Walking Tours of Chester
Whether you are looking for something different to impress your friends, or planning an event for an organisation, a guided walking tour of the city of Chester can be fun, educational and certainly memorable.
Eastgate Street, viewed through the City walls
The city of Chester attracts visitors from all corners of the world (between six and eight million each year). Take a stroll around and it’s easy to see why: the old city is astonishingly beautiful and packed with historical interest.
Other towns and cities have shopping malls, but Chester’s malls (or “rows”) date back to the thirteenth century!
A few old English towns have preserved sections of their medieval walls, but Chester has near-complete walls, parts of which are Roman.
Other places have fine shops, cafes and restaurants, but in Chester’s shops you may stumble upon a Roman column base, a mosaic, or part of a hypocaust (Roman central heating). You may look up to see Gothic stone vaulting, Tudor beams or a plaster ceiling from the reign of Charles II.
There are many other delights, of course: an ancient cathedral, the largest Roman amphitheatre in the UK, a beautiful racecourse (claimed to be the oldest in the country), river trips…
To get the most out of a visit to Chester, a walking tour is recommended.
Roger Stephens qualified as a Chester Green Badge Guide in 2001, and is a member of the North West Guild of Tourist Guides.
The types of walking tour on offer are:
- History tour - a general introduction to the city, taking you into the old buildings to get an inside view of the city’s 2000 year old history.
- Ghost tour - Chester claims to have more ghosts than any other British city; this is your chance to meet some of them!
- Rows tour - discover Chester’s unique two-tier shops, with their medieval, stone undercrofts and timber-framing.
- Roman tour - the basic street plan of Chester is unchanged since the days of the Romans, and on this tour we walk in their footsteps. The city is littered with the remains of that era: the city walls, the amphitheatre, the strong room, hypocausts, columns, gravestones and even a carving of the goddess Minerva.
- Victorian tour - learn how the Victorians turned Chester into the most picturesque city in Britain.
Tours may start when and where you like, covering any particular interests and catering for any special needs you may have.
For insurance reasons, tour groups must be restricted to a maximum of 25 persons.
Please feel free to contact Roger by clicking on the following link, guided tours of Chester, for an informal chat without obligation.