Knole
Originally an Archbishop’s Palace and set in a medieval deer park, Knole is one of the largest houses in England.
In 1538 it was taken from Archbishop Thomas Cranmer by King Henry VIII and, during the reign of his daughter Elizabeth I, it passed into the hands of the noble Sackville family whose descendants – who included the writer Vita Sackville-West (see below) – still live there today.
The show rooms contain art works by, among others, Van Dyck, Gainsborough and Reynolds and these, together with 17th century tapestries and furniture, make the collection internationally significant.
A fun day out and about London! We visited London for a few days in late August. We travelled with another couple and both of our 11 year olds. We wanted to see London, experience it and show it to the kids. I had contacted Glyn a few days before the trip and he was very quick to respond, which I appreciated tremendously as we were finalizing our trip itinerary. Once in contact I viewed his YouTube video and liked him right away. Glyn met us at our hotel on time and took us around London for a half day trip. We mostly walked around hitting all of the walkable and sightseeing spots. Glyn was a great guide because he was able to adjust to our group, we weren't fast walkers and we got distracted quite a lot with pictures and random conversations but he never lost his patience and was always very pleasant. He knew a lot about London, it's history and overall British life and was very open and willing to answer a million questions that we kept coming at him. Glyn was honest in his life views and shared interesting personal stories, as it helped us learn more about the British life. We ended our tour at a lunch restaurant that he took us to, which also ended up being a good choice. He had a really calm and pleasant energy around him, which helped make our tour with him that much more enjoyable. read moreread less
FANTASTIC! The tour was very impressive with a professional, punctual, knowledgable and friendly guide. We would do it again! read moreread less
Very Knowledgeable Glyn picked us up in the requested van and we toured central London for 2 mornings. We made several stops and he took us to several Harry Potter locations. The days were both wet, but we were able to make the best of them. We visited Greenwich and I stood on the Prime Meridian-on my bucket list. He was so nice and courteous. He is willing to tell you anything about his country and is quite proud of it but in an understated way. He was prompt and waiting for us both mornings. He was very good with my mother who moves at a slower pace these days. A private driver and car is expensive but we felt like we saw a lot of London we would not have gotten to see otherwise. read moreread less
Excellent Glyn was my tour guide on a five day ramble through Southeast England. I had a wonderful time -- Salisbury, Stonehenge, Portsmouth, Hastings, Norfolk, Sutton Hoo, Cambridge, and many spots in between. Glyn is affable, very knowledgeable, professional, and has a good sense of humor -- I very much enjoyed my time with him. He was attuned to my areas of interest and made several good suggestions for stops. He is punctual, reliable, and knows when to share his history knowledge and when to stay quiet and when to let it all sink in. His automobile is comfortable and Glyn is a very good driver. Overall: Five Stars! read moreread less
London guide, Glyn from Jolly Good Tours was Jolly GREAT!! I planned a mom/daughter trip to London and Paris before she is off to university in the fall. I hired Glyn from Jolly Good Tours for a private full day to drive us around and it was a fantastic day! He was very organized, extremely knowledgeable, a great driver, and so very enjoyable to spend the day with traveling all over the city! He even made a last minute wish item of driving out to Wimbledon happen too! We would highly recommend that you ask for Glyn for your next London adventure!! Thank you again for a perfectly lovely day! read moreread less
Glyn Jones Glyn Jones is the perfect tour guide. Why? Because he strives to make each tour a memorable experience. He is knowledgeable, considerate, and kind. read moreread less
Large multi-generational family has terrific time in London! Gyn of Jolly Good Tours was professional, knowledgeable and a great help before and during our trip. Everything, including transportation, went perfectly. We were able to coordinate outings for everyone from the grandparents to the grandchildren. We were advised on what was a must see and how to coordinate the times and the crowds to our advantage. The history lessons were also fascinating and delivered with humor. read moreread less
Lovely Day tours My first time to London with a limited schedule I decided to book two half day tours with Glyn. He was prompt, friendly, extremely knowledgable and happy to customize your day as you wish. It was a great experience learning about the beautiful country, seeing the main attractions as well as various art displays and the amazing Museum. A wonderful way to gain insight of London while enjoying the day with someone so courteous and welcoming. Thanks Glyn ! Highly recommended and great experience 🙂 read moreread less
Excellent Tour We couldn’t have asked for a better tour! We arrived in London via a cruise ship. Glyn picked us up at Tilbury port and off we went on an amazing tour of London! Glyn is very knowledgeable and maneuvered the traffic like a pro. His Van was extremely comfortable for 6 passengers. Got us back to the pier in time! We highly recommend him and will use him again next time we are in London!!! read moreread less
Whirlwind full day in London! We booked a full day tour to maximize a short trip to London. Glyn reached out in advance to ask about our interests and planned a perfect full day including a number of highlights. Glyn's insight into London and historical knowledge helped us fully appreciate the attractions. We highly recommend and hope to call again on a return trip to London. read moreread less
Brilliant Day We spent a fabulous day with Glyn touring Stonehenge, Avebury and Bath. We had a delicious lunch in Avebury and enjoyed every moment of Glyn's informative excursion. Glyn took excellent care of us and attended to the needs of our three young persons. It was a day of fun and fascination. read moreread less
Great Visit to Bath and Stonehenge My wife, adult daughter and I toured Bath and Stonehenge with Glyn on a day trip from London. Glyn is a very knowledgeable and down to earth guide who made every effort to make sure we all enjoyed ourselves while soaking up some great information about both locations. I especially liked the ride through the countryside off the motorway as we approached Bath and we all enjoyed discussing current British culture and some of the television shows we have viewed in the US. The door-to-door service to and from central London made for an exceptionally long day for Glyn but he was able to smile and show us a great time the whole way through. We also enjoyed his discussion about his days with the Met. Bath is a great town to visit and I would not mind spending more time there next time. However, the star of the tour was Stonehenge and the “inner circle tour” at sunset that we booked separately. Kudos to Glyn for warning me to get the tickets early because they were almost sold out. read moreread less
Excellent experience Glyn met our flight at Heathrow and provided a private car tour of London. He was prompt, friendly, helpful and knowledgeable. He answered our many questions patiently and gave us numerous tips about the city - restaurants, attractions, public transportation, areas to visit and areas to avoid. Well worth our time and a really enjoyable experience. Thanks Glyn! read moreread less
Jolly Good! The tour with Glyn was fabulous. I was traveling with my brother and our dad, who has some mobility challenges. As my dad was not easily able to get out the car, our tour was almost all a driving one. Glyn did a great job showing us all the sites and was very knowledgeable about everything having to do with London and English history. I only stumped him with one question, and he sent me an email a week later having found the answer and researched it further! He also had carefully considered public restrooms and their general accessibility prior to our time together. We were able to make one such successful stop. We made two additional stops where my brother and I were able to hop out for great views and pics. The trip was just what we needed! read moreread less
London tour with family We had an amazing tour of London with Glyn; fun, informative, a blast! We were able to see a lot in a single day and Glyn made things interesting for my kids (ages 12,11, and 8). Highlights included Westminster and changing of the guard. We would highly recommend touring with him! read moreread less
Excellent Glyn is a very knowledgeable and pleasant guide. And he's very accommodating. We were lucky to have him show us around London in 1 day and take us to Bath and Stonehenge the other day. I highly recommend his service. read moreread less
Criminal Justice tour Mr. Jones of Jolly Good Tours was a fabulous tour guide. He was highly knowledgeable about the court and policing side of the U.K. Moreover, he was a funny and kind person. I would highly recommend taking a tour with Jolly Good Tours. You will get an honest and bright tour guide and learn a lot about England's criminal justice system. read moreread less
First time in London with a great guide to show us the sights We highly recommend Glyn Jones as a London guide. Glyn worked closely with us, via email, to plan our agenda and help us prepare for our London visit. He meet us early in the morning and expertly navigated London traffic to get us to all of our planned stops. Glyn's approach also allowed my wife and I to visit additional touring stops, within the allotted time. He is very knowledgeable regarding the subject of English/London history. Glyn is a very personable, outgoing person. We would certainly make use of his services again. read moreread less
Great 2 Days in London, Hampton Court and Windsor with Glyn! Glyn was knowledgeable and fun. He clearly knows how to tailor his communication and information to his audience. In our case, he made it interesting and engaging for me and my wife but made sure that he kept the tour moving for the benefit of our curious, but still young (and by nature impatient) children. It was a great relaxing, yet active, lcouple of days as we transitioned from traveling from the US! Best of the best! read moreread less
Roman London tour A "Jolly good tour" around ancient London from London Bridge to the Mithraeum and everything in-between. A fascinating insight into a city that I thought I knew well - thanks Glyn; you're a star. read moreread less
The Best I brought 13 high school students to London for a conference, and hired Glyn to give us a guided crash course in the city and its history ahead of time. There are many well credentialed guides in London, but Glyn stood out because of his prior police work. We spoke, he sounded good, and I picked him. Best decision I could have ever made. As good as I’d hoped he’d be, he was even better. He was, in fact, the best. Here’s why. He is eminently knowledgeable and a great communicator. He has a knack for connecting with young people, actually, with all people. He is upbeat, honest, smart and kind. He also arranged all the logistics, from securing the private coaches that took us to and from Heathrow, to dealing with the bureaucratic hassle of getting us Oyster cards and seats on the high speed train to York, all for good prices. When my students wrote their reflections after their week in England, each and every one wrote that their three days with Glyn was the highlight. Mine too. Glyn is a superb guide and human being, who added immeasurably to our experience of London. read moreread less
Tour of Windsor Castle and Hampton Court Our guide took us on an all-day outing to Windsor Castle and Hampton Courts, with a quick stop at Abbey Road to start. He had a great familiarity with the locations, and managed to generally have us where the crowds weren't. At Windsor Castle, we left the changing of the guard just a little early, but the guards changed another post near the place where he'd taken us, then walked right past, so we got an even better view than at the normal grounds. After that we got into the doll house exhibit without waiting in any sort of line, a feat of timing. He knew his stuff about the locations, and had a great spot for us to eat lunch in between the two venues. He was knowledgeable, personable and fun. We will definitely keep him in mind for our next trip: well worth the money. read moreread less
An Amazing Day!! Simply put our day with Glyn was nothing less than perfect!! Glyn assisted me and my family in planning a wonderful day in London. Without his guidance and assistance we wouldn’t have been to do all we did in one day. Before our trip he happily & quickly answered my many questions. Our day with Glyn was definitely one of the highlights of our trip! I can’t recommend highly enough!! read moreread less
Outstanding tour. EXCEPTIONAL guide Due to circumstances beyond our control, our originally planned tour was delayed and had to be changed on the spot. Glynn (of Jolly Good Tours) was waiting for us - even though we were two hours beyond our scheduled time. His knowledge allowed our tour to be changed as we went. He provided us a wonderful overview of the city - great as we only had a few hours. In addition, he used information from our conversations to plan a route that would be interesting to us. His knowledge of photography was an added bonus as he was able to identify “just right locations”. As my wife is curious about sites (but not photography), Glynn would engage her with stories while I took pictures. My only disappointment was that we didn’t have a full day for touring, we look forward to returning to London next year. We will be eager return customers of Jolly Good Tours. read moreread less
Brighton Tour - Glyn is very attentive and knowledgeable Glyn Jones was very much a gracious host of his lovely country. Our first stop was Arundel Castle, where he was very knowledgeable and answered all our questions. Next stop was a lunch he arranged at the Black Rabbit. Good choice Glyn! Then it was on to Brighton by the sea. Coming back into London, he made a special detour to the Hard Rock Café so I could pick up a souvenir shot glass for my son's collection. If we ever get back to the London area, he is my go to guide! read moreread less
Fascinating I attended a Roman walking tour of London. I can only describe Glyn as excellent. His knowledge, enthusiasm, and relaxed manner added to a most enjoyable day. I would highly recommend anyone not to hesitate and book with Glyn. read moreread less
Architecture Tour for Group of 25 Glyn was more than prepared for our group. He was with us for four days from the time we landed at LHR to our departure train to Brussels. Generous, informed, jovial, and friendly, Glyn was the perfect guide. Thank you, Glyn! read moreread less
Perfect day trip! Spent the day with Glyn. He arranged our pick up at Heathrow and our luggage delivery to our cruise ship. Gave us a great introduction to London and several of the highlights like West Minister Abbey and Saint Paul’s before delivery us to our ship. A job well done! read moreread less
For World War II interested persons, great value and detailed information for lightly visited sites. Portsmouth (Navy) w/tour of UK D-Day Museum. A knowledgeable guide, commentary while driving to the museum and then to Portsmouth was well informed; Glyn answered queries and added just enough additional information / detail to keep us even more interested. read moreread less
Excellent personalized tour of Greenwich Glyn Jones of Jolly Good Tours took us on a great half day driving tour of Greenwich. He picked us up at our London hotel in his lovely new van stocked with water and umbrellas!On the way to Greenwich Glyn timed it perfectly so we saw the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace , we couldn't have gotten any closer. We had our 87 year old Mum with us so he customized the tour to fit her needs. He is fun, thoughtful and extremely knowledgeable. He knows all the ins and outs of London so he knows the best places to park, best views, must see locations.We were very well satisfied , 100% happiness! read moreread less
Glyn made travel easy and interesting We could have saved a few bucks and taken a few trains to get to Windsor Castle, but we had the ease of Glyn driving us, telling us about the things we would see that day. We saw Windsor, Hampton Court, and, as a bonus, stopped by Abbey Road so he could take pictures of the four of us walking at the crosswalk. An excellent day, and excellent value. He was so good we paid for his lunch AND tipped him:-) read moreread less
Our best day in London We just returned from two weeks in London. We're a family of 4 (two adult daughters, one in a wheelchair) and it was our first visit to this city. We booked several tours in and outside London during our stay. We had a different guide for every one. Glyn Jones was our absolute favorite. I dare say our day with him was by far our favorite day of touring. Glyn was punctual, polite, very knowledgeable, kind and funny. He kept the day fun and interesting for all of us and that was quite an accomplishment. Had I known about him ahead of time, I would have booked him for every one of our tours. If you are looking for a tour guide while in the UK, I highly recommend Glyn Jones of Jolly Good Tours!!!! read moreread less
Perfect Tour! What a perfect, custom tour! My brother and I thoroughly enjoyed our tour to Windsor Castle and the Downton Abbey sites with Glyn. Glyn was extremely knowledgable and was able to nicely guide us through the exhibitions and sites. He also took us to a delicious pub for lunch! By the end of the tour, we felt like we had known Glyn for years. I highly, highly recommend Glyn for any of your touring needs! read moreread less
Wonderful, exceptional tour and guide! Glyn was top notch, outstanding! We enjoyed our tour and all the places Glyn brought us to see. Highly recommend! read moreread less
Glyn Jones, The absolute best guide around. We could not of asked for a better BLUE BADGE guide than Glyn. Very personable, knowledgeable, showing us little things that are not obvious, driving skills to amaze. I could go on ,and on but probably the best description of Glyn would be to say he is as good as or better than Rick Steves. I am recommending Glyn to all who are traveling to London or the large surrounding area. He also does WW 2 tours throughout Europe. Wish I had enough time to follow him. Thanks Glyn, great, great time we had with you. Lee read moreread less
Exceeded expectations We had planned a trip to Paris from London which was cancelled due to COVID. At the last minute, our family of five, including our three young adult children, decided we would like to see the Cotswolds. Glyn was the perfect host, guide and driver. He asked a few questions about our desires/needs for the day, and he beautifully introduced us to a new part of the world. We explored several churches, ruins of a grand estate, viewed the countryside from the top of a hill overlook, and we had delicious lunch at a quaint pub. Glyn gave us opportunities for breaks, as needed, and we got treats at a tea room. We could not have asked for a more gracious guide for the day. We will definitely contact Glyn in the future for any trips around London! read moreread less
Outstanding While celebrating our 60th birthday, my three best friends and I had the pleasure of booking a tour with Glyn. I wanted to treat my friends to a day in Bath & visit the Christmas market there. Glyn created a special day plan for us, picked us up @ our hotel, gave a beautiful historic tour, found clean warm restrooms for us, booked a great lunch reservation and was an absolute joy to spend the day with!We felt like royalty. Thank you Glyn, I am sorry this took so very long to post. Deb D. from Chicago (12,2017) read moreread less
An amazing day in London! Simply put our day with Glyn was perfect! From the moment I reached out to Glyn he was extremely helpful in planning our day. He happily and quickly responded to my many emails. Without Glyn we would have only seen about half the things we were able to see with him. He provided quick & easy access to popular sites such as the British Museum & Westminster Abbey. My family built wonderful memories that day. I can’t recommend highly enough!! read moreread less
Glyn Jones Tour to Brighton and Arundel Castle Glyn guided us on the tour of Arundel Castle, then booked us at the Black Rabbit for lunch then on to Brighton Beach. He was a wonderful guide, full of knowledge as he was a retired police detective in London so we asked him a lot of questions! I would most certainly book him again. Wonderful, patient, nice, funny...... read moreread less
Delightful day out in London Mom and I visited the Tower of London and Buckingham Palace with Glyn. He was very professional, and knows the city in such detail that he knew how many stairs we would encounter in different routes and picked the ones that had interesting sights and were easiest for Mom to navigate. He was very patient and pleasant even as we made changes to our plans. We thoroughly enjoyed our day, and look forward to travelling with Glyn again on another visit to England. read moreread less
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Day Tours in the UK Enquiry
Sissinghurst Castle Garden
The garden at Sissinghurst was created in the 1930s by the poet and gardening writer Vita Sackville-West and her husband Harold Nicolson, the author and diplomat.
Had she been born a boy, Vita – the only child of the 3rd Lord Sackville -, would have inherited Knole, for which Sissinghurst became a poignant substitute.
The gardens, overlooked by a fairytale tower, are designed as a series of “rooms”, each with its own colour scheme or theme, where the herbaceous borders are the epitome of the English style. They are divided one from another by high, clipped hedges and pink brick walls.
Prices are based from a start point in central London. Pick up point – Your guide will meet you at an agreed meeting place, usually at your hotel or apartment. If you are interested in a tour; please send your details and we will be in touch shortly.
