Highlights of Britain

Excellent tour. Outstanding Tour Director Peter Wilson. Peter was informative and pleasant and friendly.

Backroads Tour - Highlights of Britain BHBLE4 – 13 to 23-October 2024
Great tour from start to finish.

Our tour commenced with welcome dinner at the Wellington Hotel by Blue Orchid in London. Our tour guide Peter welcomed us all. We then had the opportunity to introduce ourselves. We met Steve, our bus driver, the next morning.

We were encouraged to move to different seats in the bus which everyone was agreeable and did so each day.

Even though the route/destination had been planned, Peter and Steve were open to suggestions to detour if the locations were not too far off track. There were some surprise locations which added to the tour. However, we did need to detour due to unseasonal roadway flooding.

Peter is an exceptional tour guide who has a wealth of knowledge and was able to provide insight into many historical facts on the way. At our destinations Peter provided suggestions on the best places to get your lunch/snacks, café or pub. There were regular stops. Steve is also to be highly commended on his driving skills in manoeuvring the bus in very tight country roads.

Overall, the accommodation and food were as described. Some places cosier than others. Our evening entertaining game of skittles at Mickleton and trivia evening at The Mulberry Inn Llangollen were great fun nights.

Our fellow passengers were great and the whole tour from Day 1 to 11 was fantastic.

Highly recommend Back-Roads Highlights of Britain small group tour.

So many sights and so much history. The tour was amazing and the size of the group was perfect. Our friendly tour guide and bus driver were absolutely brilliant. Loved it so much I've already recommended it to others.

Great Guide, Safe Driver, good selection of excursions and enjoyable company on the bus.

We enjoyed the tour. It was a great time and like the fact that he had two days some places and free time to explore. The tour guide was fantastic and knowledgeable about the history of England. The bus driver was fantastic as he navigated the roads. We would indeed do another back roads tour.

Fantastic guided tour with comfortable and varied accommodation as we experienced truly breathtaking and unique scenery along our ten day tour of the UK. Ben highlighted the relevant, pertinent information as we visited each of the many historic monuments, cathedrals, museums and places of local or cultural significance to enhance our experience. There was no overloading or droning on of the accompanying information which we appreciated. Ben's experience and knowledge really came through and we could exchange information or ask questions to satisfy our curiosity. Which we often did! The diversity of the different regions The Cotswolds, Lakes District, Wales and Snowdonia with cultural highlighlights were appreciated by all of us. The camaraderie and cheerfulness of Ben and our skilful driver, Phil also enhanced the journey especially when travelling for longer stretches across UK or stuck in traffic. Ben has an interest in the environment and share important knowledge about the local flora and fauna wherever we journeyed. Ben's passion for environmental management and conservation really came through in many discussions throughout the tour. Jorma and I couldn't fault the tour and would happily recommend any friends to embark on this Highlights of UK tour. Professional however friendly and not too large a group to manage comfortably. Highlights were too many to single out but we all loved the bagpipes and blessing of the haggis on our last meal on 29th October.

Learning about the history of England,
By going to cathedral churches and castles. Art Gallery in the cities was great.
Where famous people lived.
The history of Queens and Kings over the centuries

Well organised bus tour. Loved that it was a small group and that we stayed in small villages . Most of the accommodation choices were fabulous. . Our guide was brilliant, very knowledgeable and entertaining and very helpful. Our very experienced driver was also very helpful. A lot was packed into our days. Only negative was time allocated to some stops was too short and perhaps the tour could be a day or two longer. Would thoroughly recommend this style of touring.

This tour was enjoyable as well lead by the Tour guide and driver as a combined team

Team knowledge was great on all areas we visited - good work and efforts by them !
Supplied meals at venues enjoyable ..

The tour with Back roads was the best holiday experience my wife and I have had. Peter our tour guide was very knowledgeable and provided lots of information about each destination and also was very funny, keeping everyone on the bus entertained on the way to each stop. I would highly recommend anyone considering group touring to do a back roads tour it was exceptional.

Our tour promised a backroads experience and that is what we got. During the tour we visited a surprising number of diverse, interesting places; this exceeded my expectations. We also experienced being in some of the most beautiful inland locations of England.
The accommodation was also of good standard.
Of interest was that many of the other members of our tour group had done previous trips with BackRoads Tours, an indication of the quality provided by this tour company.

The tour was exceptional
Great leader Charlie.
Attention to detail and very capable
People skills brilliant
Made every effort to ensure comfort and his knowledge very comprehensive.
Would give him 5 stars out of 5
Pam Davis
Loved his sense of humour and honesty.
Really top guy 👦

Good tour regarding the routes and visits. Great guide with factual history, etc.

I enjoyed my Tour with Back Roads.
Visiting the history Construction Old Buildings and traveling along coastal areas by the sea and rivers.
It was amazing to go to the Castles and Churches in different locations around in England and Scotland.

Mostly very pleased with the trip. However, some of the hotels were not very good, amenities lacking and not always very clean.
Otherwise everything went well. Praise for the tour director and the bus driver. Both were very helpful.

Impressive Tour Guide and driver. Loved every Back Road stop and visit. The itinerary was well thought out and fun to follow.

Tour guide Charlie was fantastic but the sites visited on the tour were not very interesting. If you really want to see the highlights go on a tour that stops at the highlights ! Most of the Inns that we stayed in were pretty good. The Mulberry Inn was exceptional .

Was a great tour. We found that some places where too long, others were too short. Have been before so saw different things in towns. Wasn’t pleasant walking round in rain, with not much to do. Should swap seats so everyone got a front seat. Driver & guide were great. Bounced off one another.

The tour ran so smoothly. The places, the beautiful and scenic back roads travelled, the hotels, meals, our tour guide and driver all made for a most wonderful experience. I couldn't rate it highly enough.

Our tour from London to Edinbough provided a real backroads view of many interesting and scenic areas of GB. For me, I often wanted to stay longer at places that we stopped at. However, I know that my wish to stay longer at sites was unrealistic in such a tour. My very strong feeling was that all of the members of the tour were very satisfied with the Backroads tour.

we were onlly 2 americans on tour of 18. all others were australians. they were very friendly and had a great tie. tour guide Justin was sensitive to clients needs and very knowledgeable and fun to have on tour. Sights visited were good and population we met were very friendly

Stunning scenery around every corner. Five star hotels, small group made for a nice pace. Too much ancient history. I would have liked to hear about their economy, topography of the land, etc..

We really enjoyed our tour. The itinerary was great, and our tour guide and driver were exceptional. It was fantastic to get to see and do so many things without having to worry ourselves about travel logistics/arrangements.

There were only two drawbacks that would have me think twice about booking another similar tour.

First, an issue that seems like it could have been managed by the company was our hotel beds. We requested twin beds because we are accustomed to having more space when we sleep. We both have back problems, and smaller beds (like double beds) don't allow us space to be comfortable throughout the night. I understand that there are hotels where twins are not available, but we were given double beds at hotels where twins were available. I wish we could have guaranteed the beds we needed, even if we'd had to pay a bit more. It really affected our enjoyment of the trip, especially when we spent more than one night in a bed that was too small.

Second, I am not sure the company has much control of this, but one person on our tour group joined and was clearly sick when the tour began. She was coughing throughout our welcome meeting, the welcome dinner, and the first day of the tour on the bus. She was not wearing a mask at any point. Then, a few days later, one of her companions was sick and coughing. Then, a few days later, a few people on the tour, including our driver, had the cough. People missed days of the tour due to illness. We wore masks as soon as it was clear that people were sick, but several of the people who were sick chose not to wear masks, so our masks only did so much good. We ended up getting sick toward the end of the tour. I understand that people who were sick did not have much of a choice about getting back on the bus as we moved from location to location. However, it is a consideration that if anyone on the trip is contagious, everyone on the trip will probably pick it up if there are not expectations in place for the people who are sick to try to avoid making others sick.

Fantastic tour! Charlie and Mark were superb!!

One of the best tours, especially the input
By Tony

Interesting sites visited. Main issue was time spent on the bus but expected due to the distance travelled from London to Edinburgh. Arrival at 5:00-5:30 pm at hotels gave little time to relax before dinner ( included dinners were excellent).

I very much enjoyed my holiday travelling through the beautiful countryside and seeing some wonderful attractions and cathedrals along the way.My tour director Tony was very informative and the coach driver Steve made you feel very safe.

We didn't know what to really expect other than having seen many positive reviews of the tour. The tour says 'back roads ' and indeed it is! And what a way to see rural Great Britain. Virtually no motorways, and mostly A, B and other roads to traverse this beautiful country. Lots to see, many places to visit and the nicest Guide and driver. A great balance between guided visits and free time to walk around ourselves, including at night. The pace was measured and we didn't "on the road" every day. Highly recommended as a tour to get a feel for the country.

An amazing tour. Our tour guide Tony was outstanding and made the trip so much fun with lots of info and history and traveling off the beaten path. He always answered questions and made us feel special.He made the trip!!
Our driver Steve was amazing! I always felt safe while he was driving on some of the most narrow, twisty, up & down roads I’d ever been on.
The tour was everything and more than we expected!
Five star all the way!

Great time by one and all very glad l went and spent time with my sister travelling England and Ireland

Great tour, very interesting. The tour guide was very knowledgeable and helpful. The driver was brilliant

We had a great time on the Highlights of Britain back-roads tour. Our guide, Ben Sims, was super knowlegeable and learning about the things we saw made the experience even better. We will definitely recommend this tour to our friends and hope to try another destination with Blue Roads.

Lovely trip great itinerary. Hotels nice. Great tour guide Justin Driver Matt was great on the narrow roads especially for his first tour

We had a wonderful time on our Backroads Highlights of Britain tour! Our guide and driver were amazing, informative, friendly and extremely helpful.
Our accommodation and meals were good and the itinerary varied and timely.
We would definitely recommend Backroads to others thinking of joint a small group tour.

Was everything I expected. Saw many amazing sights. Was full on. Not a tour for the unfit, it was all go,go,go. Hotels were wonderful and they looked after us very well. Only hotel I was a little disappointed in was the Low Wood Resort &Spa. Some passengers were left to collect their own luggage. Would have been nice to have Edinburg as our last night as a group. Would recommend this tour to my friends.

Excellent guide, driver and accommodation. The vehicle would have been better with more comfortable seats, but that was not significant. Many enjoyable highlights, but the hospitality at the Mulberry Inn and the scenery at Lake Windermere were standouts.

Back Roads Tour offered and delivered on a thorough enjoyable, professionally run small bus trip holiday.
Both the Tour Leader Terry, and driver Steve were knowledgeable, courteous, very friendly personalities. All participants on the bus were included in bus discussions along the way. All queries we may have had were prompt answered and accurate details of what we were seeing clearly explained. For a mix of participants different personalities, Tour Leader Terry was quite capable of professionally and friendly-like responding to each of us.

Wonderful tour guide. Destinations all worthwhile and hotels comfortable. Supplied meals were very good

Small group travel is ideal. Our guide and leader was interesting, very informative and well organised. We were all looked after very well. The hotels we stayed in were excellent.
We would have enjoyed more time in a few places but time limits meant we had to keep moving overall we were not too rushed and enjoyed good company and excellent driving too.

we had a terrific experience with your Back Roads tour. Our guide Terry was amazing and very helpful and knowledgeable, loved all the history and the day trips.

Enjoyed all of it

As first time travellers to the UK, this tour was a great way to see the “highlights” of the United Kingdom. August was a good time to go because we had the best weather.

Tony our guide was very knowledgeable and was attentive to all our needs.

Loved this trip and especially our wonderful guide Tony Wade. He made all the sites come alive with his history narrative. The guests were all so friendly. Accommodation were all great and even the weather was kind to us. Our driver, Vince, negotiated the laneways and kept calm in traffic.

Fantastic

We enjoyed seeing the beautiful countryside. Darren our tour guide excellent.
Knowledgeable, approachable, well organised but flexible and nothing was too much trouble.
But the star of the show was Tan our driver. How he was able to drive the bus so capably on some of those very narrow lanes and streets and his backing capability was astounding. His dry sense of humour added to the enjoyment of the trip.
Only negative was some of the accommodation hence 4 not 5 stars.
Standout accommodation was the Mulbery Inn. The Inn is an absolute credit to Alan and his staff. It was in a league of its own compared to the other accommodation.

This was a great experience. (This was our first trip to the northern hemisphere). We had a fantastic tour guide and driver who were very knowledgeable and informative. We had a small group of mostly Aussies and one NZ couple who got on well and were accepting of everyone taking personal needs into consideration. The experiences were amazing visiting Wordsworth and Beatrix Potters house and/or gardens along with ruins of Abbeys and castles, stately homes and museums ( just to name a few). These were all mostly accessed by backroads with beautiful scenery to enjoy along the journey, passing through villages some of which we would stop for lunch and to amble round.
A highlight was the bagpiper at our accommodation on the last night who welcomed us to Scotland.
Overall a diverse look an England and a little of Scotland. Would definitely recommend and would not hesitate to use Backroads Tours again.

I would do another Backroads Tour

Fantastic tour, loved using the backroads, the guide (Daz) was friendly, knowledgeable, caring and had a great sense of humour, keeping us tourists amused as well as educated. The driver (Thahn) was brilliant and did a magnificent job negotiating the narrow roads and providing a lovely smooth and safe trip.

We needed to spend more time at the places that were stated in the itinerary rather than only having practically twenty minutes at some of the places because the tour leader did not like it as a destination for lunch and wanted to go to a little village because they liked it better there instead. On many of the days the trip felt rushed as the tour leader wanted to visit as many places as possible (for example they stated that they were very happy that they had crammed in ten stops on one day which was the most they had ever done) but we would have preferred to do less better. The tour leader did make a concerted effort to accommodate the tourists interests by visiting places they had requested to visit if possible (for example Bambury - the Downton Abbey village and Hilltop Farm - the Beatrix Potter farm house). Some of the hotels were not safe (at the hotel in the Cotswolds our kettle exploded and I saw a spark come out of the power point followed by black smoke and it was also pretty dirty). It would have been better to stay in Stratford Apon Avon because we hardly had any time there and it seemed like there was a lot to do so we would have appreciated a whole day there. We loved having a whole free day in York so if more free days could be built into the itinerary somehow at major places like Oxford or Stratford Upon Avon that would be beneficial.

Excellent itinerary, guide, driver, accommodation - everything wonderful thank you….

Everything from the guide, driver, other travelers, and the sights we saw was perfect. We would use Blue Roads again.

Both Justin and Ash did an excellent job providing great opportunities to see very interesting aspects of Britain.

I would recommend it if you travel as a couple and aren't too demanding about hotels but keep in mind that if you're a solo traveler, no matter what you've been promised or the supplement you've had to pay, you'll get the smallest, gloomiest and uncomfortable rooms in the hotel.
The tour, on the other hand, is well organised and we had very nice tour leader and driver.
Be aware, too, that in most hotels there are no walk-in showers or lifts and York hotel, the Churchill, doesn't even have a phone to contact recepción.

Excellent tour leader , Justin and driver , Ash . They couldn’t do enough for us and truly made the tour . The itinerary was on the whole interesting and comfortable. Please leave Liverpool out . It’s not in character with the rest of the tour. Thanks

The tour was great-- we went to some fabulous places. I'd recommend it.

Our tour guide and driver were the ones who really made the tour special. Justin and Ash are treasures. The Winners Box of Maltesers and its place of pride on our bus is a memory that still makes me grin 😁

Since my return, neighbors and friends have asked me what the highlight of the trip was, and I have answered them with “There wasn’t really a single place; every day we saw three to five things that were highlights.” Excellent service from both our guide and our driver. They were friendly, lively and witty.

We toured the Cotswolds, Wales, York, the Lake District and concluded in Scotland where we were piped into dinner. Being in a smaller group and coach, as opposed to a bus, let us enjoy and bond with one another. Great memories and just the right length. Wonderful.

Back Roads was a great company to deal with. We had 16 in our group plus the driver and tour leader. We were mostly Australian and New Zealanders and one Canadian. Mostly women travelling with friends or on their own and a few couples. The mix was good with just about everyone over 60 and in good health.
The itinerary was good and we travelled from London, through Wales and the Lake District to Edinburgh. The history of the towns and the countryside was incredible. The knowledge of the tour leader was impressive and the skill of the driver was amazing on those country lanes. A thoroughly enjoyable experience.

The tour guide Peter Wilson and driver Thanh were simply the best hosts and went out of their way to make our tour a memorable one.
Peters attention to detail was superb and was always checking on us his history was very informative. Thanh was a great driver and very considerate. I hope that you pass this feedback onto these two men as they deserve high recognition from your company.

Awesome tour leader, Peter was very knowledgeable and helpful as was our drive Tan, we never felt unsafe with his driving . Saw lots of places and had some amazing experiences,

A well organised tour on all levels. Accommodation, support from the tour guide, and places that we visited were all that we had expected.
Thoroughly enjoyable 11 days with a great bunch of fellow travellers.

Tony our guide and Dmitry were amazing however some of the accommodation was not up to scratch such as The Woodland House Hotel the beds were old and very uncomfortable

Every aspect of this tour was great. Our guide Tony had a wonderful knowledge of the areas visited, took us to places we would never have found, regaled us with interesting tales and history. The accommodation was good, some of which was beyond expectation. We would highly recommend this tour.

First night at Blue Orchid was pretty poor which was an unfortunate start to our tour.
Alan the tour leader was great, provided us with WhatsApp group, an itinerary and constant confirmation on what was happening and when.
Steve the driver was excellent. We felt very safe in his hands.
The sights, visits and accommodation were all great. We were spoilt with everything we needed. Special mention to Mulberry Inn which went above and beyond. Alan, the owner was just the best! 😀

Great guide and driver

Tour guide was extremely knowledgeable, managed every part of the tour very professionally and made the trip very enjoyable. The driver was very competent and worked well with the guide. We definitely travelled on alot of back roads and enjoyed the wonderful countryside..

Our backroads of the UK, was one of the biggest highlights of our 3 month tour of the UK. Our guide Tony and driver Dmitry were just amazing. Tony was so very knowledgeable and Dmitry was a most professional and friendly person.

I really enjoyed the Backroads trip, "Highlights of Britain". We had a wonderful, knowledgeable & caring Tour Leader in Harriet & we had a wonderful, skilful & caring Driver in Ashley. We had such a good & friendly group of fellow travellers & going on the backroads was so enjoyable & awe inspiring with the gorgeous countryside & spectacular views. It was the best way to see England, Wales & Scotland & take in the beautiful scenery. I wholeheartedly recommend Backroads & their wonderful staff!!

The Tour was good , but I would not recommend as there were some places that could have been missed I can not understand why Beatice Potter house was not on Iternary as the Lakes District is synonymous with her.

Also some of them Hotels were not great Woodland House not great but Mulberrry in was wonderfull.
Tour Guide and Driver were good everyone seem to have a good time but I would not recommend as places visited such as Bowes Museum was of no interest to most of the Travellers

A quintessential tour that has the english scottish and welsh highlights for a first time traveler to the UK.

Great tour. Wonderful scenery and fellow travellers. Great leader knowledgeable and caring. Driver excellent too. Could not fault it

I have been on back road tours before and they never disappoint

Very good tour. Knowledgeable guide and driver. Pleanty of 2 night stops.

The tour included most of England and most of the attractions were already included. The coach that we road in was comfortable and easy to stand and get in and out of. Our guide and driver were excellent and knowledgeable about their country. Enjoyed the gardens and homes of William Wordsworth and Sir Walter Scott were outstanding. Then there was the Beatles Museum and the Castle - one day was better than the next. Loved the "back roads" Inns that we stayed in and the beautiful countryside spotted with sheep and lambs. Would definitely love to do another Back Roads Trip.
Sharon

The tour itinerary was even better than expected. Our tour guide, Rachel and driver Ben were excellent! We had a fabulous holiday doing this tour.

The trip was fantastic both tour leader Ben and coach driver Gordon were great and very informative on the trip.

A wonderful tour, made special by our tour leader Giovanni and driver Gordon. Giovani consistently went out of his way to ensure every passenger was happy and enjoying the time. He and Gordon also ensured that we took true backroads, often only the width of the bus. Gordon was such a good driver that the trip was ultra smooth and safe. At every stop Giovanni gave each passenger a map and description of the site with drop off and pick up points marked by hand and in advance of visiting each site explained its importance and special places, always accompanying us throughout. He made a point of advising the location of toilets and where we could buy snacks if required. At one location while a small group of us were waiting to get back on the bus a man approached us and our driver Gordon was quietly waiting close by, observing to ensure we were all OK. At the end of the tour, Giovanni accompanied most solo travellers to their individual hotels. During the time on the bus he gave us so much information and answered a multitude of questions with good humour, always researching an answer to an obscure question if he did not know right away. He had also put an enormous amount of time in advance of the tour into selecting appropriate music to play during driving such as Welsh choral while in Wales. Giovanni and Gordon interacted so well and made the tour special for us all. Giovanni also took hundreds of photos during the tour and put them up on a what's app group. The complaints are: single seats very uncomfortable if you are tall; I could not get my legs under the seat in front so one knee was always bent up towards me; some hotels overheated at night, also noisy; meals often seemed to conform to a budget, very noticeable absence of salads and green vegetables, not what you need; vegetarian options very limited. Giovanni and Gordon really made the tour and I realised after I did another tour with a different leader and driver how important that is

The itinerary was was wonderful. Rachel our guide was a wealth of knowledge and passionate about all areas we visited. She was versatile with any changes needed and helpful with any questions we had. Ben, our driver was excellent and extremely helpful also. The bus was comfortable and roomy.

Excellent Trip covering a great area. Tour Guide Hariett Powell was excellent and her coverage of History of the area was vast and interesting.
Coach driver Ashley was a great driver and watched out for his passengers. Our tour covered many interesting places and our Tour Group got on very well.

Our tour leader Carolyn was excellent and was well organised

I enjoyed the trip but felt more time should have been spent in Wales and Scotland. I honestly felt I saw hardly anything of those countries and we kind of rushed through because we ran out of time co and had to get to other destinations.
The back roads were breathtaking and fun. Our driver was a pro negotiating the tiny, narrow roadways and he took us to many places that were not on the itinerary. Thank goodness for him!

Wonderful way to see UK. Great guide and driver, good pace and ticked every box for me.

Great locations and accommodation. Both our tour guide and bus driver were fantastic during the trip

I already submitted a survey on behalf of myself and my wife James and Joan Foster but after completing it I remembered a point that I would like to cover .We had an incident in Oxford where two of the passengers got lost and we were delayed by an hour and a half while the tour manager went looking for them ,these particular passengers delayed us to a lesser extent later in the tour .I think it should be mandatory that the tour manager should give us his full name and phone number at the outset so this type of incident should not waste the time of the remaining passengers ..

Hotels were subpar. We could have stayed in Liverpool for example and gotten a better hotel. There seemed to be a lot of dropping us off and we were left to find something to do and somewhere to eat with no suggestions. Oxford was another beautiful city where we could have stayed and had something to do but we were there for a short time.

Great tour. Carolyn was an extremely confident tour guide and went out of her way to insure we all experienced as much as possible. All accommodation was comfortable and included meals were of a high standard. The highlight of our trip was the piping in of the haggis.

Great programme Loved all locations except perhaps Castle Howard wasn’t me Maybe could have done more Cotswolds villages but loved the ones we did Worcester Cathedral excellent guide loved Wales and our guide took us to ponteystllte aqueduct as an extra … it was special. Loved York and the Churchill Hotel was special. The villages in the Lake District are magic Wordsworths home special Carolyn took us to great extra places not on itinerary. Loved Rosslyn Chapel and great guide there too. In Oxford she pointed out the terrific Museum. Well worth visiting and also The Alice shop. A great time

Tour was very good, Guide Darren and driver Ash were excellent.
Hotels and meals were a good standard and we loved touring the country roads over motorways.

Back Roads of England was exactly what it was, scenery was amazing. We visited and stayed in the most beautiful little villages, with outstanding accommodation and food.. The attractions we visited were fantastic and easily accessed via our tour leader plus a few extra surprises that our leader took us too, fantastic.
Our tour leader Alan was a wealth of knowledge and such a lovely host, nothing was s problem and if he could he would accommodate guests requests. Our driver Dimiitry was outstanding, driving down some tiny roads without a worry, he also was extremely friendly and knowledgeable.
I have a food allergy and it was accommodated for without any issues.

Back Roads tours is now number 1 on our tour list.

Tour guide and driver where fantastic, very knowledgeable and curtious the tour was great and hotels nice, I had a good time only down fall for me is that most of the hotels we stayed at don’t offer many vegetables as I am a vegetarian, most serve risotto or pasta, it would be nice to have something different.

The tour guide and bus driver were fabulous. We enjoyed the itinerary but wished we had more times in some places. Our main disappointment was the hotels. In 2 of the rooms we could barely open our suitcases. ( the wellington and the churchill). While others on our tour had larger updated rooms. Also terrible lighting - especially in the bathroom. The hotel night 2 and 3 was subpar. The first room they put us in had a bathroom that was full of mold and the tile was pulling away from the wall. We were moved to a second room but the shower would not turn off - someone had to come and turn it off and just said- this happens sometimes! They moved us to the main building and the room was adequate. The only hotel that was comfortable and clean ( and made you feel like you were on vacation) was the mulberry inn. The host Alan was wonderful.

We are confused as to why it is called Blue Road tours in the US but Back Road tours to Australians. This was clearly an Australian tour as everyone except for us was from there. We found this awkward and wish we would have know ahead of time that it was mainly for Australians.

Good, well balanced, relaxed start tour with an excellent tour leader in Carolyn. Seating in the bus was squashed and made getting in and out a trial for 70+ people.

A great tour travelling the back roads. The scenery was magnificent. The tour leader Alan was extremely knowledgeable and very approachable. The driver Dmitri navigated some very narrow back roads and was also very friendly and helpful. Some fellow travellers found the mini coach did not have enough leg room. They really did travel the back roads and for me that was the highlight. My fellow travellers were great fun and very friendly. The river cruise was a bit of a let down.

Thoroughly enjoyed the tour. Small bus and small group of people of similar ages which was great. Our tour guide and bus driver were wonderful.

We would highly recommend using Blue Roads. Being part of a small part is so personnel and enjoyable. You really get to know your travel group. The tour guide was extremely knowledgable and our driver was the tops!

tour was very good. Only caution would be hotel and Spa in Windermere. We found hotel staff unresponsive and frankly not very hospitable. Hotel rooms were below par in our opinion. I would not recommend this hotel.

I love the fat that most of the travel is done on the small back roads through the country, stopping in small towns which are so picturesque.

Great tour run by great people. For me it was too long. I was sick of being in the bus by the end of the tour.
Another thing that annoys me greatly is the company's that want reviews for their products or services. This is like giving your company free labour after I have paid good money.

Great trip lots to see and the guide/driver couldn’t have been more helpful. The only thing of a negative nature was the cramped conditions of the bus which was in new good condition. I understand that small group and backroads means smaller bus. Tour and group and food all first class.

Highlights of Britain was a wonderful tour that visited some amazing places, including Oxford, Worcester, York, and Liverpool. Carolyn was an exceptional guide, and Blessing was a skilful and competent driver. I would recommend Back Roads tours and look forward to going on another tour soon.

I enjoyed every aspect of this tour. Day after day something was dished up to be enjoyed. We covered a large variety of interesting sites, ask delivered at an easy and comfortable pace.

Nothing negative to say about it.

Excellent guide, very knowledgeable
Excellent driver - patient, considerate & engaging
As a country girl who grew up on a farm I loved seeing the farms & farm animals and visiting small villages.

It was a wonderful tour full of amazing experiences. I credit much of this to our Tour Director Charles Ryder and our expert driver Than.

Found the meals disappointing.
Plus too many stairs in the hotels we stayed in. Hip started to hurt going up and down all the time.

Meals were not the best

The tour was well organised and directed. I appreciated that we were always told what time we would be at places. We were directed clearly as to where we could purchase food and use conveniences. The days always finished at a suitable time so we could catch our breath! The tour leader was well informed and included interesting, relevant news as well as information about the places we were visiting. All in all, I would totally recommend this tour.
Because I was on my own, I think I did not always get the same quality of hotel room but this was only the case in a couple of the places. The worst was when the lift only went so far and I had to carry my suitcase up stairs from then on. The room was at the top of the building under the roof and was terribly hot. There were other times when it seemed I was out as high as possible in the hotel and I am not good with heights!

The perfect trip to see great sights from London to Edinburgh could not have a better company to travel with top guide and super driver
Saw the sights and travelled on the smallest country lanes

The tour was very enjoyable. Accommodation excellent, food also excellent. Driver experienced and knowledgeable as was tour guide.

I loved every aspect of Highlights of Britain. The tour covered a wide ranging points of interest, time to "get the feel of place" at our various stopovers.
I found the accommodation and meals provided of good standard some unexpectly par excellence.
I enjoyed the camaraderie of the tour guide Darren and his driver Gordon who with his imput, made a great team

Extremely well organised tour from start to finish. Both the tour leader Darren & the bus driver Gordon were excellent. Travelling through the backroads of Britain & Wales provided the opportunity to see the beautiful countryside. The accommodation was excellent & we can highly recommend this tour.

The Highlights of Britain was a good tour but too rushed in some places, e.g. Oxford was too fast and I didn't get to see many of the places of interest and the same thing in Stratford-upon-Avon. It was very fast and no time to see the beautiful scenery or to take any photos. The tour guide nearly had me having to run to catch up with him because I was taking photos.
The history of all the places was great but I still felt that we were too long in really out of the way places which had very little to see or do.
Overall I would recommend this tour but if you're not prepared to move fast and not be very interested in gardens or taking the extra time to explore all the attractions and history then maybe don't do this tour with *Personal information removed by Feefo*,the tour guide

It is 7 years since our first back roads tour, and because we thoroughly enjoyed that trip we decided to book a Highlights of Britain excursion. This decision proved to be the wrong one as the experience was not comparable with our first trip. The bus was notably smaller than the previous 18 seater, the guide was average and the schedule was mediocre. Given the aforementioned there is little to no chance of booking another Back Roads tour..

Ed, tour guide went too fast through the best places like Oxford and Stratford-upon-Avon, no time to get photos of these beautiful places.
To much time at boring out of the way places with only a Cafe and nothing else.
The historic information ended up putting most of us to sleep. It's fascinating but a line needs to be drawn between too much and too little.
I did enjoy it and the highlight for me, where, for some was too much, was Liverpool because I'm a huge Beatles fan so I spent all of the time in there.
Overall that's about it

Great tour with lots of interesting places to visit and lots of different things to discover.

The scenery was amazing however the location of the accommodation let the tour down. Most hotels were a long way from the towns so you were forced to have your meals at the venue. Your guide and driver were great.

This tour exceeded our expectations! We especially liked having a small group size and having the opportunity of visiting villages and points of interest in the countryside rather than just larger, more tourist dense towns. Our tour guide Ed was personable, engaging and a terrific source of information, both factual and entertaining. Great experience!

The trip was wonderful. The selected accommodation was wonderful. The driver Steve and our guide Ed were exceptionall!!
This was my first tour with this company and it was definitely a 10 out of 10.
The small group was an ideal way to travel. A mix of couples and people travelling alone and it all worked out perfectly.

Well-planned tour with a knowledgeable and personable guide. The travel van was comfortable and ably handled by a professionjal driver. Meals and lodging were quite good, particularly for a tour following less-travelled roads. The back-roads tour format offered engaging scenery and close-up experiences throughout the day, not just focused on the destination. Individual needs were accomodated without hesitation.

Wonderful trip enjoyed it very much. The guide was very knowledgeable about British history, I learned a lot and saw many sights I have always wanted to see. Thank you

Our guide. Allan, was very informative throughout the tour, about the accommodation, about the areas we were going to visit, and during the walking tours we had. He was very helpful with sorting out any problems that passengers might have had with their luggage, accommodation, getting information about the areas we were travelling to, etc. Carl was a very good driver, had good knowledge of moving safely through back roads in the areas we travelled through. We went through some beautiful countryside, and there was so much to see and do.

Great tour! Lots of beautiful scenery interesting locations. Small villages and major cities, all great. Small group was great! Accommodations were lovely. Tour guide and driver were terrific! All in all a great experience!

Our tour guide Tony Wade pass on a lot of information about all the places we visited and our driver Gordon an excellent driver.
We purchase our tour thru our Travel agent Donna Occhipinti Travel Management She highly recommend Back Roads

Good tour leader, knowledgeable

Great overview and enjoyed a number of spontaneous side trips alongside formal itinerary. A lot of thought and planning went into each day. The Beatles museum was my least favourite and overall I don’t think other tour members thought it was a useful stop.

The whole tour was excellent

I thought it was a good value holiday. It showed some of the many secrets of the history of Britain which I was fascinated with. The tour and accomodation was of very good standard and met my requirements for this type of holiday.

The parts of England covered were very interesting and the group size was good and the meals and accommodation were generally very good

Boring. While the leader has an exceptional knowledge, I am more a photo opportunist.

covered a lot of ground. Could have been more of scotland

Excellent tour guide, Caroline! She kept us all informed, checked on us, planned our days carefully and was an all around terrific guide. Ash, our driver, was excellent as well. We definitely took the backroads and it was all the more fun because of it.

A bit too much driving time in the last 3 days probably could have been a day longer

Had a ball, so much information, saw things i would normally not visit.

Not at a leisurely pace , dirty coach The Churchill Hotel accomodation appalling, the travel to Liverpool to see the Beatles WHY ? Lot of effort for ( driving ) a waste of time. Do tour guides need to be a history teacher 3 to 4 hours a day bit over the top

Fantastic itinerary, we were very lucky to have a tour guide John a Ancient History teacher who just knew so much and was very entertaining. Fantastic driver Rob that treated us like a member of his family.

Best tour by far and our leader Carolyn and driver Gordon first class.

good value for money and stress free travel with professionals

Accommodation varied. Would prefer similar each night. showers over bath not suitable for seniors and they were slippery with no rail to hold onto.

I thought York was a beautiful town, and learnt a lot about it.

Exactly what I expected , beautiful scenery

I loved it all! The driver and tour guides were terrific!

Top tour, great sights and. Places visited

Good value for travels undertaken. Convenient and comfortable.

It was easy to book through the travel agent and appeared good value for money.

Excellent director and bus driver who both made experience enjoyable

Excellent tour guide and fantastic bus driver, both so helpful.
Great itinerary, we visited some great places.

A good experience of diverse England with amazing locations to explore

Accomodation should be better and more free time.

Loved what we seen and visited

Places visited true representation of Britain. Shabby s knowledge provided good background to places visited.

The tour was the perfect length of time to experience lots of different people and places without feeling too rushed at any point. Our Tour Leader, Shabby, was fantastic - incredibly knowledgeable and well organised, but also loads of fun and energy. The accommodation was also excellent and in some places exceptional. Everyone on the tour had a great time and we are still in contact.

For all the reasons already listed

Overall good value for the money.

Very diverse range of sights and a really good tour guide to link it all together

Loved the alternate options available each day. The diverse knowledge woven through each day was so much appreciated

Exceptional tour guide, van driver, fellow tour members, itinerary, hotels and restaurants!

See my earlier comments.
We spent for too much time at places of little interest, whilst our stops at places of real interest were rushed and inadequate. Our tour guide was more interested in airing her own views than in conveying information, and constantly delivered misinformation, only to have to correct it moments later, after conferring with our bus driver, who, incidentally, did a sterling job, competent, tireless and very professional.

Got to see lots of the countryside (I love scenery). Plenty of distance covered without feeling rushed.

Excellent spots visited and a mix of grand homes, museums, gardens, quaint pubs. Accomodation mostly good

Good value for the money.

Excellent Tour Guide, itinerary and accommodation. Shabby our tour guide was knowledgeable, entertaining, organised and caring. I loved its insight into Welsh, English and Scottish lives. Museums, Gallwries,Historic Houses and excursions were well chosen and planned.

Everything was great, loved every day.

Tour guide was amazing 11/10

Good itinerary, but dependent upon guide for what is highlighted.

Excellent Trip. Exceeded expectations.

We liked the places that the tour traveled to and what they had to offer. Two memorable places were Castle Howard and Wensleydale Cheese Factory. We also liked that we went into Liverpool and were able to tour The Beatles Museum.
The starting and finishing venues worked well for us. A little criticism would be at a couple of places we visited we could have had more time and at a few others we could have had less time.

Fair price. Trip was as advertised.

Excellent route / destination choices, and where admission tickets were required, they we're always accurately pre-arranged. I now have a much greater grasp of the UK and particularly enjoyed traveling on back roads and the interesting places our small Mercedes bus traveled. Smaller town unique and independent hotels were overall quite good and dining at local pubs was fun. Plus the five group dinners were done very well, especially the Scottish bag pipe major who entertained us.

Felt like it was good value for the money.

We felt that our money was well spent. Some hotels were better than others, but that is always the case. The included dinners were very tasty and the tours and locations were beautiful.

Nice .. scenery great.. driver did excellent job

Good service, accommodation and food. Using the back road allowed me to see the part of the country I won't have otherwise experience.

We not only saw what was on itinerary but also heaps more as well, travelling on back roads enabled us to see a lot of the country side

We covered a lot of counties and engaged in local activities and heritage localities

The accommodation provided ranged from excellent to average. Some of the hotel rooms had noisy locations; were overheated or the meal service provided was terrible - one evening meals took 2.5 hours!

Hard to get information pre-tour as to where exactly we were going. Rather vague info

Excellent overview of Britain!

Great accommodation excellent guide and brilliant driver

We covered a huge amount of ground and thoroughly enjoyed every activity. The bus was compact but comfortable and allowed us to take many scenic back roads which was perfect.

Highly recommend this tour for a comprehensive look at the highlights

Our Highlights of Britain was the experience of a lifetime. We really travelled down many backroads, seeing places most tourists would only dream of. Our tour leader & driver were a fantastic team who made the trip so memorable. I can’t wait to travel with Backroads again.

Visited contrasting places. A small group made it very accessible to get around.

Tour leader Rachel was highly organised, very knowledgeable and related very well to the individual needs and wants of our group. Doug, our driver, aside from being a skilled driver, was an entertaining conversationalist, with lots of stories of his experiences.

Well organised, great accomodation and a wonderful guide in Giovanni

Interesting, great views from each seat on the bus, informative and caring guide and driver. Loved the little extra stops that always had something more or unusual. Not fast paced but that was good, it gave you time to yourself as well as being part of a group.

Lack of tours and information due to Bus audio, only two tours included. Which we were unable to hear and cut short due to others not being able to keep up

Tour included lots of scenic stops, and added bonuses. The inns and hotels we stayed at were lovely.

It was easy. We were well informed from start to finish.

The food and lodging were good for the most part.

Expensive but worth the price for smaller group and wonderful array of meaningful experiences.

Locations were excellent symbols of British life and locations. Only location I could have done without was Liverpool.