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Acton Court Guides

What Are Blue Badge Guides?

Blue Badge Guides are the official, professional tourist guides of the United Kingdom. They wear a Blue Badge to indicate their professionalism, and are recognised by local tourist bodies throughout the UK.

The Institute of Tourist Guiding sets a standard, examines and accredits

guides in England. All Blue Badge Guides pass the Institute's exams or the STGA's exams. They study for two to three years at university level, taking a comprehensive series of written and practical exams which qualifies them to become Blue Badge Tourist Guides.

Professional Blue Badge Guides have run the tours at Acton Court since it first opened to the public in 2001. Over the years, they have taken thousands of people around the house and grounds, and received much praise for their varied styles and the distinctly individual ways that they each express its history. Our guides have kept the public safe, entertained and have been a total pleasure to work with.

Angela Nutbrown is the most recent addition to our guiding group. She brought with her an entourage of fans who had experienced her guiding at other venues. She has been a lucky find for us. As it turns out she visited Acton Court right at the beginning before she was a guide herself: “I failed to get to grips with Acton Court and its setting on a bleak February day back in the early 2000s, when on my Garden History MA course. I was stomping around in wellies, trying to understand the general lay-out in Tudor times, and the site made little impact. To be honest, I didn't register much about the property, either.

Years later, with general Blue Badge Tour Guide experience under my belt, and with a beautiful spring day showing Acton Court at its best, I was keen to become better acquainted with the house, its setting and its history by becoming one of the team of guides. And it has charmed me ever since. Just as importantly, it seems to have the same effect on our visitors.The place has a magic all of its own.”

Rodger Fowler joined us at the end of the last decade and brought his own unique style and interpretation full of fun and humour.

“I have been a guide at Acton Court for over ten years. My lasting memories of my time spent here is of the many visitors with whom I have had the pleasure of sharing my love of this wonderful house. Most come to hear about the connection with Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn’s visit. As important as that was, and it is always the main focus of the tour, it was only for two nights in August 1535 and at a house that has centuries of history. For me, it is also important to give the visitor a more rounded picture of life at Acton Court. Some visitors, on the other hand, come because they live locally and can recall seeing, and visiting the house during its dying days as a working farm. Their memories of the dilapidated buildings and the somewhat eccentric owner help to add even more colour to the house’s rich historical tapestry, and gives me some lovely anecdotes to add to my script. The round of applause often received at the end of a tour gives me the satisfaction of knowing that my visitors have been on a tour that has been informative, entertaining and given a lot of pleasure – as a tour guide, who could ask for anything more?”

Brenda Page was also one of our original 2001 group of guides. Brenda has not only been a fabulous guide but she also has written and performed a number of theatrical events. Her best known were her ‘Candlelit Tours as Lady Joan Poyntz’ and ‘A Tapestry of Words and Music’. This is what she says about her guiding experience at Acton Court. “Twenty years ago, when I was invited to guide at Acton Court, I knew practically nothing about the latest fashions in architecture and decoration represented here, the prominence of the courtier Poyntz family, or the historic royal Progress of 1535. The research was fascinating and eye-opening - increasing my knowledge of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn; how people, both high and low, lived in the Tudor age; and the part the West Country played in England's religious history. And I'm still learning - visiting celebrities add to my appreciation of Acton Court with their expertise, and visitors on tours often share local stories of more recent times.”