Exploring Hadrian's Wall Traveller Reviews

The Hadrian's Wall tour was excellent! Having read about it over the years, it was wonderful to finally be able to experience it in person in all of its glory. The tour guide, Paul Beston, was very knowledgeable and spoke in a very clear and understandable way about its history, how it developed and was built, and the establishments and towns that grew up around it. The accommodations were wonderful! A beautiful small village on a river. The meals provided could not have been better! All in all a most memorable trip!

Ales was very friendly and knowledgeable and kept everything moving well to keep to the schedule. He was very helpful when asked a question about out tour and always kept an eye on us to make sure we had everything we needed. He also was great at following up with questions that he needed to check up on first and always had a smile!

This was our first trip with Peter Sommer Travel, and we are hooked. Everything topnotch. The itinerary was just right for the eight days of the tour...well planned and paced. Well organised -we began our days on time, knew what to expect in terms of walking and sites we were to visit. Paul, our guide, was super knowledgeable, very experienced and entirely engaging. He made the evolving world of Hadrian and successors come alive in all its diversity. I learned a lot and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. Alex, his assistant, was just as able and good natured in keeping us on time. Accommodation great -fine linen and good food. Now to look forward to our next adventure with Peter Sommer Travel.

Our experience with Peter Sommer Travel was first class start to finish. The people with whom we spoke and exchanged messages one booking the trip and then confirming details were professional, attentive, knowledgeable, a delight to deal with. The information we needed was clear, thorough and came on time. The team on the tour I have mentioned above...just great.

We had an exceptional trip exploring the history, the archeiology, the cultural dimension upon which the Romans built and maintained Hadrian’s Wall. Our guide, Paul, presented a lively, knowledge based narrative of the many sites we visited over the eight days of our trip. Our trip was exceptional.

Every detail of the trip was carefully planned and executed with precision. Our lodging, our site visitations and our transport from the beginning to the end consistently met all expectations. Each segment of the trip was carefully planned and executed. Our guide and his associate helped make each day exciting, interesting, and memorable.

Exploring Hadrian's Wall and in the process the beautiful countryside of Northumberland

The Peter Sommers Travel team were professional, welcoming and knowledgeable from the moment we booked to when they waved us farewell. The Guide,Paul's love and indepth knowledge of his subject shone through and brought the whole tour alive.

We were housed in lovely accommodation in beautiful countryside just south of Hadrian's Wall. Our guide, Paul, was a wonderfully knowledgeable and attentive companion who took us to all the key sites and arranged everything to run smoothly, despite temporary restrictions on access at some places. Food was delicious and varied. The fellow-travellers in our small group were congenial and interesting people. The combination of visits to the actual field sites and selected museums provided an overall understanding of the life of Roman legionaries at this wind-swept edge of empire. There was just enough walking, a passing brush with later periods of history and a tasting visit to a gin distillery to complete a memorable tour.

This was our fifth tour with Peter Sommer and the first we had undertaken within UK. As always, everything was thoughtfully arranged with all the information one needed available. As a small company, Peter Sommer Travels maintains a personal touch and the guides are of the highest quality with many years of professional knowledge and tour-leading experience. Coming out of the covid pandemic, there were doubts about the viability of this tour as some people had dropped out, but we were kept informed as decisions were made and we were delighted when Peter Sommer agreed to go ahead with the tour despite reduced numbers. We are very much looking forward to our next tour with Peter Sommer in 2023, which will also be led by Paul.

From Wallsend to Maryport there was hardly any stopping! We learned, we explored, we walked, and we learned while we were entertained again and again. For us, Julie Siblie has been the face (or more accurately the e-voice) of Peter Sommer Travels. From our initial trepidatious inquiries about walking the entire length of Hadrian’s Wall in 2016, to our original booking in 2019, to finally being able to travel in June 2022, both she and Peter (himself!) hung in with us! 
This summer we were picked up from (and returned to) the Newcastle airport, and spent an action-packed week learning as much as we could possibly absorb about the impact of Rome on England! Paul Baston is an incredibly knowledgeable guide - and totally brought alive life in those times. His initial orientation to the wall and how Roman fortifications are set up (in Wallsend), to the final iteration of the wall’s structure later (in Maryport) were linear and easy to absorb. There were several times I had to step back and watch how his "showmanship" was impacting our group - how everyone was hanging on to his every word in anticipation of the "rest of the story!” The help and behind-the-scenes coordination of the ever-faithful Sam was much noticed and appreciated by the entire tour group. We traveled first to our charming lodgings in a medieval monastery (the Lord Crewe Arms in the small town of Blanchland), in the middle of verdant fields filled with sheep. Our room was cozy - and could hardly have been more accommodating - with tea (!!), coffee, cookies, and brownies replaced as needed - in addition to all the usual toiletries and accessories. And while there was even a fireplace in the room, we learned how to run a wall radiator! I ask myself WHY oh why did we wait ’til the end of our time there to tour the Abbey at Blanchford when it was immediately adjacent to the hotel??
 Every day the scenery was amazing - and the walks were neither too far nor too long: but walk we did! (My personal favorite was walking along and between the wall and green sheep pastures in Brampton - although the day we spent walking some 5 miles along the wall - passing the Sycamore Tree was a close second.) We spent a week touring and learning not only about Hadrian’s wall, but touring an active archeological site (with its display of single shoes!) in Vindolanda & Hexham as well as touring an incredible castle in Bamburgh (I wonder if Peter arranged for the bagpipes and dog show just for us!) - that is still occupied by its owners! The food. Oh, my goodness - I don’t know how others did it - but we could not eat every meal! Breakfast at the Lord Crewe was tasty and contented us through to dinner - but of course we had lunch as well! “If you feed them, they will be happy” - and we most certainly were! (Did I mention the Beef Suet Pudding with Sticky Toffee Sauce?)

Paul is an incredibly knowledgeable guide - and totally brought alive life in those times. His initial orientation to the wall and how Roman fortifications are set up (in Wallsend), to the final iteration of the wall’s structure later (in Maryport) were linear and easy to absorb.

We spent a wonderful week hiking, walking and exploring the remains of Hadrian’s Wall from coast to coast. Our guide was brilliant- archeological, historical and linguistic information was shared in a manner of a master storyteller. The village of Blanchland was charming, the Lord Crew Arms Hotel delightful, and the food at all locations was fabulous. Guides, staff, drivers all were top notch professionals- helpful, accommodating, patient, and a joy to be around.

Extremely knowledgeable, professional, organized, personable and intent to accommodate all the travelers.

We met in Newcastle and spend a week at a beautiful hotel (Lord Crewe Arms) in Blanchland and did visits to Hadrian's Wall, forts, museums, both coasts etc with a brilliant guide.

Peter Sommer Travel is excellent. Our tour guide, Paul, made the trip magical. The accommodations were perfet as were the meals and all excursions.

A fascinating week exploring Northumberland and Hadrian's Wall with Peter Sommer Travels. We were privileged to have an excellent guide, superior accommodations and delicious food and beverage. This was our third trip with Peter Sommer and before the week was over, we were perusing the offerings for next years trips!

Extremely knowledgeable and highly credentialed, engaging guide - a wonderful story teller!

This was our third tour with Peter Sommer travel. They have all been outstanding. The hotels, the food, the guides: all superlative. We have taken tours previously with other companies. None comes close to the experience with Peter Sommer travel. The value and quality are simply amazing. I've never had so much fun while learning so much history.

Please read the box above. I can recommend Peter Sommer travel with full confidence and without hesitancy. The best travel we've ever experienced.