Sue Hyde The Guide

30/07/2026

Just another day in the office! Today SueHydeTheGuide took a small group of 17 people from UK, US and Australia to Hever Castle in Kent. Built in 1378 originally as a castle for a Tax Collector called John de Cobham who needed protecting from the revolting peasants (can’t imagine why he needed protection! 😛), Hever Castle was the childhood home of poor old Anne Boleyn. Anne was probably the most famous of Henry VIII’s six queens, but she was a highly educated woman who deserves a better press. Hever was really lovely especially as we got an early entry guided tour before the masses arrived. If you haven’t been, I highly recommend it. The gardens are fabulous too! Lots to see and do. • • • •

12/07/2026

SueHydeTheGuide lives in south east London (best part imho) and in one corner they’ve temporarily renamed the train station in honour of one of our key World Cup football superstars Jude Bellingham! And he’s from the West Midlands just like me! Brilliant!

24/06/2026

SueHydeTheGuide has been guiding another lovely choir group around parts of the UK. Here we have the University of Arkansas Children’s Choir with their beautiful voices singing in the magnificent Wells Cathedral. They also sang in Bristol Cathedral and today Holy Trinity Sloane Square. They’ve been such a joy to look after. Homeward bound tomorrow!

06/06/2026

04/06/2026

10/05/2026

15/04/2026

SueHydeTheGuide loves a bit of Islamic art because I studied Arabic and I’ve lived in and visited many Muslim countries. So today did I visit a souk in old Aleppo? Did I enter a mosque in downtown Cairo or a Caravansarai on the Silk Route? Nope! I visited Lord Leighton’s House in Kensington west London. He had his late 19th century house and studio turned into thing of Islamic beauty with designs and artefacts from Turkey, Syria and Egypt. It is truly a stunning house and then off to Sambourne House to visit another Victorian artist. This one was the home of Linley Sambourne, a cartoonist for the satirical Punch magazine and his house has pretty much been preserved as it was as a family home from the 1870s. It really helped me to understand Victorian houses. Notice also the stunning Wisteria on another house nearby - you could smell it from across the road. What an interesting day in west London! • • • •

27/03/2026

Look at this lovely Thank You card given to SueHydeTheGuide today. It was hand drawn by one of the lovely students from Williams Honors College, Akron University in Ohio. I’ve been guiding them all week and we’ve all gone through some pretty tiring days out of London to Bath, Cotswolds, Windsor, Stonehenge and Oxford today but they’ve been troopers and kept smiling and laughing even at my jokes! I love the drawings showing their week in London and beyond. • • • •