Kent: the Garden of England

Tony Wade did an excellent job in leading us through a number of interesting adventures in Kent. Good commentary before reaching a destination and made sure that we were getting as much as possible from each. Rooms were well selected and comfortable. And driver Steve found his way through some interesting back roads, and got us there as scheduled.. All in all, a wonderful experience. Thanks!

Beautiful locations, easy pace with like minded travellers. Tony the tour director was very professional and the driver Steve was a safe and reliable driver.

Pleased with the places we visited, the tour bus & guide, Tony was wonderful. Accommodation & meals organised were great, Hever Castle was impressive, as was Canterbury & Rye.

Our tour with Back Roads around Kent was more than I could possibly have expected. Our tour leader Tony, & driver Stephen were wonderful. Our program around the sites of Kent were so interesting , and our accommodation delightful.
I look forward to another tour in the future.

Excellent itinerary, accommodation , travelling companions , driver and tour leader.

Tony Knight was a great tour guide and together with Stephen it was a great trip. Everything was so well organized. Tony even sorted out two lorry's stuck on a narrow back road.
The whole group got along really well and would highly recommend this tour and company.

Beautiful locations, easy pace with like minded travellers. Tony the tour director was very professional and the driver Steve was a safe and reliable driver.

The tour was wonderful, our guide Tony and driver Stephen were fantastic. The hotels were quirky but fit the locale. Thank you, I look forward to another trip with Tony next summer.

Brilliant trip. Great driver and care given by Tony. The other passengers got on so well. The places we visited were so varied. Comfortable hotels, tours and visits to interesting villages and towns. Enjoyed Leeds Castle particularly as I had visited a few times when I lived in Kent. A great county.

Thank you. Hopefully I will go on another Back Roads.

THANK YOU,
Wendy Hanson

Excellent Back Roads tour. Great locations and local experiences, hotels were excellent. Tour guide very knowledgeable and ensured we were all having a great time each day. Our driver was also excellent.

Brilliant in every way. Loved 2 night stays at accommodation and longer stops at exciting places. Great food and hotels.

We both really enjoyed this tour. Good leader in Tony and a good driver too, which is almost the main thing. June 22 to 28 was a good time to go, all the gardens were in great bloom. Particularly enjoyed Chartwell House and Leeds Castle. Liked Rye and the Mermaid Inn. Also liked, but needed more time in, Tenderton and Hever Castle. Definitely too rushed at Hever. If there had been even slightly bigger crowds it wouldn't have worked at all. Loved the unscheduled stop at the farm shop, include it and make it longer! Hotel rooms were good on this tour as were included meals. The pub by Leeds Castle was a good variation too.
A couple of gripes: we've done several Backroads Tours now so we know how they work, but I think it's a bit much calling a whole day of a tour that starts at six pm and finishes any time from lunchtime onwards on the last day, a "full day" Also 'Mr. Backroads' is a bit guilty of using flowery language to say what we might see on the tour when the beginning and end are up to us to organize. I think if you were more straight up with potential customers and included something like "organize a few extra days at the beginning or end of your Backroads Tour to see more of a particular place" you would get more satisfied customers. (eg: Bordeaux, Madrid, Lisbon, Venice, Split, Dubrovnik, London. i.e. all the tours we've done!) And lastly, your Australian website is very frustrating. I have never been able to log on to it without re submitting my details or resetting my password or both!

Wonderful tour thanks to tour leader Ben and driver Ashley. I absolutely loved being able to take true back roads and see the glorious English countryside. Ben gave us written information on each stop. Ben went to no end of trouble to answer questions and had a wealth of knowledge about everywhere we went as well as about bistory. He also had a great knowledge of botany and the natural environment and I loved that. Ashley was a great driver and he and Ben made ther tour special for us. It was after I did a different tour with a poor leader and driver that I realised how important that is.

What a beautifully relaxing few days we had on this tour. We have started telling all our friends about this Back-Roads tour and the 2 previous ones we did

A wonderful tour of Kent: great locations, superb hotels, magnificent meals, great guided visits, some additional unexpected sights.
We could have omitted the stop en route to London after the Hever Castle visit,It meant later than expected arrival at Tower Suites & impacted our onward journey.
Trial guided visit to first floor rooms at Hever Castle could be omitted,Nothing to see & repeat of information already given by Ben .It meant little time to explore the gardens,

We recently experienced the Kent: The Garden of England Tour, the itinerary was terrific. The opportunity to wander through the beautiful grounds and rooms of Chartwell House, Sissinghurst, Leeds, Dover and Hever Castles were experiences that we would never have been able to do if self-guided.
To be able to stay in accommodation such as the cottages at Leeds Castle and The Mermaid Inn (Rye) was incredibly special and memorable.
The tour of Canterbury Cathedral was unsurpassed, another highlight.
We were in very good hands with our Tour Leader, Ben and Driver, Ashley. Ben communicated clearly with the group and made sure that we all knew what the plans for the day were and his knowledge of Kent and the places we visited was exceptional.
Ashley's driving skills ensured that we were in very safe hands, navigating the narrow roads of the Kent countryside capably and confidently.
The only downside was that the bus was cramped, another six inches or so of legroom would have been appreciated. Thankfully we weren't doing long stints of travel.

Very good venues, tho perhaps more time could have been allowed on the major sights which involved gardens.
No complaints but kudos to our tour guide and driver, very relaxing, ready to help/assist and full of information about the history of the sights and even the passing countryside.

I enjoyed my Backroads tour, Kent: The Garden of England. We visited a nice variety of sights, and were given plenty of time to explore each of them on our own. A cathedral, a country home and garden, another beautiful garden, wine and beer tasting, a couple of castles and some lovely towns and villages. Our tour guide Ben, and our driver Ash were excellent. The hotels were also good, especially the one by Leeds Castle, and the historic Mermaid Inn, in Rye.

This was our first bus tour and it exceeded expectations! The accomodations and food were excellent. We explored enchanting towns and villages and had some wonderful experiences. Most of all it was FUN thanks to our tour guide Ben Sims. He was engaging, entertaining and made the trip memorable. Many thanks also to our driver, Ashley Laurence for steering us through some tricky roads. We loved it so much we are booking two tours for 2025 with Blue Roads.

Tour leader & the driver were outstanding in everything!!! We saw so much in this tour & had a great balance between free-time and planned/organized time. Our food was very good & restaurant suggestions were excellent for occasions when we dined alone. The routing was so spectacular & peaceful and the accommodations were quite suitable with no complaints. We learned so much history and have nothing to say but superlatives for Blueroads!!!

Fantastic tour. Great tour leader and driver. Loved all the back roads

Excellent hostess and driver, interesting itinerary well thought out

Well worth the cost. Very safe, organized, comfortable, modern and clean

We really enjoyed this trip. Our driver (Rob) safely delivered us to our accommodation in the evenings. The coach was very comfortable to ride in. The isle was a bit squeezy, but we all managed. Our tour guide (Tony) gave us a wealth of interesting information about each day's activities and visits.

The tour was a very good tour, interesting and covered a lot of ground.

Well organised with a friendly guide and driver who both new the area

It was great value for the money. Wonderful places to stay. Interesting drives through the countryside. Beautiful and interesting places picked for night.

I was very lucky to get a place on this tour, booking it only 3 weeks before the event. Might have benefitted from an additional couple of days, seeing more castles and things in Kent

Very interesting and informative

All over an excellent tour

Both the driver and the tour leader were excellent. The accomodation was also excellent. I thoroughly enjoyed my trip with Backroads

Fantastic trip through Kent.

The Itinerary needs wok!!

Very enjoyable part of England.
Not enough time to explore small villages - sometimes too long in a particular planned stop.

Loved the locations. Didn’t really need 4 hours at diver castle.