I recently went on the Black-friars Walk with Hazel as the guide. The walk was incredibly interesting. Hazel's leadership and the amount of information she imparted to the group was second to none. I will definitely be doing another walk with Hazel and would not hesitate to recommend her walks to others.
Well prepared and informative walk of about 90 mins at a leisurely pace.
Time to respond to questions from the group which yielded much further insight.
This was a great walking tour tracing part of Oliver Twist but was also a fascinating and eye opening look at Victorian London..Hazel our guide was clear, knowledgable and fun.
I had a lovely time with Angela, on a Victorian tour of London. Her knowledge was great and her enthusiasm shone through, even though the weather wasn't great!
My school friend and I were meeting for a catch up and fancied trying something different. I had attended The Hearts and Heretics Guided Walk with my husband on Valentine's Day and enjoyed it so much, so suggested we book The Oliver Twist one.
We met in The Angel on a beautifully sunny April afternoon. It was fun to hear about the area in Victorian times, places that seem quite inconsequential to us when we're trudging around with our daily lives often aren't, or weren't! I won't say what we learned as I urge you to try it, but it was so interesting and Hazel is so kind, friendly and descriptive that she really makes it all come alive! Because we were right where it had all taken place it was easy to get a good idea of the scale of what we were being told. We heard some very interesting little facts about the local area and Hazel offered a few recommendations along the way, which is always nice. I liked that it was based on Charles Dicken's Oliver Twist, it made a good basis of how those kind of character's lives may have played out.
Some of what we learned was very funny and some was just plain wonderfully weird!
Hearing about the struggles some people would have faced was quite sad. My friend and I were surprised that the issues Londoner's struggled with in Victorian times hasn't changed. People are still living in poverty, often in inadequate accommodation, children are still sometimes treated poorly when they don't have anyone. Immigration problems and the hurdles people face when moving into London are still pretty much the same. The huge class divide is ever present. I found it quite sad that in some ways we haven't made much progress since Victorian times ...
I really can't wait to book up for the Street Art In Shoreditch Guided Walk now. Hazel even took us all for a drink after. We told her that when we were at school we had a very mean history teacher so we both hated the subject. We're educating ourselves now! We both said we wished Hazel could have been our teacher!
Once you've been on a walk with Hazel you'll be back for more! She's most welcoming, very knowledgeable and has hunted out those quirky details which you tend to remember over the big facts. You come away with a smile having had a really good time.
