Julia Morris
I have been a qualified Blue Badge Tourist Guide working across southern England since 2000. I take great care and pleasure preparing and leading journeys that blend exploration with local insight and unique encounters. We discover the landscapes, history and stories of southern England and find the authentic flavour of local culture, art and food.
The region I cover stretches from Royal Windsor to Land’s End in Cornwall, includes Oxford and the Cotswolds, Bath, Winchester and the magnificent south west coast and much more between. I can offer tours that extend across the region or concentrate on a particular town, city, county or theme. Guests can choose to travel by coach, car or train or enjoy a walking tour.
Southern England has been my home most of my life and I am fortunate enough to have lived in many wonderful places across the region. These range from cosmopolitan London, to medieval Salisbury and Georgian Bath, and the lovely rural areas of the Wye Valley, Hampshire and Dorset on the Jurassic coast. I am now fortunate enough to live in Somerset: one of the least visited but most enigmatic counties in the region. Located midway between London and Lands End I can travel with ease across southern England to meet and guide my guests.
My qualifications as a registered Blue Badge Tourist guide complement a long career in cultural heritage and museums specialising in designing visitor experiences, interpretation and learning beyond the classroom. I am inspired by the link between landscape and our sense of place, how real artefacts and authentic experiences link us to people of the past and how a well told story can can bring hidden worlds to life.
Food has a been central theme of the learning and touring programmes I have designed throughout my career. Discovering the world through food is a great adventure that enables us to understand the landscape, the technology and the culture of those who produce and enjoy it. In the last 2 decades British food has become world class: the combination of superb local produce and the imaginative energies of chefs and producers has transformed the appreciation of good food in Britain.
I work with a network of other Blue and Green Badge Guides to lead tours for large groups or on occasions when I am not available. This gives us access to a wide range of expertise and local knowledge across the region.