OLD MARYLEBONE - Psst! Read on...
Shane - Khartoum, Sudan
April 2009
I've been procrastinating for a year now about taking a walk, but when the sun came out today, I grabbed the chance. At the beginning I thought it was going to be boring as there was so much about architecture and Octavia Hill whom I'd never heard of. However as it went on, strands started to come together and all the little anecdotes livened it up. After Helena's talk about the paintings in the Wallace Collection, I didn't really want to spend a hurried 20 minutes looking at them I'd rather come baqck another time alone. I tried to find somewhere to grab something to nibble on as I'd not had lunch before setting out, but couldn't find anything, so concentration lapsed again. In spite of that it was enjoyable and time well spent.
Joel - New York, USA
August 2007
I did this walk on a Saturday afternoon in November 2002 with Margaret as the guide. It was a wonderfully historic, atmospheric walk. I enjoyed stopping into the Wallace Collection during the walk. My only (minor) complaint was that the walk was a bit long - 2 1/2 hours and by the time we reached the last point (Regents Park) we spent more time then I could concentrate listening to the different architecture (I just wanted to hop on the tube at Baker Street and relax, by that time we were a bit jaded. Neverthelesss it was an excellent walk and I felt what it must have been like in the Regency and early Victorian period. I would recommend this walk to anyone who wants to spend a productive Saturday afternoon going back into a different era.
Sara Casey - St. Louis, Missouri USA
July 2007
This is the 3rd time I have been to London for short periods of time and I have been on at least 5 walks with your company. I have been impressed with each one and I would recommend them to anyone who wants to get a better understanding of London.
Carole Sanford - Huntingdon
April 2007
This was my first London Walk and I didn't really know what to expect. I did, however, expect to be walking a bit further!
The information given by the guide, Sue, was really interesting although she didn't seem too keen to talk about anything 'off script'.
I would recomend London Walks to others and would do another one, although I think I would prefer to do a self guide walk so that I could cover a greater distance in the same time.
 
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Hi Carole,
 
It's David here. I'll have a word with Sue about where she ends her version of the Old Marylebone walk. I say "her version" because every guide is different, every guide will do a walk at least slightly differently from every other guide. The idea is that they "make it their own" - as opposed to memorising a set script.
 
That said, certainly when Tom and I laid that walk out - put shoe leather to pavement to see what was there and how it could be done - it wasn't by any means a "compact" walk. Indeed, we were slightly concerned that maybe it would be covering too much ground, what with a Bond Street Tube start and a Regent's Park finish (for that vantage point that gives you "a definition of civilisation in a single view").
 
Now it's possible that for her Old Marylebone Walk Sue has shortened the thing up a bit, distance-wise. As I said, until I've talked this over with her I can't really say.

The other thing in relation to all of this, though, is that what we specialise in - what London Walks does is give you a really in-depth look at any given neighbourhood. If you put it in foot race terms, we're certainly not a sprint...the 100 metre event we most definitely ain't. Nor are we a long distance job - i.e., 10,000 metres (or a marathon) we ain't. We're middle distance, so to speak. We get you over enough ground so that you feel that you have done some walking, but not so much that you're shattered at walk's end.
 
And it's always a question of trying to get the balance right between distance covered and information imparted. And indeed making it do-able for any and all comers, whether they're "marathon-fit" or "super adults" (over 65s).
 
You mentioned that it was your first London Walk. We do have a couple  of walks that are "starter walks", so to speak. I'm referring to The London Walk - Westminster & the West End; The London Walk - St. Paul's to the Tower of London; and This Is London - the Flash Bang Lightning Highlights Tour! They were designed specifically for "newbies". They're really the walking tour equivalent of a bus tour of London. Well not quite the "equivalent"  because we can of course go where buses can't go - i.e., across parks and through squares and up little alleyways and through arcades and along little soigne lanes, etc. But in the sense that they're slightly more "highlights", "big picture" orientated they probably do cover a bit more ground. So you see more in one sense. But less in another - because they don't drill down quite as deeply as I suspect Sue was probably doing there in the heart of Old Marylebone on the Saturday in question.
 
It's really horses for courses, to coin a phrase. In which connection - we're always very happy to talk things over with people - make some recommendations, etc. - so it becomes that much more of a personalised, "tailored" package. But you have to put the ball in our court to start wtih - give us a ring or drop us an email and tell us what you're interested in and what you're hoping to get from a walk, etc. etc.
 
Anyway, thanks for writing. This is exactly what we were hoping to get from this new "functionality" - i.e., get a colloquy going from time to time.