Information about Ruddick Tours

Holding both the London Blue Badge and the City of London Badge plus many years of ongoing study adequately equip me for the work I do, but there is no substitute for enthusiasm and energy and I hope to have the opportunity to demonstrate this to your group! I'm always delighted when I hear that my tours have been educational, but I get just as much satisfaction from seeing by the group's reactions and comments that they are entertaining too. I believe the best tours should combine information, experiences (and serendipity) in an entertaining way. Summing up, my aim is to give you a really great tour with plenty of facts and figures, but lots of fun too!

My tours are either on foot, or by 9-seater VW people-carrier or if you're a larger group, by big coach. On an average day your tour will commence at 9am, shorter tours can start later, but tours like The Big One (14 hours!) require a much earlier start: 7am! Please go to the individual tour descriptions via the menu at the head of each page. You will find that full tour details, destinations, the duration in hours and the tour cost are all clearly shown. Please note all tour prices shown are for the group, NOT per person.

The tours are conducted in English, but if another language is required, my fellow London Guides speak almost 40 languages between them - so I'll refer your enquiry in the right direction.

My driver-guiding work consists of taking small groups of up to 8 persons in my mini-van, a long wheelbase air-conditioned VW Transporter 'Van', with lots of luggage space for those staying away trips - see the pic below.

Occasionally I work with larger groups and will hire a coach and driver for us. These can be single deckers up to 55 seats or double deckers which can seat up to 72. I only use companies who are well-established and offer late model, air-conditioned vehicles driven by the best drivers. On these tours my responsibilities are those of both Tour Director and Guide.

If you like to stretch those legs please check out my walking tours - both City Walks and Country Hikes, they offer excellent value for money and will certainly keep you fit!

My van

All my tours are for individual private groups of families and friends, or schools, societies or corporate groups who are travelling together, and whilst the majority of my clients are from the English-speaking world, I've been privileged to tour with people from practically every corner of the globe. Occasionally we have to deal with a language barrier where someone in the family has limited English, but I find more and more these days that there is always at least one person in the group with a reasonably good command of the English language, and they prove invaluable when the description or subject gets technical!

Whatever the size of the group touring with me, you are all participating in a private tour - I'm your guide only.

I'm occasionally asked 'there's just the two of us and it's a bit expensive for us, so can we join another group?' The answer is 'sorry, but no, I don't offer 'scheduled' tours, and I never mix individuals who do not know each other, these are private tours'. If the cost is too high for you, I recommend that you take a look at the large group tours by coach - they run to a schedule and start from various pick-up points in central London.

Ray in Canary Wharf, London's 'New Manhattan'

Getting all the links and other hopefully helpful information on my site has been a labour of love - but it has taken considerable time so please do take advantage of it!

From What's Free in London? to my Monthly Events Guide or the History Notes the visitor F.A.Q.'s or the A to Z list of London's Historic Blue Plaques Guide - there's plenty for you to get stuck into, so do dig in, and whether you are able to take a tour with me or not, you are very welcome here!

If these sections enable you to get more from your visit to our wonderful City and the unique little countries that make up the British Isles it will have been very worthwhile, and if you do find the information helpful, please don't forget to tell your friends!

Let me close by saying that I hope to have the pleasure of being of service to you and your family or group soon and sharing the delights of London, the United Kingdom and Ireland with you. Drop me an email if you have specific queries, I shall be very pleased to help.

ADDITIONAL F.A.Q. NOTES:

''What if you're already booked, who will you refer us to?'' In the event that I was not available to assist, I would try to put you in touch with a guiding colleague who you could follow up your enquiry with direct. The information that follows outlines my policy when recommending other guides.

Firstly, I would aim to refer you on to a guide who shares my enthusiasm and love of this country's rich historic and cultural legacy - after all, it is precisely this wealth that makes a visit to the UK such a rewarding experience. There are other criteria which would influence me and these may be of interest to you.

For general walking tours and coach (big bus) tours, a guide needs experience in handling larger groups, with safety in mind at all times, and an ability to ensure that all members of the group feel 'included' in the experience. This is not as easy as it sounds - believe me!

For carrying out driver-guiding work, a guide's vehicles must be a late model, correctly insured and driven to a good, safe standard. Your guide should be registered with the appropriate Public Carriage Office, who regularly inspect both vehicle and records to maintain standards of safety, and he/she should have a pleasant, lively personality and be a good 'people-person', especially where family groups are concerned.

''What is this Blue Badge thing..?''

Professionalising and enhancing the role of the Tourist Guide really began here and many countries around the world now run guide-training courses based on similar lines to the UK model. There are various guiding qualifications, but here's a brief explanation about the most important. The London Blue Badge is generally accepted as the most prestigious of the UK's guiding qualifications. A couple of years of very rigorous study, covering a wide range of subjects from current affairs, to political matters, the British legal systems, educational system, commerce, farming, social life, history, arts, etc., culminate in a week of written and practical examinations, by bus and on foot.

The holder is qualified to guide in London and most places within a day's drive of London.

Some guides extend their knowledge much further - this applies in my own case - and can therefore conduct tours just about anywhere in the UK, Ireland and mainland Europe. (I gained the London Blue Badge in 2003).

The City of London Badge is awarded to those who have completed an intensive course of both study and on-foot practical guiding techniques almost entirely focussed on the "Square Mile", i.e. the City of London.

City of London guides normally concentrate on walking tours only as their area is literally just 1 square mile. Others may offer walking tours of other London areas, outside the City's square mile and one or two will cover wider areas still by offering a driver-guide service having gained additional knowledge to do so, but their main area of expertise remains in the place we Londoner's call 'the old City'. City Guides are also authorised to guide inside the major sites inside the square mile, Guildhall and St Pauls' Cathedral, for example. (I gained the City of London Badge in 1992).

The Regional Blue Badge, like the London Blue Badge is earned following much study and practical training based almost wholly on the City or Region concerned and most Regional Blue Badge holders restrict their guiding activities to the region where they are based.

Having said that, a few Regional Blue Badge holders carry out guiding activities to a high standard outside their own area because they have chosen to widen their knowledge. I very occasionally meet one in the London area, for example, but this is rare - London is massive, both in the range of historic sites and also in its' complexity. Always better if looking at a London tour to choose a London Blue Badge Guide!