Become a Home Based Travel Agent

The Bells are Ringing for William and Kate...and for you
By Paull Tickner

At 11am on Friday 29^th April, my wife Jenny and I, the good folk of my Cotswolds home town of Chipping Campden (and the rest of the nation) will be glued to the television to watch the wedding of William and Kate.  Being patriots and royalists (at least on 29^th April) we’ll probably turn the telly on much earlier and over our cornflakes and croissants, get ourselves ‘in the mood’ for what will be one of the happiest of days in a very long time.  I confess that I may well pop at least one cork by the time the happy couple reach Westminster Abbey and a lot more will be heard and seen flying all over the place after the ceremony.

The timing’s not so good for you.  11am GMT is 6am EST but if what I read about how the Big Day has fired imaginations on your side of the pond, a few million Americans will be riveted to their TV screens come what may!  Those on the west coast will probably start their parties late on the Thursday night so that they are in full celebratory mode by 3am when the ceremony takes place in Westminster Abbey.

 In case you might have missed it, there’s another Royal Wedding at the end of July when Princess Ann’s daughter and Eventing World Champion, Zara Phillips (12^th in line to the throne) is marrying her long term partner and England rugby union international Mike Tindall.

In 2012 we’re celebrating Her Majesty the Queens’ Diamond Jubilee (and there are also the Olympics!)

With so much royal (and other UK media) stuff going on, you really should be turning this to your advantage by offering your own, customised Royal tour to the UK as:

·          A pre or post for a Southampton, Dover or Harwich cruise.

·         An imaginatively themed tour for a family going to London this summer.

·         A tailor made garden tour that has a very strong Royal theme running through it.

The ingredients for any of these combinations are plentiful.  The trick lies in being able to bring them all together and at a sensible price but that’s where I come in.  London and the Cotswolds provide two very good centres for a 7-8 night programme that’s generally best between July and September.  In the capital, the must sees include

·        A Royal London tour that starts with a visit to Westminster Abbey and then ON FOOT you follow the processional route take by Prince William and Kate along the Mall to Buckingham Palace.  Add something extra by popping into Clarence House, the former home of Her Majesty the Queen Mother and now where Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall live.

·        Visits to Kensington Palace, the Tower of London and Hampton Court Palace.

·        A tour of the Berkshire market towns and villages where Kate Middleton grew up.

On the way into the Cotswolds, break your journey with a tour of Windsor Castle.  Get there by 11am so that you can see the Changing of the Guard and then hop onto the open top City Sightseeing tour and hop off again in Eton where you’ll want to see where Princes William and Harry both went to school.  If beautiful gardens are on your list, you’ll see something rather special at the nearby Savill Garden which is one of Britain’s greatest ornamental gardens.

From your Cotswolds base you can make a visit to Highgrove which is Prince Charles’ little place in the country!  Although they’ve increased their opening hours, demand far outstrips supply and if you want to include this in an itinerary, you’ll need to plan quite far ahead.

Although not part of our Royal Family but very much in the aristocratic groove, you can successfully work in a visit to Blenheim Palace, the ancestral home of the Dukes of Marlborough just north of Oxford.

To bring the whole idea dramatically to life, add in a visit to Warwick Castle but not before taking a word of advice from me.  If you think 2 hours is enough time here you’re completely wrong.  You need to allocate almost an entire day so that you can see the stunning State Rooms, the terrifying dungeons, the 2 permanent exhibitions ‘The Royal Weekend Party’ and ‘Kingmaker’, the regular displays of jousting and falconry (the Sea Eagle in full flight is an amazing sight).  With comfort stops and lunch alfresco, if that’s not enough just wait until the colossal catapult starts hurling all and sundry over vast distances.

Back on the royal theme, the return to London should include a visit to Althorp, the childhood home and final resting place for Diana Princess of Wales.

With so many of your clients talking endlessly about the royal weddings and then Her Majesty the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, don’t just listen, throw your own party and offer them a customised UK tour which could run this summer, autumn or in 2012. 

The bells are ringing for Kate and William.  Make them ring for you!