9 minute read
Walking the English Riviera
Graham Kerr
Walking the English Riviera
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Graham Kerr is the owner of English Riviera Walking Tours and is coordinating the exciting new English Riviera Walking Festival in October. Anita Newcombe meets him for a chat.
As it’s a very rainy day, I’m meeting Graham in the restaurant on the top oor of Hoopers in Torquay. He’s just nished one of his regular walking tours with a group of Bay visitors.
In fact, although his very rst job was working for Plymouth based Farley’s baby foods, Graham has spent most of his career running his own marketing agency. He sold the company in October 2019 with a vague idea of retirement, but a trip to London with wife Maria, who is Registrar at Plymouth College, changed everything.
Although the London tour itself wasn’t particularly memorable, Graham noticed that his guide had gathered a good 30 or 40 people
in his group, a pretty impressive “turnout. Not only that, but a little later he spotted the same guide with his next tour and a similar size group. A germ of an idea was sown and when he returned to Torquay, he discovered the town’s tour guide had recently retired.
During the rst lockdown, Graham took the opportunity to create a range of tours including: Beauty of the Bay, Best of Babbacombe, Torquay at War and Hidden Harbour. He approached the Visitor Information Centre in Torquay who recommended developing an Agatha Christie tour because a huge number of our visitors are interested in the Queen of Crime’s links to Torquay.
Many of us will know that Agatha Christie was born in Torquay and later bought Greenway in Galmpton as a holiday residence. ere’s a wealth of local links and intriguing anecdotes about the internationally bestselling crime author. e second lockdown provided the time for Graham to carry out the research and it became apparent that focussing on Agatha’s remarkable life was
the ‘sweet spot’, which would be interesting to her fans across the world. Nowadays, Graham’s Agatha Christie Tours are by far his most popular and he runs these twice a day, every day during the summer. It’s a delightful two and a half hour guided walk, over at terrain, with a stop at Torre Abbey for scrumptious tea and cake. Graham says, “It’s a massive privilege to be able to convey the extraordinary story of the world’s bestselling novelist and Torquay’s most famous resident (and yes she is more famous than Basil Fawlty!)”. In just two and a half years, Graham has walked approximately 2 million steps or the equivalent of walking from Torquay to Edinburgh twice – whilst talking all the way! e majority of overseas guests are from America with other visitors from Luxembourg, Iceland, Dubai, South Africa, Canada, Ukraine, Russia, Japan, Singapore, Argentina and Algeria. e most recent is a famous crime writer from Panama, who has been inspired to write by reading Agatha Christie as a child and travelled especially to Torquay for the Agatha Christie Festival. Now Graham is working with a wide range of tour guides in preparation for the forthcoming English Riviera Walking Festival, which takes place from 15 to 22 October. ere are 24 themed walks to suit all ages and abilities and it’s Since Maria and I moved already proving very popular. here, our Somerset friends Organising the festival has have joined us too, drawn made Graham re ect fondly in by the beauty of the bay on his experiences as a tour guide in Torbay. Memorable guests include: a psychic medium who pointed out ‘spirits’ along the route; a female Russian comedian who works the ‘adult circuit’; an inspirational blind couple with their guide dog; a ballet dancer from Taiwan and a Met Police O cer working on the Grenfell Tower enquiry. He’s loved meeting over 1,000 people on his tours to date. Nowadays most of his bookings come via Trip Advisor, Air BnB and his website and he’s justly proud of his perfect 5 star record for every guest review. Graham has spent most of his life in Somerset and other parts of Devon. One day he ‘Googled’ beach cafés in the West Country and up popped Meadfoot Beach. He loved the area so much that he booked into the Osborne Hotel and started looking in estate agent windows. He returned home to Somerset, put their house on the market and moved to Torquay ve years ago.
He says, “One of the best decisions we ever made! Since Maria and I moved here, our Somerset friends have joined us too, drawn in by the beauty of the bay.”
Graham and Maria have two children who both went to Wellington School in Somerset. It’s the very same school attended by David Suchet, the actor who famously played Agatha Christie’s legendary Hercule Poirot.
Graham is keen to pay tribute to the English Riviera BID Company, the driving force behind the new English Riviera Walking Festival. He has bene tted from other local partnerships too including e 25 Boutique, Torquay Water Sports, Cary Arms, Devon & Moor Walking and Driving Tours and the South West Coast Path. Not to mention all the amazing walk leaders who will be leading exciting tours during the festival. If you want to book a festival walk, do have a look at the following pages for all the details. englishrivierawalkingtours.co.uk
Do you fancy a guided tour through the Bay’s most fascinating and beautiful places? If so, the brand-new English Riviera Walking Festival will be right up your street.
There’s no shortage of spectacular walks along our beautiful coast and countryside, but there is always so much more to discover. Some really special guided tours are now available to book. How about Horticultural Odyssey; Hidden Wonders of Wellswood; Discovering Torquay’s involvement in both World Wars; or Twilight Bat Hunt?
Walks range from hilly routes along the South West Coast Path, to an easy meander by the beach, so there’s something suitable for walkers of all abilities and ages. There’s even a Wagging Tails Trail especially for dogs and their owners led by doglover and guide Nigel Makin.
This brand-new festival will open your eyes to a wealth of intriguing facts that may very well have passed you by. Paignton’s Hidden History Walk led by Karen Chapman will acquaint you with the fascinating tales of this town’s development on a circular walk that includes its wonderful historic buildings.
The Cockington Woodland Wander will take you from Occombe across open farmland to centuriesold Cockington Country Park to discover the historic
manor house, its quaint church and beautiful lakes. Torquay’s Supernatural Tour, led by historian Dr Kevin Dixon, will focus on a light-hearted look at the many legends and ghosts associated with the town. Along with local author Matt Newbury, Kevin is also running a Magical Musical Tour, a walk to uncover the locations of songs that were written in, or inspired by Torbay. Tour guide and festival organiser Graham Kerr “ is running a rather more strenuous walk entitled Beauty of the Bay that tours the grand architecture of the Lincombes, This brand-new festival will open your eyes to a wealth of intriguing facts that may very well have passed you by... “ visits Meadfoot Beach and returns via a view of the London Bridge sea arch and the Imperial Hotel. Or you could try his hugely popular walk entitled Agatha Christie’s Extraordinary Life, recounting the story of Torquay’s best known resident, who has sold over 2 billion books. Nick Powe, owner of Kents Cavern, will be leading a 4-mile walk around the English Riviera UNESCO Global Geopark. It takes in the SW Coast Path including the highly photogenic Thatcher Point, Hope’s Nose and Anstey’s Cove. He will also be
rivierawalking.co.uk
leading a special evening tour of the awe inspiring Kents Cavern.
Ali Marshall, Head Gardener at Torre Abbey, will be opening your eyes to the delights of the walled garden at Torre Abbey and through the grounds, examining rare and exciting plants in their collection. Her Horticultural Odyssey will see you stroll amongst the remains of a medieval monastery and the fascinating Potent Plants Garden, which was inspired by Agatha Christie’s love of poison.
Maritime Paignton, led by Karen Howes is a circular walk via Paignton Harbour and Fairy Cove to Roundham Head and through Young’s Park, giving an exciting insight into Torbay’s astonishing maritime history.
How about a short stroll foraging for plants around Torre Abbey’s beautiful walled garden to create your perfect cocktail? Simon Akeroyd, author and owner of Yarde Wild Winery is your guide. You’ll make and savour a Torre Abbey cocktail at the end of the tour, enhanced by Yarde of Cockington sparkling wild wine. This is an over 18s tour.
John Risdon, a heritage guide, will be leading the Senior Strollers of Broadsands tour, which takes in the vivid geological structures and hidden shipwrecks of this impossibly beautiful beach with its pretty beach huts, majestic railway viaducts and iconic stream train.
Kevin Johns, guide and storyteller at Taleblazers will be leading Hidden Wonders of Wellswood, which takes in the natural and man-made beauty of this a uent area, with wonderful sea views, woodland walks and the stunning Regency architecture of Hesketh Crescent.
Every guide is local and there are over 22 miles of beautiful scenery, hidden tales and fascinating places to discover.
A full list of all the walks, booking details and more about the guides can be found on the festival website (rivierawalking.co.uk) . The cost for joining a walk is £9 per person for adults, £6 per person for under-18s and under-5s go free. There is also a selection of self-guided walks on the website to choose from.
English Riviera BID Company, as well as Torbay Council and Torbay Coast & Countryside Trust are key festival partners.
