Exploring London's Walks Tours with Ground Operations Manager Charley Bennett

In episode 84 of the UK Travel Planning Podcast Tracy is joined by Charley Bennett, the ground operations manager for Walks Tours in London. Charley shares her extensive background in travel and working in the tour industry. 

She discusses what makes Walks Tours special, their small group philosophy, and exclusive access to iconic sites.

Charley highlights some of Walks Tours' most popular tours in London, including the "London in a Day" tour, the Ceremony of the Keys at the Tower of London and the Westminster Abbey with Jubilee Galleries Tour. This episode also unveils 2 new tours for 2024. The Harry Potter and Warner Studios tour launched on January 20th and a new Buckingham Palace tour is launching in March.

Tracy and Charley end the episode with a valuable tip for first-time visitors to London. (Stay tuned for next week's reflection on Walks Tours experiences by Tracy and Doug in episode 85!)

Guest - Charley Bennett from Walks Tours
Show Notes - Episode 84

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:03

Welcome to the UK Travel Planning Podcast. Your host is the founder of the UK Travel Planning website, tracey Collins. In this podcast, tracey shares destination guides, travel tips and itinerary ideas, as well as interviews with a variety of guests who share their knowledge and experience of UK travel to help you plan your perfect UK vacation. Join us as we explore the UK from cosmopolitan cities to quaint villages, from historic castles to beautiful islands, and from the picturesque countryside to seaside towns.

Speaker 2: 0:43

Hi and welcome to episode 84 of the UK Travel Planning Podcast this week. I'm totally over the moon and really excited to be able to welcome guest Charlie Bennett. Now Charlie is the Ground Operations Manager for Walks Turs in London and, as I'm sure you will know if you've listened to previous podcast episodes, I'm a huge fan of Walks Turs and I've been lucky to have been on lots of their tours in London and around the world and absolutely love them, which is why it is super exciting for me to have Charlie on the podcast this week to share all about Walks Turs in London. The first thing I asked Charlie to do was to introduce herself and tell us a little about her background.

Speaker 3: 1:25

Of course. Thanks for having me, tracey. It's pleasure to be here and to talk about Walks and London and what we've got coming up for finish year. So a little bit about my background.

Speaker 3: 1:34

I actually had the travel bug since a very, very young age. My mum and dad would always say I've got ants in my pants because I could never keep still and I just wanted to go everywhere all the time. But I started very differently. I was actually a professional dancer for 18 years and I travelled on cruise ships around the world for 10 years. So that kind of really got me into the whole love of travel and seeing new places and bringing places to life, and I did a lot of the shore excursions on board. So I got to see how everything was being guided and all these magnificent places that sometimes you completely forget about when you actually go to places.

Speaker 3: 2:15

But my body decided to give up at me back in 2014 and I needed a new venture. But I loved performing and I loved travels. I needed to try and combine the two for myself. So I ended up becoming a tour guide myself and I was leading groups of 40 around the British Isles on a small ship. Oh wow, which was fabulous. We started down in Wales and we went all the way to Tresco and the Isles of Silly up to Dublin, northern Ireland, and then all around Scotland and it was wonderful and I did that for about three years.

Speaker 3: 2:52

And then I got itchy feet again, which is very much like me, and I wanted to push myself a little bit further. So I was offered the role of program services manager with the same company and I began hiring, training and supporting new tour guides and tour leaders on the tours that we had around the UK. I did that for about two years and then progressed even further and became country manager. So I was then in charge of the whole operation of developing the tours, supporting program services managers in guide training and making sure the overall quality of the tours was up to the par that we wanted.

Speaker 3: 3:32

Covid hit and then the company decided to move their office up to Glasgow, so for me was a little bit of a trek from the southeast all the way up. So I found a new venture and started with walks in July 2022, which was the best move I've ever made. I love working with this company. They really treat you as part of a family and that's what I love about it Everyone's always there from you, we're always sharing best practice, and it really is a fabulous company to work for.

Speaker 2: 4:07

That leads me into kind of interrupting a little bit there, charlie. But I love walks. I love working with walks as well, because I've been so lucky to have been on so many of the tours and I love working with everybody in the company because they are fantastic, so professional, so friendly, so knowledgeable. So what is it that makes them so special for the people who are booking tours with walks? I think one of the biggest things is our philosophy really.

Speaker 3: 4:35

You know, you see so many of the coach tours, bus tours, etc. But for us, you know, the one thing we always say is the best way to travel is to walk. You see everything, you get to meet people, you can hear stories, you can take your time looking at things. You find those hidden gems that you know you wouldn't see if you were just driving around. And we do very carefully plan the itineraries that we put together. I think one big thing as well is we only do small groups, so we only ever have a maximum group size of 20.

Speaker 3: 5:10

We really try and make those extra special memories by giving an exclusive feel to our tours. So we really try and give special access to as many of the most iconic sites as we can. So that could be Skip the Line, which is where we skip the public line, and we go in sort of round the back and get in a lot quicker before it gets too busy, beat the crowds. So again, we go in at the same time, but we try and get to these, the areas before all the crowds hit. And of course, out of Hours Access is one of the highlights for a lot of our tours.

Speaker 2: 5:47

Oh yeah, totally Definitely vouch for that for a couple of very special tours that I've done in London.

Speaker 3: 5:56

Yeah, it definitely makes a difference when you can go in without the public there, without the crowds, and it makes the places come alive in my eyes.

Speaker 2: 6:06

Oh no, 100%, 100%, I have to say, and everybody is listening to this podcast, that's, listen to Episode 64, the podcast where I talk about my favourite experiences in London last year in June. We'll know just how much I love the ceremony of the keys and I know we're going to talk about that a little bit later and everybody who's been on that tour actually the feedback that I've had and I know that you get is it is so special Just having the Tower of London basically to yourself, a few other people, and having your own Newman water as well, which is amazing, just makes that fantastic and that's what that, in a nutshell, is just so special and walks can offer you that.

Speaker 3: 6:48

Yeah, yeah, and that's why what we try and do with a lot of our tours and we're very careful with the guides we choose as well. So we do use a lot of blue badge licensed guides and they they've gone through a very rigorous training to become these guides and the majority of our tours are led by them, because they're not there to give a lecture and it's not a scripted tour. You know they are educators, they are storytellers and they just want to share their passion with everyone that comes on the tours. So we really do carefully plan all the itinerary and the guides that we use, but it makes you guys stand out, because it is a very competitive industry, isn't it?

Speaker 3: 7:32

Oh, very much so. I mean, at the moment we're we're running in over 14 cities and counting. We're still growing and we have with us over 600 guides across the globe. It's wonderful to see that, even after everything we've been through the last few years, everything is still growing and we are really, really hitting our feet.

Speaker 2: 7:52

That's great. So it's not only surviving, but it's thriving. You're thriving as well, which which actually kind of speaks for itself in terms of the quality of the tours that you guys offer, really. So should we talk about some of the most popular tours in London?

Speaker 3: 8:06

Yes, definitely. Well, when I started back in 22, we only had four tours. We were only running four tours in the city and it was it was me and the team that we needed to bring London back. London needed to come back to life for walks and, with a lot of redevelopment over the winter of 2022, we're now running with 11 tours in London, so we've done a big jump from not having a lot to now running our feet off.

Speaker 3: 8:36

But, yes, I mean, some of the most popular tours we have and I could recommend this to any first time that come to London as well is our full London in a day. It's a full tour. It is an eight hour tour, but you really do get to see the most iconic sites of London. So it starts at 9am with a skip the line entrance into Westminster Abbey. You get about an hour and a half in the Abbey with Blue Badge Guide.

Speaker 3: 9:06

You then head up to see the most iconic building, buckingham Palace, which is only an exterior view, but you get to watch guard change happen, which happens four days a week, and then you're head down to the horse cars parade, where you'll see those the horsemen change over and then have lunch in Trafalgar Square. And then my favorite part is you actually get to take a river cruise with city cruises up to the Tower of London, so you get to see more of the iconic sites as you're going up the river and then you finish with a an hour and a half tour in the Tower of London. So it's a good. You do a good lot of walking, but for the first time in London it's one of the best ways to see the whole of London in one day. It really is.

Speaker 2: 9:58

It sounds excellent. I actually haven't done that one. I have done Paris in a day and I did Athens in a day as well, and I can vouch for the fact that it gives you a great taste for the main sites that everybody wants to see when you go. So you know Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, you see the changing of the guard. Going on a boat trip along the Thames is to say it's a fantastic way to see London from a different perspective, and then the Tower of London. So you really do kind of cram all those main things into that day. So that's a great way for somebody to spend a short time in the capital or wanting to kind of hit all the main sites and kind of digest them in a day, Exactly.

Speaker 3: 10:36

Exactly, and you know, if that isn't what you want to do, if you wanted to focus on one. We have our amazing complete Tower with with River Cruise, which takes in the opening ceremony, which for me was when I first saw it kind of blew me away. I never even knew it happened. So you know we go in before the crowds, so there's us, maybe two or two other tool groups as well, and it's just us stood while they actually take the keys and open the Tower of London. It's something quite amazing. And then you get first access to the Crown Jewels before the crowds, which if you've been to the Tower of London and you've had to stand in the queues for the Crown Jewels, you know this is absolutely one of the most amazing experiences to have the special access to get in before the Crown Jewels.

Speaker 2: 11:29

Again, I can say 100%. I've done that to a couple of times as well. Love that, love the fact that you're in the Tower of London before anybody else. And also, I think, the last time Doug and I were the first two people to walk in to see the Crown Jewels and we went round that travel aid and looked at the Crown Jewels. A number of times Now I've been the Crown, I've been the Tower of London loads of times, but you know what it was great without the crowds, busy, you know, just to be able to do it.

Speaker 2: 11:55

Yeah, I've been able to. I'm going to go round and have another look at this. Massive, massive diamonds and gorgeous jewels. Yeah, and no queue. And you know, when you, once everybody gets in the Tower of London, it just goes crazy busy.

Speaker 3: 12:07

And I think the nicest thing with this tour as well is, again, you've got your own blue badge guide. So, as much as sometimes we are restricted on, you know the areas blue badge guides can can guide in in the Tower. They are the only people, apart from the Yoma Warders, that are allowed to, so you really do get a true insight and understanding of what the Tower was. You know it was a zoo at one point, which a lot of people don't know about, and the guides will really go into depth with these stories, which which will bring it to life for them. Oh yeah, 100%. Another one that that I absolutely love is the Westminster Abbey and Diamond Jubilee Galleries.

Speaker 3: 12:50

This one is one of my favorites, obviously. Her Majesty passed last, last year, the year before Gosh that's gone fast, isn't it? And the Diamond Jubilee Galleries were opened up after her death for public view and a lot of people don't know that they're actually there, but they're right at the very top of the West Wing of Westminster Abbey and with this tour the complete Westminster Abbey and Diamond Jubilee Galleries you get a full tour of Westminster Abbey and then you get a full 45 minutes to an hour upstairs in the galleries where you can find the wedding certificate of William and Kate, lots of all the clothing that the Queen used to wear, some of the models of the palace and the Abbey, of how they they were deemed back in the days, and it really is an exclusive visit. It's unbelievable.

Speaker 2: 13:41

Oh yeah, I did do that to last June as well and I loved it. I've never been up there. I didn't even know what was up there. We had the guide. She was explaining you know, lots of the different things that are up there. It was fascinating. It's like in Aladdin's cave up there. It really is. So you know, if you plan to go to Westminster Abbey, do this tour and also go to the Jubilee Galleries, because it is such a special experience.

Speaker 3: 14:06

And Churchill War rooms. If you're really into your World War II history, we really do recommend this tour. We take you on a walk around some of Churchill's hidden gems so we show you where he used to buy his his romper suit. We take you where he buys his cigars and where he used to sort of hang out when he was younger, and it's a wonderful insight into his life and into how World War II really affected London and changed London. And you finish off with a tour inside the war rooms. Now, this hasn't got any special access, unfortunately. The war rooms don't don't tend to do this. So you know we do get there at a decent time where we don't have to queue very long and we go in. You get your audio guide inside, but our guide will also be there to help with any questions and to point you in the right directions, and it really is one of those tours that opens your eyes to things that maybe a lot of people don't know about Churchill and, of course, world War II.

Speaker 2: 15:11

I haven't done that one. I need to do that one. I think, Charlie, I think you do.

Speaker 3: 15:15

I think there's a few you need to do now.

Speaker 2: 15:17

Absolutely. I'm going to say one. I will mention that you haven't brought up yet, but you probably are about to, so I probably preempted you. It's the Westminster Abbey with the House of the Parliament, so it's a really interesting tour, that one. We were absolutely fascinated because we'd seen the House of Commons, the House of Lords, on the TV, but actually standing in those rooms was quite incredible.

Speaker 3: 15:36

It is a lovely tour and it really it kind of it links two very, very iconic buildings in one area. People talk about Parliament Square and they think it's just Westminster Abbey, but there's so much more to it. And having your license guide around Westminster Abbey and you get a lovely hour and a half in the Abbey, then you get taken into Parliament and we switch the guides over so you actually get a proper House of the Parliament tour guide and he or she will just bring Parliament to life. But to see the areas of Parliament that you only see on TV, to stand there and actually really understand how things work and what everything means in there is it really is something quite magnificent.

Speaker 2: 16:27

Definitely, definitely, and I don't know if you're saving the best to last or my favorite to last.

Speaker 3: 16:34

I think I am the ceremony of the keys. Of course I haven't got to mention this one. This one is my absolute favorite tour that we have and it is a real exclusive for walks. Not many tour companies, in fact very few tour companies, are able to do this, but we have our ceremony of the keys, which is our after hours tour at the Tower of London. It starts at 8.30 pm and the most amazing thing about it is there is not one other group from the public in the Tower of London which is I don't think you ever thought you would get.

Speaker 3: 17:16

You're led by Yeoman Warden themselves. So it could be a Yeoman Warden or it could be the Raven Master, which we've had on few occasions, but they will really take you around the exterior of the Tower of London. So you won't go into any of the towers, but they will give you a real insight into what life is like as a Yeoman Warden. But what life is like living in the Tower of London, you get exclusive access into the chapel, which I know for you, Tracey, was a big, big highlight.

Speaker 2: 17:49

Huge, huge for me. I absolutely loved that. It was incredible, absolutely incredible. I never thought I'd have the opportunity to do that and also just having the stories from the Yeoman Wardens and telling us the history and so much more. They said they could tell us, so much more than obviously they can when they do the free tours during the day, when there's so many people that they could actually answer our individual questions, point different things out to us. It was absolutely fantastic. And the last tour that I did actually and I'm sure people will maybe have heard that there's a new kitten in the Tower of London Well, the new kitten belongs to him and he was telling us some stories about her and what she was getting up to, which was really cool, but it just felt so much more personal as well. I've been in the Tower of London so many times, but I feel like I know some of the Yeoman Wardens really well now.

Speaker 3: 18:43

That's exactly it, and it's hard to imagine that this ceremony has been taking place for 700 years now, every single night without fail. And to be there and to witness this and to have your name put on a book to say that you were there to witness the ceremony of the keys is I mean, it's priceless. It really is, so 100% recommend this tour to anyone.

Speaker 2: 19:10

Absolutely, and I tell everybody about it because I just loved it. I'd go every night if I could. I'd like to aim to meet every Yeoman Warden that would be good.

Speaker 3: 19:20

That would be good. There you go. There's your bucket list of 2024.

Speaker 2: 19:24

Absolutely Go meet every single one because they're just fascinating to talk to and they're all different. They all have a different perspective, they all come from the different backgrounds and it's just great and I know everyone because I've done the tour twice. Now I've been really lucky to have done the tour twice and I know everybody that has done those tours have absolutely loved it.

Speaker 3: 19:44

Good, now, hopefully this will encourage more people to come and join these tours and really get that exclusive and unique experience that we offer.

Speaker 2: 19:53

Well, I hope so and I will be putting a link to all the tours and the show notes. So if you listen to this thinking, I want to get booked on and honestly, I would say the ceremony of the keys. If you want to do the ceremony of the keys, go and check that link and get booked, because it is so popular and it is so exclusive and it's so VIP that everybody wants to do it.

Speaker 3: 20:12

Perfect. Well, one thing, a couple, that I do want to mention, tracy, and I know you're probably going to get onto it is we've got some amazing new experiences for 2024. The first one being, which we're extremely proud of, is the brand new Harry Potter and Warner Studios tour. It's been a while to get this and to get a partnership with Warner Studios, but we finally did it. And 2024, we're running every single day from January the 20th. You get an exclusive walking tour in London of some of the the most fantastic film locations and with an avid Potterguide, avid fanatic, and then you get a private coach out to the Warner studios where you'll get three hours to discover the experience itself, and then a coach will take you back into central London. It's an incredible tour and with thrilled to be able to get this up for this year.

Speaker 2: 21:10

Oh, it sounds amazing. I know that one is going to be so popular. So many people want to go to Harry Potter studios, so this is a fantastic way to do it Get the studios and you also get the tour and the transportation so fantastic. So have you got any other new tours up your sleeve?

Speaker 3: 21:26

Well, we have actually finally to say that we have just managed to get partnership with Royal Collection Trust, which includes Buckingham Palace. So for 24 we are launching a brand new Buckingham Palace tour. So the state rooms they're only open three months of the year. However, we are going to be running from March, but we're going to be offering the Royal Muse whilst the state rooms are closed, so it'll be a little bit of a switch. So obviously, just be prepared when people are booking. But yeah, it's going to be a fabulous tour. We're going to be running a morning and afternoon tour five days a week, so hopefully, fingers crossed this should be a really popular one this year as well.

Speaker 2: 22:12

Oh, brilliant. And is that launching in March for bookings? It should be launching in March. Yes, ok, perfect. So we're looking at everybody. Keep an eye out for that one.

Speaker 3: 22:19

Keep an eye out for that one.

Speaker 2: 22:21

Excellent. So I'm just going to ask you one more question, because you've done a brilliant, brilliant job of explaining about walks and their amazing tours that they've got, but I always end the podcast, whoever I talk to, always end with the same question. So what is the one tip that you would share with somebody visiting London for the first time, charlie?

Speaker 3: 22:41

Oh gosh, plan your days well, and the one tip I would give anybody is don't book any tours for hours after you land. We've had many, many people on tours that have contacted us saying our flight's delayed. We can't make the tour. Give yourself that first day to just relax, orientate yourself, get yourself settled and book those tours for the next day. One, so you can enjoy them as much as the guides enjoying telling you all the stories. But two, it just eases you into the city. It's it's a busy city and it can be very overwhelming if you come straight in and rush out to do everything. So just pace yourself, give yourself time and always book in advance, because high season we always seem to get full up quite quickly. So book yourself in advance and come and join us at walks in London Brilliant.

Speaker 2: 23:38

Thanks so much, Charlie, for coming on to the podcast this week. It's been great to chat to you. It's been an absolute pleasure.

Speaker 3: 23:44

Thank you for having me.

Speaker 2: 23:46

Thanks again to Charlie for this fantastic episode of the podcast. You can find links to book walks tours in the show notes for this episode, which are UKtravelplanningcom. Forward slash, episode 84. Next week in episode 85, you can hear myself and Doug chat about our experiences of four of the walks tours that we've talked about in the last episode, which we absolutely loved. So do tune in next week for that kind of reflection of walk tours from our own personal experience. And that just leaves me to say, as always every week, happy UKtravelplanning.