Exeter’s free guided Red Coat tours win glowing praise online
Published: 22 December 2022
Exeter’s amazing Red Coat volunteer guides have been given a glowing review by happy visitors from the Midlands.
The couple enjoyed the free tours so much they ended up delaying their return home to take part in more during a recent visit to the city.
The review, on Trip Advisor, described the tours and the free service as “absolutely incredible” and the couple pledged to return to the city in the future.
It said: “Having never visited Exeter before we thought we should try to find a walking tour to orientate ourselves to the layout and also find out a little bit about the history of the city.
“We found a number of free tours to choose from, all run and advertised on the Exeter City Council website.
“On our first day, the Tuesday morning, a Cathedral to Quay tour began at 11am. Most of the tours start at the Richard Hooker statue, which is in front of the Cathedral. This is easy to find and the tour guides are easy to spot as they wear red coats displaying Exeter City Council logo.
“We enjoyed our hour and half tour with guide Cherry so much that we decided to join the 2pm one being held later that day called Georgian Exeter.
“This time our guide was Clive and again the tour was extremely interesting and informative. With so many different walks on offer, we decided to also go on the Medieval Exeter tour running at 11am the next day with guide Dave, which again was so excellent that we delayed our return home so we could join the fabulous Clive again on Thursday morning for the Forgotten Exeter tour.”
The review added: “The fact that these tours are free and that the guides are volunteers is absolutely incredible.
“It became immediately clear that all the guides have a deep understanding of their subject matter and a deep passion to share this knowledge. We really felt we got to learn about Exeter and we will definitely be returning in the future.
“The tours are also a great way to meet interesting people from all over the world. On the ones we went on there was a family from Australia visiting family, a mother and daughter from South Africa, an amazing lady from Canada who’d just completed a walk from John O’Groats to Land’s End in memory of her father, many students from all over Europe besides UK tourists such as ourselves.
“We would like to say a huge thank you to Exeter City Council but especially to all the tour guides that give so generously of their time and bring so much pleasure.”
The free Red Coat tours operate daily throughout the year. There are a wide range of tours to choose from, allowing people to discover one of the oldest and most beautiful cities in England.
Anyone is free to turn up at the Hooker Statue, on Cathedral Green, to meet a Red Coat Guide and discover more about historic Exeter.
The full list of walks and meeting times is available on the Council’s website.