Royal Tour Of St James', Parks, Palaces And Royal Intrigue

Sandy took the four of us - me, my wife, our six-month-old strapped to my chest, and our miniature dachshund - around St James' for three hours. A great afternoon: full of stories and odd bits of history you'd never pick up on your own, not a procession of dates. Easy pace and completely unfazed by the baby and the dog. We live in London and still learned plenty about what's on our doorstep. Recommended.

A really enjoyable tour, so much interesting detail…. I now know why Green Park is called by that name! Sandy was so knowledgable and told us so many background stories it brought the whole tour alive. Highly recommended!

Learned so much today, from who’s who at the Changing of the Guard, how St James’ Park became a park, masses about the monarchy from Henry VIII to now, to fun facts about Fortnum’s London honeys and marmalade competitions and men’s clubs! Sandy was a great guide, enthusiastic and very informative, and brought the area to life for me.

My family of 5 truly enjoyed Sandy's tour of St. James Village. She is so knowledgeable and inspiring to listen to, from her stories of London's Royal history plus more. I highly recommend this tour.

Sandy’s knowledge of the Royals is so extensive, it was like we had a personal member of the family walking with us! She took her time, explained what was coming up, connected places to people, and people to their place in history. She gave a personal glimpse into what life was like since the beginning of English heritage. Seeing the changing of the guard from the beginning was an added bonus she was able to include! If you want a walking history lesson, and come out feeling like you “know” the royals, this is the tour and Sandy is your guide!

Sandy, our guide for this tour, was prompt and very knowledgeable of St James and the Royal Village. I would highly recommend her, especially for first time London visitors. The walking tour does move fast and is roughly 3 hrs on foot.

Sandy, our guide was extremely knowledgeable, energetic and enthusiastic. She made learning about the history of all of the sites we saw fun and interesting. She also had fantastic advice about how to get the most out of the experience, should we want to dig in deeper at any of the spectacular locations she showed us. Would recommend her 100% for anyone touring this area.

Sandy, our guide for the morning, was already waiting for us at the starting point. There was only 4 of us on this tour, which immediately felt relaxed and just the type of experience we were looking for. After a few facts and figures and explanations on how the the mornings tour would run, we were off. Immediately I could tell we were going to enjoy the experience, Sandy had clearly spent a lot of time preparing the tour and doing her research on Royal St James. We were about to find out not only about the Royals who called St James home but the nobility and local characters that had moved west from the city to establish new lives. Although the history of St James went back to before Henry VIII, we focussed on the last 300 years or so, which was very much what we wanted. Sandy brought to life not only the monarchs of the Georges, the Williams, the Annes and Victoria but also the people that had flocked to the area once the royals were in residence. A highlight of the tour was the changing of the guard at St James Palace and Buckingham Palace with the Grenadier Guards in all their splendour accompanied by marching bands. Always good to see the crowds jump when the drums start the procession with such a clash when you are only a couple of feet away from them. Although it was a hot day with Sandy cramming a lot of interesting facts and answering lots of our questions, the tour seemed over in a flash. If you are looking for a smaller. more personal tour, would highly recommend. We plan to join Sandy on further tours soon, including Hampton Court and Westminster....Can't wait!!

Tour started promptly, and our guide explained everything we would definitely see and what we would hopefully see. This was a small intimate tour and our guide (Sandy) explained that she only toured with small numbers so that she could be attentive to the group and more importantly answer any questions. Sandy had obviously done plenty of research in support of the tour with plenty of little anecdotes as well as the key historical facts. Being a small group we were able to explore the little alleys, narrow streets and tiny square that were tucked away, each with a story to tell and ones that Sandy brought to life. Although it wasn't guaranteed we were able to see the changing of the old guard at St James Palace and the new guard at Wellington Barracks. It meant some swift footwork but Sandy had already explained this and checked we were all happy with making a few quick moves to make the most of the spectacular of the Marching Bands and the Grenadier Guards, responsible for protecting the King. It wasn't all rush and we had time to shade from the sun and have more fun facts and history explained to us, with lots of chances to ask questions. If you love intimate, historical tours with a friendly and knowledgable host, can't recommend enough and will definitely book more tours with Sandy......Wear comfy shoes!!

The walk around St james was extremely informative. Following a return to London and more specifically this particular area, sandy our guide gave me such a great insight to the extensive history of this place through the detailed descriptions provided throughout the tour Thoroughly recommend this tour to not only foreign tourist but locals as well

A very informative tour by our tour guide, Sandy. Really enjoyable and full of amazing facts and anecdotes. Highly recommended. Jan Tomlins

This tour was informative and interesting and took us past all the main sites of St James, as well as to a few hidden spots, that we never would have stumbled upon. Sandy was gracious, good humoured and knew everything about London. She had interesting anecdotes and historical knowledge starting from the Tudor times in England, all the way to the London Olympics and beyond and was ready to answer any question with aplomb. Some walking tours can drag, but I honestly found Sandy to be interesting and engaging throughout the tour. Thank you!

This tour was exactly as described and gave a comprehensive overview of the St James’ area. Our guide Sandy was very knowledgable, about the area and London generally, and friendly. She expertly guided our small group through all the major tourist sites and also into quiet areas we would never have found by ourselves. Look forward to doing another London tour with Sandy.

Sandy was such a great tour guide! The small group tour was very comprehensive and she showed us so many parts of London I haven't seen before. The pace was perfect, very informative and personalised to our group. St James’ is such a beautiful part of the city to walk around and made so much better with the lead from Sandy. She obviously knew her stuff and was happy to answer all the questions we had. Can’t wait to do other tours with her!

Sandy Rhodes was extremely knowledgeable and thorough! We can’t recommend her private walking tours highly enough! My husband and I met Sandy outside the st james ritz hotel and walked throughout st Jane’s, saw the changing of the guard at Buckingham palace, A very memorable morning!

Book this tour! Sandy was absolutely on the ball with this wonderful tour. My husband and I have been to London every year for the last 10 years and always stay in the St. James area. It was so interesting and fun to learn about the history of the parks, shops, and royals of the area. This tour was outstanding and Sandy is a great storyteller. I highly recommend you book with her for any of her tours. We are already planning our next one for next year when we are back. Thank you, Sandy!

Sandy provided our family of 7 (ages 14-75) with a great introductory tour of the St. James area. She was able to accomodate all of our requests and discuss our collective interests in the area on a wide range of topics from architecture to cuisine to the royal family. She was timely, efficient and pleasant to spend time with. I would highly recommend her.

I did a walking tour of the St James area with Sandy Rhodes that far exceeded my expectations. Sandy was considerate, knowledgeable and personable, providing a tour that was varied in content and rich (in cheese &) information ... do the tour ... you'll know what I mean.... I'll definitely do another of her tours when next in London.