Unique Devon Tours

Being a tour guide is my dream 'job', and reaching the landmark of 400 reviews on Tripadvisor with the 400th reviewer saying "I'd like to report that the 2 day tour with Alex was the highlight of our month long stay in England" reminds me that I'm very lucky to do what I do. Thank you to everyone that has taken the time over the years to write a review - for me they are wonderful 'pats on the back', and for future guests they are confirmation that coming on tour with me is a pretty good way to see the beautiful part of the country that I live in!

https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attraction_Review-g190802-d4707920-Reviews-Unique_Devon_Tours-Newton_Abbot_Devon_England.html

Alex :-)

Just a short introduction this evening to these photos from a recent tour for two ladies, Joy and Renee from the USA, who seemed to thoroughly enjoy their two days in this area. Our first day together was spent exploring Dartmoor and its many aspects, and the second day we headed north to Glastonbury and Wells, before ending the day in Bath. It was a great pleasure to show Joy and Renee around, and hopefully they'll be back for more in future - it's fair to say that Devon left a very positive impression on them!

Alex :-)

A busy stretch coming up for me, with 16 of the next 17 days on tour. It's just as well that I'm so young, sort of 😄! Today it's up to Dartmoor National Park with three ladies from Manitoba, where we'll certainly see some of the livestock roaming around, or just relaxing, such as this ewe and her lamb, as seen a few days ago when with guests from Pennsylvania.

When guests stay at The 25 Boutique B&B they are starting their tour with me in the best possible frame of mind, as a lovely couple from Canada recently did. My guests commented that their accommodation was perfection, something that they hadn't experienced before (it's hardly surprising that this B and B, run by Andy and Julian, was the best B and B in the world on Tripadvisor for two years running!). I'm staying there in September for a treat, so look forward to it very much!

My guests were with me for three days, and although the weather didn't really cooperate, we did have a great time, blending family history (both had family links to the area!), with Agatha Christie, beautiful Devon countryside and a Devonshire cream tea, of course! It's a pleasure to share with you the Tripadvisor review that my guest was so generous to leave:

"My spouse and I spent three terrifically curated days with Alex. He was knowledgeable, courteous, prompt and professional in every way. We uncovered evidence of family histories in both Dorset and Devon, explored the world of Agatha Christie, had the best English Devon cream tea, found interesting shops and shared lots of laughs. He picked us up at our B&B each morning, carried our prized shopping bags, looked out for us crossing streets since we were looking the wrong way, introduced us to locals and showed us sites we would never have found ourselves. We highly recommend him to anyone wanting a real English countryside experience!!"

Alex :-)

I never thought that a Northern Lights Tour might be something I could offer to my guests, but after last night maybe it is! From my village of Denbury, in the countryside of Devon, I was lucky enough to witness the wonderful Aurora Borealis with my daughter (our first time of seeing the lights). Social media has been flooded today with similar photos as the phenomenon was captured around England by so many people for the first time, and what a sight it was.

Alex :-)

It was a pleasure recently to show a couple some sunshine in Devon and Cornwall, something we've been a little deprived of this spring. We spent three days together, and visited the likes of Exeter, Dartmoor National Park, Sidmouth, Torcross, Dartmouth, Clovelly and Tintagel (I've put captions with the photos).

Thankfully things are looking up for the week ahead, so forthcoming guests will be seeing the gorgeous landscape in beautiful conditions, and at the moment it really is looking special here - the rain does have its benefits after all!

Alex :-)

The beautiful church at St. Just in Roseland, as seen today with my guests from Pennsylvania.

Whilst we've had a disappointing Spring so far, this is still one of my favourite times of year. Most of the trees have come into leaf, lambs are playing in the fields, and the wild flowers are pretty much at their best. On Sunday evening I went for a walk up Denbury Down, the hill next to the village where I live. It was a beautiful evening (a rare treat in recent times!), and the bluebells and wild garlic made for some beautiful scenes. Hopefully you can visit Devon one day at this time of year to see just how beautiful it is, and if you do please make sure you bring some sunshine!

Alex 😊

It's been good to get out and about as the season gets moving, showing guests around this beautiful area. I recently had a lovely mother and daughter from the US for three days, and we included south and north Devon, Dartmoor National Park and north Cornwall during our time together. Visits to communities such as Dartmouth, Clovelly, Tintagel and Lustleigh delighted my guests, and in particular they loved Sandford Orchards, The Rugglestone inn., The NoBody Inn, The Cheese Shed. All in all it was a great introduction to some of Devon and Cornwall, as hopefully these photos demonstrate.

Alex :-)

I'm excited to introduce my new car to you today, having collected it on Tuesday (it's actually 3 years old, but it's new to me!). It's a Ford Galaxy, as were my previous two tour guiding vehicles, and as you can see it's an all weather vehicle 😄🌨️⛈️🌤️🌞 (yes, we had snow last night). I thoroughly look forward to taking some of you out in it before long.

Alex 😊

***Request for help***

Good morning all. BBC Southwest has been in touch with me about a piece for a report on oversea visitors. They’re keen to hear from people who have visited this area in the last year or so, and they’d like to do an interview on zoom about your trip. Questions such as what attracted you to Devon, etc? If you’re interested in taking part, please let me know and I’ll forward your details to them.

Thanks as always.

Alex :-)

Good evening all.

The ever helpful Neil at Colour Calendars has put together some potential front covers for my 2025 calendar, so perhaps you wouldn't mind casting your eye over this choice and letting me know what you think with either a comment, a like or a love to indicate your favourite one!

Thanks in advance of your help, as always.

Alex :-)

One of the most popular tours with my guests is my Agatha Christie Tour, so it was a huge pleasure for me to meet the definitive Poirot in Cardiff last night! Sir David Suchet played Poirot for 25 years in 70 episodes, and for most fans of Agatha's books he captured perfectly the character that the great author had created. Listening to David explain how Poirot became such a part of him that he described him as his best friend was absolutely fascinating, and David even became somewhat choked with emotion when describing the moment that Poirot had passed away in the final episode. It was a very interesting evening, and being able to chat with David afterwards was the icing on the cake. He's a wonderful, humble man who had time for everyone.

*** Calendar 2025 news ***

An update for you this evening about my calendar for 2025. Firstly, thank you to all of you that helped towards the end of last year to narrow down what images should go in the next calendar. As it's going to be a ten year anniversary edition (to celebrate my ten years of being a tour guide), the photos will come from beyond my usual tour guiding area of Devon and Cornwall, featuring the likes of Scotland, Yorkshire and Dorset too.

I'm going to work with the wonderful Colour Calendars to produce the calendars, and shortly they will create some sample front covers for you to choose your favourite from. But in the meantime I have to decide how many to order, which is never easy! Guests that come on tour this year will receive one as a gift, but I want to offer it for sale to those that don't come on tour with me, so if you're interested in buying one it would be most helpful if you could just comment below. I'm not asking you to commit to buying one, I'm just trying to gauge how many to order!

Here are the images that between us we narrowed down to the final twelve that will probably make the final cut!

Thank you for your help, and please just ask if you have any questions.

Alex
:-)

Well, it wasn't the best day for photography (mostly rather rainy!), but a couple of days ago I did my first tour of the year, an Agatha Christie Tour for a lady from Australia. She could only visit the UK in February due to work commitments, so she was perfectly philosophical about what the weather might bring and it didn't get in the way of us having a lovely day out! And we pretty much had Greenway, the house that Agatha bought with her second husband, Max Mallowan, to ourselves, which was certainly a bonus!

Alex :-)

If you're wondering why I've been so quiet over the last month or so it's mainly because I've been away in Peru, having a bit of an adventure during my 'off' season. It was absolutely wonderful and very different from Devon (quite a lot hotter funnily enough, touching 90F at times). I enjoyed nearly every moment of it, apart from the odd stomach upset, and of course I took a few photos! I know they're unrelated to where I do my tours, but you may like to see some of what I saw, hence here are some of the photos I took.

Tomorrow I have the pleasure of taking a lady from Australia on my Agatha Christie Tour (my first tour of the season no less!). If the weather obliges I will make sure to take some photos to show you what Devon looks like at this time of year.

In other news, I have decided to get my calendar for 2025 ready very early this year, so watch this space if you're interested in buying one. It will be the delayed 10 year anniversary one that you helped me choose the photos for back in the autumn, with images from Devon and beyond.

Alex :-)

I had my last tour of 2023 yesterday and it was good to end the year with lovely guests from Australia and, considering the time of year, plenty of sunshine! Dartmoor National Park and South Devon (including Dartmouth) looked beautiful.

Merry Christmas to all of you wherever you are in the world.

My apologies for being so quiet on here recently, but I will return to my usual amount of posting in the new year. I'm also very sorry that I haven't produced a calendar for 2024, but I'll make sure that one is available nice and early in time for 2025. From a tour guiding point of view it's been a busy and good year, and I look forward to seeing some of you next year. Here are a few of my favourite photos from 2023 for your enjoyment, some of which will very likely make it into my next calendar!

Alex 🎅🎄☃️

📷 Calendar vote - ten year anniversary special, day 12 📷

It's time for December, and time for some of the white stuff! You'll be familiar with some of these scenes, but because we don't get a great deal of snow it's a little tricky to come up with new wintry images. We'll see what this winter brings, but in the meantime I hope you spot an image that you like.

Please either 'like' or 'love' your favourite, or just say which one you prefer in the comments section below. The calendars will be for available for purchase, although for people buying from overseas payment will need to be via Paypal - sorry I can't be more flexible with regard to this. Bank transfers from abroad cost too much, and as I'm only producing a relatively small number it will be too costly to set up another system.

Thank you for any feedback.

Alex 🙂

📷 Calendar vote - ten year anniversary special, day 11 📷

Your help has been invaluable during the process of selecting what images to include in my calendar for 2024. Here is a selection for November. Hopefully one will stand out for you!

Please either 'like' or 'love' your favourite, or just say which one you prefer in the comments section below. The calendars will be for available for purchase, although for people buying from overseas payment will need to be via Paypal - sorry I can't be more flexible with regard to this. Bank transfers from abroad cost too much, and as I'm only producing a relatively small number it will be too costly to set up another system.

Thank you for any feedback.

Alex 🙂

📷 Calendar vote - ten year anniversary special, day 10 📷

For October I offer you a choice of three images from outside of Devon, two from Somerset and one from Dorset. If you have a favourite, please feel free to vote.

Please either 'like' or 'love' your favourite, or just say which one you prefer in the comments section below. The calendars will be for available for purchase, although for people buying from overseas payment will need to be via Paypal - sorry I can't be more flexible with regard to this. Bank transfers from abroad cost too much, and as I'm only producing a relatively small number it will be too costly to set up another system.

Thank you for any feedback.

Alex 🙂

📷 Calendar vote - ten year anniversary special, day 9 📷

As some of you know, I occasionally have the good fortune to take guests to Scotland on tour. Scotland is a place very close to my heart due to having deep rooted ancestral connections, so it's never a hardship to be asked to organise a tour there. Today I'm giving you a choice of photos for the month of September, from previous trips to this magnificent country.

Please either 'like' or 'love' your favourite, or just say which one you prefer in the comments section below. The calendars will be for available for purchase, although for people buying from overseas payment will need to be via Paypal - sorry I can't be more flexible with regard to this. Bank transfers from abroad cost too much, and as I'm only producing a relatively small number it will be too costly to set up another system.

Thank you for any feedback.

Alex 🙂