Gren Tours

Gren Tours Gren Tours is ‘Blue Badge’ qualified tourist guide Glen Portch. Professionally guided tours of London and beyond!
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Glen was born just outside London and has lived, worked and played in and around London for most of his life. However, he realised how little he knew about his native city and country when friends, visiting from overseas, asked questions. Eager not to embarrass himself again, he took the Institute of Tourist Guiding ‘s “Blue Badge Guide” course and he gained his qualification in 2004. Glen offers

private tours of London and Great Britain for individuals, small or large groups. He has experience of guiding families, groups of school children, A (and B!) – list celebrities and the presidents of multi-national companies. The emphasis is on fun, tailor-made tours and the grentours.co.uk website is designed to give you some ideas.

Gren Tours overnight in Oxford. Glen’s run took him by the Iffley Road sports ground where history was made. In the we...
25/07/2026

Gren Tours overnight in Oxford. Glen’s run took him by the Iffley Road sports ground where history was made. In the week that Britain’s Josh Kerr broke the mile record in 3 minutes 42.66 seconds, Glen’s average was 12 minutes 10 seconds per mile.

Glen takes guests to Windsor castle about 20-30 times a year for the las 20 years. Yesterday was the first time he has w...
17/07/2026

Glen takes guests to Windsor castle about 20-30 times a year for the las 20 years. Yesterday was the first time he has walked through the Gardens on east side of castle. They are closed to the public except in the summer when the monarch is away on summer break. But only then can you just look at the garden from a terrace. King Charles II had bowling greens there in late 1600s. First formal gardens laid out in early 19th Century. In World War 2, then princesses Elizabeth and Margaret were growing vegetables as part of the ‘dig for Britain’ campaign. Several transformations since the war, the latest is now known as the Venus Garden. Inspired by the transit of the planet Venus over an 8 year period that forms a pattern resembling petals. King Charles was very much involved in this project and designed with bio diversity and sustainability in mind.

3rd tour of 2026 - Transfer from Tilbury to London via Highclere Castle. Arnold party of five finished their cruise at T...
22/02/2026

3rd tour of 2026 - Transfer from Tilbury to London via Highclere Castle. Arnold party of five finished their cruise at Tilbury Cruise port just east of central London. Guests wanted to visit Highclere Castle, location for hit TV show (and 3 movies) Downton Abbey. Ordinarily, Highclere is not open this time of year. There are the regular Spring and summer openings but there are additional special openings at other times. An advantage is fewer visitors compared the summer opening. You also get a private tour of the house and afternoon tea. But after the huge lunch we had at nearby Caernavon Arms, not many scones were consumed.
https://www.grentours.co.uk/category/tours-outside-london/highclere-castle/

2nd tour of the year with regular guests from Lisbon, Jared, Michelle and Madeline. a long day to Stonehenge, Salisbury...
22/02/2026

2nd tour of the year with regular guests from Lisbon, Jared, Michelle and Madeline. a long day to Stonehenge, Salisbury and Wi******er.

The Design museum was established in 1989 by Terence Conran. Conran was famous as a designer of furniture and opened the...
16/02/2026

The Design museum was established in 1989 by Terence Conran. Conran was famous as a designer of furniture and opened the Habitat store in London in 1964. He later opened a number of restaurants including Bibendum and Bluebird.
The design museum originally located on the river front close to Tower Bridge moved to its present location in Kensington in 2016.

The design museum showcases contemporary design in architecture, fashion and graphics. Admission to the permanent collection ‘Design. Maker. User’ is free but there is a charge for special exhibitions.

https://designmuseum.org

Colleagues from the British Guild of Tourist Guides’ recently visited the De-consecrated church of St Mary at Lambeth. ...
13/02/2026

Colleagues from the British Guild of Tourist Guides’ recently visited the De-consecrated church of St Mary at Lambeth.
A church on this site since 1062, the wooden church rebuilt in stone in 1377 which in turn was demolished and rebuilt in mid 19th century. Last burial in the church year was 1865. Among those buried are Elizabeth Howard, mother of Queen Anne Boleyn, five archbishops of Canterbury and Elias Ashmole, after whom the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford is named.

More ‘British Guild of Tourist Guides’ Continual Professional Development with a visit to the Magic Circle. Founded in ...
13/02/2026

More ‘British Guild of Tourist Guides’ Continual Professional Development with a visit to the Magic Circle. Founded in 1905 by 23 magicians to ‘promote and advance the art of magic’. Today Membership is about 1700, mostly British but some international members too including David Copperfield. There is a vigorous application process to prove competence to be a member.
There is a small theatre and 2 other rooms (and the all important bar) where performances at weekends take place at a very reasonable rate. More information on the websites https://themagiccircle.co.uk/shows/

While it is off-tourist season, gives guides a chance to revisit sites and visit new sites. Glen and a few Blue Badge qu...
11/02/2026

While it is off-tourist season, gives guides a chance to revisit sites and visit new sites.
Glen and a few Blue Badge qualified colleagues, took the difficult decision to research the newly opened Guinness brewery in the heart of Covent Garden.
British Guild of Tourist Guides
https://opengatelondon.guinness.com/en

The church of St Martin of Tours became the cathedral for the Anglican Diocese of Leicester in 1927. Origins of today’s ...
04/02/2026

The church of St Martin of Tours became the cathedral for the Anglican Diocese of Leicester in 1927. Origins of today’s church date to the 11th century although likely on the site of an older church. Certainly located on Roman remains when Leicester known as Ratae Corieltauvorum.
Rebuilt and enlarged between 13 and 15th centuries, there was a major restoration in 19th Century by Raphael Brandon.
The Cathedral was centre of a major news story in 2015 with the re internment of King Richard III

Not on the usual tourist route, the city of Chichester in West Sussex. Founded and known to the Romans as Noviomagus Re...
23/01/2026

Not on the usual tourist route, the city of Chichester in West Sussex. Founded and known to the Romans as Noviomagus Reginorum, evidence of the definitive periods of English history can still be seen.

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