South West Heritage Tours
 Accredited Chauffeur-Driven Tours
and Expert-Led Walks

Our Driver Guided Tours

We offer a wide range of services to meet your needs.  Our expertise stretches through South West England (Devon, Cornwall, Dorset, Bath, Stonehenge, Cotswolds) and the Heart of England region (Cotswolds, Stratford-upon-Avon, Oxford, Warwickshire, Shropshire, Hereford and Worcester).

People



Ian is a qualified Blue Badge Guide for South West England. Ian's former careers have included the military and medicine as well as tourism.
 
Ian's specialist areas are local history, military history, folklore, industrial heritage , flora and fauna. Ian has been a qualified mountain leader since 1986 too.



Heather is a Blue Badge Tour Guide for the Heart of England region.

 Heather has a degree in Environment and Countryside Management from one of the United Kingdom's most prestigious universities and has been guiding tours for several years. Unsurprisingly Heather's area of great expertise is ecology, flora, fauna, rural crafts and landscape archaeology but her history, prehistory and folklore are pretty impressive too.


Sandrine spent 10 years as a French and art teacher in a reputed private school as well as an Art events organiser before becoming a Blue Badge Guide for the South West of England and international tour director.


Sandrine is accredited to guide in both French and English


Her hobbies include Art, painting and drawing, photography and literature.


She also enjoys researching and customising experiences for visitors who want something a little different, more tailor made.


Working alongside Ian and Heather, Sandrine brings a love of art and culture and, in addition to guiding in English, is a native French speaker


History 

Ian Newman has been a partner in long-established family-run tour company, Footpath Holidays since 1992. Since 1997 we have been providing programmes with a large heritage component for a number of the best-known operators worldwide. The logical 'next step' was for Ian to train for the very highest guiding award available in the United Kingdom - the Blue Badge. Ian was born and raised in the south west of England and has family and work connections all over the region.


Ian's daughter, Heather Newman, joined the partnership when she graduated with an ecology degree from Harper Adams University, one of the UK's most prestigious universities and is also a Blue Badge Guide - for the Heart of England region.

Heather has family history in both the South West of England and the West Midlands.

Accreditation

Ian Newman is a fully accredited Blue Badge Guide for the South West of England.

Heather Newman is a fully accredited Blue Badge Guide for the Heart of England.

The Blue Badge is the definitive qualification for tourist guides in the United Kingdom and is only awarded following a long training course, extensive study and a series of written and practical exams.

Ian and Heather are fully accredited private hire drivers.

Both Ian and Heather are members of the Guild of British Tourist Guides.

Both are fully fully qualified in first aid.

Our Vehicles

We have  a brand new, top of the range Land Rover Defender SUV for our SuV tours  which will accommodate up to four passengers.


For slightly larger parties we have a top spec Mercedes V Class AMG line MPV capable of carrying six passengers.







Working with Tour Operators and Agents

We already work with some of the best-known names in the tourism industry. We are always pleased to hear from travel agents, consultants and tour operators and to discuss contract work. We are also happy to work with DMO's to provide 'Familiarisation Visits' and we welcome work with film crews and production companies both as drivers and 'location scouts'.

Let’s Talk

If you are looking to visit England and particularly Britains Best Heritage Tours, let us know where you are coming from and when you are looking to visit and we can help you make the very best of your experience.

We look forward to hearing from you.
Ian & Heather

Contact Us

Testimonials

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