After a lifetime in hospitality, from working as a waiter and up to manager, 57-year-old Greg Winrow took the plunge last summand launched his own business.
The business, All Tours Great and Small, features Greg and an 8-seater Ford minibus.
He starts his tours from Exhibition Square in York, though with his private tours, he also picks customers up from hotels, guest houses, etc.
RECOMMENDED READING:
The idea for the new venture came from when Greg was helping a friend on food tours of York, which gave him the confidence to talk to people more and open his own business.
Greg said: “I am really enjoying the experience. They are long days but it is rewarding meeting new people every day and every day of course is different.”
Initially, Greg began with a Whitby tour, which includes Byland Abbey, Helmsley for refreshments, Hutton Le Hole, a few photo stops on the moors, and then to Goathland, where the customers take the North Yorkshire Moors Railway heritage steam train to Whitby.
Greg then meets them off the platform, introduces them to Whitby and after some fish and chip recommendations, leaves them to explore Whitby for a few hours before returning to York.
Greg reports the trips were a success but even before the new Wuthering Heights filom came out, customers started asking about options to visit the Bronte sites, leading him to research the subject over the winter.
The Bronte tour starts in York, with the first stop being Thorp Green Hall, where Anne Bronte where Anne Bronte and her brother ‘Branwell’ were employed.
Then, after refreshments, the tour heads to Saltaire and the salt mills to show the backdrop to the life of the Brontes before heading to Thornton and visiting The Bronte Birthplace Museum.
Here, Greg gives a private tour of their birthplace, before moving on to Howarth to visit the Bronte Parsonage Museum. Then, they explore the town before heading up Penistone Hill, and up towards the beak moors of Top Witherns, the inspiration for Wuthering Heights.
Greg explained: “All through the morning I will tell my guests stories of the lives of the Brontes form their early start right through to their tragic deaths.”
This season Greg is concentrating on the Whitby and Bronte tours. Although, there are other operators undertaking similar tours, Greg believes his tours are more “more intimate, chatty, more niche.”
He certainly seems to be on the right road, with Tripadvisor awarding him five stars out of five, based on 60 reviews, ranking him 29th out of 167 tours and activities in York.
The most recent review also awarded five stars, saying “wonderful Bronte tour” and “what an amazing day….highly recommend.”
For details and to book, go to: https://www.alltoursgreatandsmall.com/v2/
