What do most visitors get wrong about England? According to Travel Director Kellie, almost everything; the food, the rain, even the accents. She’s spent years showing guests the England behind the clichés. Here’s how she really sees the country she calls home.
What’s your favorite place in England?
“My favourite place in England is London, but you know, I’m biased as I live there. Most of our tours start and leave from there, so I don’t actually get to show people London, which is a shame, because I would love to.
“Second favourite, I like Bath. Actually, I’m a big fan of Bath. Beautiful, beautiful city. Gorgeous countryside around it, and the Georgian architecture is just quite breathtaking. Love it.
“We take people up to Royal Crescent, you go out and have a group photo, and my guests are always just absolutely gobsmacked. And then obviously you’ve got the Roman connection, you’ve got the Roman baths, and it’s just a really lovely little part of the country as well. As you’re driving in, it’s like Rome, built on seven hills. It’s gorgeous, really, really beautiful.”
If England were a person, how would you describe their personality?
“Quite graceful and charming. A bit old-fashioned. Not London, London’s like cutting edge. But the rest of England can be a bit like stepping back in time. I think there’s an underlying sort of hospitality, but not in an over-the-top way. We’re welcoming, but we’re not particularly gregarious or over the top about it.”
What’s the biggest misconception visitors have about England?
“I think there are a lot of misconceptions about England; we’ve got a very historically bad reputation for our food, and I think that’s absolute nonsense, I think we have some of the best food in the world. With our heritage of the British Empire, we have food influences from all over the world that we bring into our culture. The food here can surprise people — that it is actually good, because of this old-fashioned idea that we all eat tinned Spam or something.
“So it’s the food, and I know I’ve joked about it, but it’s also that it’s foggy, or that it rains all the time, It really doesn’t, and people are always coming here with these old-fashioned ideas that we’re all walking around here in fog, eating pea soup like in the 1940s.
“Scotland and Ireland do rain a lot, but England doesn’t so much — especially during the summer. I think people are genuinely surprised.”
Is there a stereotype about England that makes you laugh because there’s a grain of truth to it?
“People queuing up, forming an orderly line for almost everything. Even, it seems these days, in pubs — which never used to be a thing pre-COVID. But we love a queue. I definitely think there’s an element of wanting to obey those unspoken civilian rules here, like standing on the right-hand side of an escalator, thanking the bus driver, things like that.
“Also, a lot of people think that we all down tools at 3 o’clock to have afternoon tea and cakes. People are really surprised that we actually drink more coffee here. Politeness, too. I think people stereotype the English as being very polite, and there is an element of that, we do it almost out of habit, like saying ‘sorry’ as a shorthand for so many things, like asking someone if you can sit next to them on the train. It’s a bit odd when you think about it, but we can’t help it.”
What’s the question guests ask you most about England?
“Recently, because of Brexit, a lot of people say things like ‘Oh, how was it to get your money back?’ — and I have to explain that we never lost our currency, or were not part of Europe in the same way as the continental bloc. There’s quite a lot of misconceptions about England and the UK’s relationship with Europe, which is understandable as it’s quite a complicated subject! I try to answer these questions as best I can, without being an expert.
“I also get asked — more often than you might expect, but usually in jest — if I’ve ever met the Queen. More seriously, I get asked what I think of the Royal Family? The truth is I don’t have particularly strong feelings about them one way or another. I appreciate them because they bring a lot of visitors to the country, but honestly I’m not a huge royalist. Often my guests are much more passionate about them than I am — because of the romance of heritage and tradition that they represent.”
What do you miss most when you’re away from England?
“Being from London, I miss the things that London has to offer, so all the live theatre (that’s my biggest thing, actually), and obviously my friends and my family.”
What’s your best advice for first-time visitors to England?
“Be prepared for any weather. Know about sterling, the fact that we don’t use the euro, we have a different currency. And know which adapter to use.
A lot of our guests come from, like, Australia and America, and we’re not hugely different to a lot of them, particularly Australians and New Zealanders. Culturally we’re quite similar. It’s not like going to Italy, where there’s very different etiquette. This makes it quite an easy place to travel, especially if it’s your first trip; it’s quite easy to come somewhere like England when you’re from America or Australia. We’ve got the same language, which makes things nice and easy. Yeah, there are little things things we do differently, but generally we live life in a quite similar way.”
Is there anything that surprises visitors more than they expect?
There’s the whole England, Scotland and Wales thing. I think people find it quite hard, because they learn a lot about the history of those places and how England’s treated them, so they find it hard to see how we all live together now. They want to know, why aren’t we constantly at war? It’s not really a thing anymore. People also ask about the border: when we cross into Scotland, do we need to show anything? Nope!”
Finish the sentence: You haven’t truly experienced England until…
“…you’ve had scones and cream tea, and had the conversation about which goes on first, the cream or the jam. That’s something I do on tour. And you’ve never truly experienced England until you’ve sat at the seaside eating chips, with seagulls circling. That’s pretty iconic.”