From Heart to History
Our Brand Promise - “Discover the Past, Enrich your Story.”
Where story builds the bridge and connection carries you across
Our Vision
To be the travel experience of choice for those who want more than just sightseeing - instead, inspiring a never-ending curiosity to “Discover the Past, Enrich your Story,” and uncover the threads that link yesterday to today.
Our Mission
To create thoughtfully designed, small-group journeys that inspire connection with history, with culture, and with one another — offering the kind of personal care and attention that turns moments into memories and memories into lasting stories.
Our Core Values
Excellence - Every detail matters.
Passion - We share history with joy.
Respect - For people, places, and stories.
Integrity - Honest, transparent, trustworthy.
Enjoyment - Learning with laughter and delight.
Guided by these values — simple, heartfelt, and always with you in mind — every tour becomes part of your story.
I’m Maxine — but please call me Max — and I’m the founder and host of Plantagenet Discoveries.
I’m the kind of person who feels things deeply and notices the quiet details others might miss — the weight of a worn stone step, the faded brushstroke in an ancient fresco, or the stillness of a forgotten abbey. I’m drawn to meaning, to story, and to the threads that connect us to the past and to each other.
A story is what builds the bridge, and connection is what makes us want to cross it.
That belief has shaped not just my tours, but my life. I love the quiet magic of discovery, and I believe travel should be about more than ticking boxes — it should move us, challenge us, and stay with us long after we’ve unpacked our bags.
I don’t do “big and flashy.” I do thoughtful, personal, and quietly unforgettable.
Books were my gateway into the past, and over twenty years ago, Sharon Kay Penman’s The Sunne in Splendour changed everything for me. Her portrayal of Richard III didn’t just teach me history — it opened a door. I stepped through it, and I never really came back. That book sparked an all-consuming love of everything medieval, particularly the Plantagenet era, that led me down rabbit holes of research, across continents, and into the lives of kings, queens, and countless others whose stories deserve to be remembered.
In 2017, after experiencing a beautifully curated tour of Scotland, I went searching for something similar focused on the Plantagenets — especially in France. But nothing existed. So, I created it.
And that’s how Plantagenet Discoveries began — not as a business idea, but as a calling. I’m deeply introverted (just barely!), endlessly curious, and someone who feels life intensely. I believe history isn’t just dates and castles — it’s human. And if you let it, it can really change you.
If you're the kind of traveller who’s not just looking to see the past, but to feel it — to walk where they walked, and to truly wonder who they were… then welcome. I’ve been saving you a seat.
Max
Photo of Max outside Guedelon Castle © Plantagenet Discoveries