And to see it with a great guide (Karen, for example, winner of the Guide of the Year Award, Travel & Leisure’s“World’s Greatest Guide,” Presenter of Discovery TV’s London Next Stop) is to have that past suddenly rise to the surface, like seeing a photographic print come up in a darkroom.
It doesn’t get any better than this. Embarras de richesse, we’ll also explore the private face of Westminster – the London equivalent of Georgetown.
Unlike the tourist hordes who never find them, we get to see the hidden and ever so picturesque Georgian back streets where all the political salons are! We end very near the Cabinet War Rooms, the fortified bunker that housed Winston Churchill’s centre of operations during the war. N.B. So, yes, the walk ends very near Parliament Square, just a stone’s throw from Westminster Tube. Want a preview of the walk? Click here to watch the video.
OLD WESTMINSTER – THE PRACTICALS
Old Westminster takes placeTuesday at 2 pm,Thursday at 2pm, andSaturday at 11 am.
The meeting point is just outside St James’ Park tube Station, the Broadway/Westminster Abbey opposite the Conrad Hotel
The Tuesday at 2 pm walk is guided by actor Oliver(the David Niven of London Walks) or Guide of the Year Award-winningJudyor Isobel (Isobel’s another award-winning Blue Badge guide). It’s Shaughan or David at the helm on the Thursdays at 2 pm walk. The Saturdays at 11 am walk is guided by Karen, recently crowned by Travel & Leisure as “the world’s greatest guide.
THE WEATHER – WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
“In four decades of guiding I’ve never once taken an umbrella;* it doesn’t rain on my walks” – David, the Seigneur of this favoured realm [London Walks].
London Weather Facts: Jerusalem, Gibraltar, Rome, Rhodes, etc. all get more rainfall than London. Precipitation-wise, London is one of the driest cities on earth.
You want a European city that does get (just slightly) less rain than London, Sevilla’s your ciudad. The line on Sevilla and rain is: “rainfall in Sevilla isn’t abundant and it’s concentrated;” by the same token the line on London and the wet stuff should be “rainfall in London isn’t abundant and it isn’t concentrated.”
Bottom line: Don’t let the rain bogeyman call the shots. Send him packing. He’s all hat and no cattle, as they say in Texas.
Ok, we get the occasional mizzle but it’s easily seen off. A brolly – which I (David) refuse to carry – does the trick every time. And as long as you’re at it, always allow for the lost in translation factor: on the other side of the Atlantic the word ‘rain’ = rain; over here the word ‘rain’ = damp; or a mizzle.**
Cue tag team London Walks moment: “I divorced weather forecasts five years ago. It’s like being unchained from a lunatic. You might as well look at a horoscope as pay any heed to UK weather forecasts” (London Walks guide, Adam, Visit England Superstar Finalist 2022).
*Historically, the British public regarded the idea of not getting soaked when it’s pissing it down as ‘too French’, with accounts saying we called people a ‘mincing Frenchman’ if they were caught using an umbrella.
**A mizzle does not pleasure and pain make, let alone a downpour [‘pleasure and pain’ is Cockney rhyming slang for ‘rain’]
LONDON WALKS REVIEWS
“Best Tourism Experience in London” Gold Medal Winner, Visit London
“The best walks are conducted by London Walks” Toronto Globe & Mail
“The best walking tours are organized by London Walks” USA Today
“London Walks was acknowledged as the premier walking tour company in the entire world“American Tour Guides Convention
“The original and best – there are several companies offering walking tours of London but London Walks (London’s oldest) is easily the pick of the bunch” London, Cadogan Guide
If you can’t make one of the regularly scheduled, just-turn-up, Old Westminster Walking Tour it can always be booked as a private tour. If you go private you can have the Old Westminster Walking Tour walk – or any other London Walk – on a day and at a time that suits your convenience. We’ll tailor it to your requirements. Ring Fiona or Mary on 020 7624 3978 or email us at [email protected] and we’ll set it up and make it happen for you. A private London Walk – they’re good value for an individual or couple and sensational value for a group – makes an ideal group or educational or birthday party or office (team-building) or club outing.
GIVE THE GIFT OF LONDON WALKS
A private London Walk makes a fab gift – be it a birthday or anniversary or Christmas present or whatever. Merchandise schmerchandise (gift wrapped or not) – but giving someone an experience, now that’s special. Memories make us rich.
Oh yes take this walk. David our guide was excellent. Humerous, knowledgeable entertaining and for someone who has lived in London for 50 years revealed much that I simply was not aware of………brilliant and taking in parts of Westminster that I simply did not know existed. This really was good and the the benefits of a gentle stroll with a purpose must be good for one’s wellbeing!
Rated 5 out of 5
Sachin Tewari –
This walk helps you see Westminster with its historical context, how it started and how it led up to the present. The area is densely packed with history, thus the physical walk is not a lot but it teaches you a lot about Britain. David is a great guide as always (highly recommend his Hampstead walk). One suggestion to those interested in this walk, try going on a non eventful day as the area is already pretty crowded with tourists and any special event will just make things more noisier.
Rated 5 out of 5
Jacomien –
As Holland, we dit the Old Westminster Tour on Saturday April 15th with Simon (who skipped his eggs and bacon to fill in for a colleague), and it was absolutely amazing! The funny details, the enthousiasm and the pretty sights were very much enjoyed. Thanks!
Rated 5 out of 5
Kayleigh –
We thoroughly enjoyed the Old Westminster walking tour today, Simon was an incredible guide, full of knowledge, passionate and inspiring to listen to! We learnt so much. A huge thanks and highly recommend!
Rated 5 out of 5
Rosemary Hamilton –
I had a great tour ‘Old Westminster’ with Simon this morning. He was very informative with plenty of interesting stories. Definitely recommend going on this walk.
Rated 5 out of 5
Rachel –
What an interesting and most enjoyable guided tour. We did the 11am Old Westminster Tour with Simon as our guide which I would highly recommend.
Rated 5 out of 5
Sangita Chari –
The walk with David was well worth the money. Me and my teenage kids learned a ton about the contemporary history of the area. It made what they learned in school come alive and really transformed my appreciation of the Westminster area. Thoroughly recommend for anyone looking to understand the importance of Westminster to England.
Rated 5 out of 5
Rishi –
Simon did our tour and I was riveted by his compelling delivery and incredible wit! He made British history interesting even for those of us who knew little about it. I highly recommend Simon and this company too.
David Tucker –
Hi Jennifer,
David here. Thanks very much for your review, both the praise and the bit of disappointment you felt about not going into the Abbey or Parliament. As for visiting the Abbey, we have a dedicated Westminster Abbey Tour. You can’t begin to do justice to the Abbey in less than two hours. You wouldn’t have been “a little disappointed” – you would have been seething with rage if I’d had you cough up the price of admission for entry to the Abbey and then taken you in there for all of fifteen minutes. That’s the worst of all possible worlds. Mea culpa if I didn’t mention to you that you can go into the Abbey after the walk for free to attend the Evensong service – but that has strict limitations, you can’t walk around, can’t explore the Abbey. I’m afraid the only way of doing it and doing justice to it – and feeling good about it – is to go on the dedicated Abbey Tour. And at walk’s end it would have been possible – providing the House was sitting – to go into the public gallery of the House of Commons. N.B. you often have to queue unless you go quite late in the day or indeed in the evening, so, as with a visit to the Abbey in the time frame of the walk, a major detour like that would not have been a good use of your time given that you were on a walking tour of “Old Westminster”, both its public and private faces (and spaces). 90 percent of what we did and saw on the tour would have been “out of reach”, so to speak, if, during the tour, we’d gone into “the Stranger’s Gallery”, as the public galleries used to be known.
All things considered, all of that is a plus not a minus. It’s the best possible use of your time – if you’re so inclined – to go on the tour and then head off for the Evensong Service or the Strangers’ Gallery. They dovetail perfectly.
Finally, and also for the record, I’m a dual national. Have been here for 50 years, though, yes, I’ve still got the chewy dipthongs. An Israeli linguist – bless her heart – once said to me, “it’s a sign of good character that you’ve held on to your accent, it means you’re comfortable in your own skin.”
Rated 5 out of 5
Jennifer –
David’s knowledge of English history is very impressive, especially for an American! I was a little disappointed that we didn’t go into Parliament or Westminister Abbey however. I thought that was part of the walk. Regardless, it was a very interesting tour of the neigborhood behind Parliament and Westminister Abbey.
Rowland Jefferys –
Oh yes take this walk. David our guide was excellent. Humerous, knowledgeable entertaining and for someone who has lived in London for 50 years revealed much that I simply was not aware of………brilliant and taking in parts of Westminster that I simply did not know existed. This really was good and the the benefits of a gentle stroll with a purpose must be good for one’s wellbeing!
Sachin Tewari –
This walk helps you see Westminster with its historical context, how it started and how it led up to the present. The area is densely packed with history, thus the physical walk is not a lot but it teaches you a lot about Britain. David is a great guide as always (highly recommend his Hampstead walk). One suggestion to those interested in this walk, try going on a non eventful day as the area is already pretty crowded with tourists and any special event will just make things more noisier.
Jacomien –
As Holland, we dit the Old Westminster Tour on Saturday April 15th with Simon (who skipped his eggs and bacon to fill in for a colleague), and it was absolutely amazing! The funny details, the enthousiasm and the pretty sights were very much enjoyed. Thanks!
Kayleigh –
We thoroughly enjoyed the Old Westminster walking tour today, Simon was an incredible guide, full of knowledge, passionate and inspiring to listen to! We learnt so much. A huge thanks and highly recommend!
Rosemary Hamilton –
I had a great tour ‘Old Westminster’ with Simon this morning. He was very informative with plenty of interesting stories. Definitely recommend going on this walk.
Rachel –
What an interesting and most enjoyable guided tour. We did the 11am Old Westminster Tour with Simon as our guide which I would highly recommend.
Sangita Chari –
The walk with David was well worth the money. Me and my teenage kids learned a ton about the contemporary history of the area. It made what they learned in school come alive and really transformed my appreciation of the Westminster area. Thoroughly recommend for anyone looking to understand the importance of Westminster to England.
Rishi –
Simon did our tour and I was riveted by his compelling delivery and incredible wit! He made British history interesting even for those of us who knew little about it. I highly recommend Simon and this company too.
David Tucker –
Hi Jennifer,
David here. Thanks very much for your review, both the praise and the bit of disappointment you felt about not going into the Abbey or Parliament. As for visiting the Abbey, we have a dedicated Westminster Abbey Tour. You can’t begin to do justice to the Abbey in less than two hours. You wouldn’t have been “a little disappointed” – you would have been seething with rage if I’d had you cough up the price of admission for entry to the Abbey and then taken you in there for all of fifteen minutes. That’s the worst of all possible worlds. Mea culpa if I didn’t mention to you that you can go into the Abbey after the walk for free to attend the Evensong service – but that has strict limitations, you can’t walk around, can’t explore the Abbey. I’m afraid the only way of doing it and doing justice to it – and feeling good about it – is to go on the dedicated Abbey Tour. And at walk’s end it would have been possible – providing the House was sitting – to go into the public gallery of the House of Commons. N.B. you often have to queue unless you go quite late in the day or indeed in the evening, so, as with a visit to the Abbey in the time frame of the walk, a major detour like that would not have been a good use of your time given that you were on a walking tour of “Old Westminster”, both its public and private faces (and spaces). 90 percent of what we did and saw on the tour would have been “out of reach”, so to speak, if, during the tour, we’d gone into “the Stranger’s Gallery”, as the public galleries used to be known.
All things considered, all of that is a plus not a minus. It’s the best possible use of your time – if you’re so inclined – to go on the tour and then head off for the Evensong Service or the Strangers’ Gallery. They dovetail perfectly.
Finally, and also for the record, I’m a dual national. Have been here for 50 years, though, yes, I’ve still got the chewy dipthongs. An Israeli linguist – bless her heart – once said to me, “it’s a sign of good character that you’ve held on to your accent, it means you’re comfortable in your own skin.”
Jennifer –
David’s knowledge of English history is very impressive, especially for an American! I was a little disappointed that we didn’t go into Parliament or Westminister Abbey however. I thought that was part of the walk. Regardless, it was a very interesting tour of the neigborhood behind Parliament and Westminister Abbey.