Shakespeare's Stratford-upon-Avon and Cotswolds Tour from London

I have booked several viator tours for myself and as gifts. I have always been so impressed with kind, intelligent and caring guides. This tour should have been the highlight of our London trip but it was the opposite because of a very negative, uninformative, uncaring guide. Our guide Dolly started our journey barking at another guest to move out of her seat & ended it by scolding us for booking a tour with too many stops. Golden Tours used a 48 seat bus for 12 passengers going into small villages. A young boy & his sister were left behind twice without an effort to locate them. Meeting points & times were unclearly communicated. The driver & guide badmouthed their company & staff the two hour drive back and because there was no background music we were forced to listen. Any information given by Dolly was then repeated by the sites guide. Even when we arrived at the bus early we were yelled at to hurry and told we were going to be the cause of a police fine. This woman should Not be a guide. As hard as we tried to enjoy our day, her negative demeanour ruined it. I will think twice before I book again.

The sights were beautiful, but the tour was really rushed. It would have been better to have had more time in each location. We spent a lot of time walking to and from the bus to get into the locations as the bus had to park far away. Bathroom facilities were terrible! The last village in the Cotswolds was so pretty, but it was dark and everything was closed by the time we arrived. Our tour guide Oliver was fun and our driver Lucian did a great job keeping us on time. The pick up and drop off should be in the same place. This made things a bit complicated for some people on our tour. I would like to definitely go back to see more of Stratford-upon-Avon, there was so much to to do and see here. The town is adorable with great shopping and coffee shops. Unfortunately no time to see or do much. Even the Shakespeare part was rushed and had line ups to see things, even with a pre booked tour Cotswolds, not easy to get to. Definitely needs more time in each place to really enjoy it. I suggest not combining these places. Do them separately to maximize the experience. If you have mobility issues, this tour is not for you.

The Cotswold are beautiful. Our guide, Dolly, was not friendly and provided minimum information about what we were seeing. At the conclusion she told us we should have taken another tour! That aside the villages are the quaint English ones you read about. There is a lot of driving involved so be prepared. It is basically a tour to see the highlights but not to explore them with any time. I would like to have had more history about the Cotswolds and life in the villages as they evolved. One tip is grab a pasty and continue walking around the village to see the sights instead of sitting down.