garden in England were the great parks created by people such as Sir John Vanbrugh (1664–1726) and Nicholas Hawksmoor at Castle Howard (1699–1712), Blenheim Palace (1705–1722), and the Claremont Landscape Garden at Claremont House (1715–1727). These parks featured vast lawns, woods, and pieces of architecture, such as the classical mausoleum designed by Hawksmoor at Castle Howard. At the center of the composition was the house, behind which were ...

The Horses of Britain - Are they wild ? As a young man, I lived near to both Dartmoor and Exmoor. These are two National Parks that sit nicely in the SW peninsula of England. At weekends, I would often head out to one of the moors with friends, to go and try to find the ‘wild’ horses...    It was never a difficult task. Because they have no natural predators they roam freely and are found in ever increasing numbers, all over the moors. Growing up in the British Isles, I was fully aware of the fact that there were other horses, roaming freely all over our islands. In the Shetlands, you will find short stocky horses, wandering amidst the heather. In North Wales, you’ll find the gorgeous Carneddau horses, and only about 240 of them left in existence. In the South of England, you’ll find horses grazing in moorland areas, contentedly. It really is a wonderful thing to see. Imagine driving through the gorgeous moorland areas of Britain, and as you turn a bend in the r...

The Cotswolds - A small group tour. In June of 2021, I shall be leading a very small group of 6-10 people into the heart of a region known as the Cotswolds. It will be a 10 day tour and based in one location in a pretty market town in the heart of the region, Stow on the Wold ( St Edwards in the Marketplace). We’ll enjoy a huge number of activities, which will include visiting some splendid gardens and manor houses,  castles, remains of Roman villas, and good food everywhere. Bring your walking shoes, as we’re also going to strike out into the countryside for some charming country walks. The ‘Cotswolds’, are a charming area and I’m looking forward to enjoying a pint or two withe small group that will accompany me. If you’re interested, contact me through my email address and I’ll send you some more info.

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