Four years ago, I launched the Plantagenet Discoveries website, just before setting off on my very first scouting trip to France and England.
At that point, so much of what I was creating was still an idea. I had the history I loved, the journeys I wanted to create and a very clear picture in my head of what I hoped Plantagenet Discoveries could become.
Four years and several tours later, it felt like the right time to give the website a refresh. Now that this sparkling new website is complete, I find myself looking back at just how much has happened during those four years. Not just the website, but me, the tours, the people who have travelled with me, the experiences we've created and the wonderful people I've been fortunate enough to work alongside.
Running Plantagenet Discoveries has been something of a school of its own. I've learned about travel, history, hospitality, photography, marketing, technology, logistics and all the little details that go into building a business that focuses on creating journeys for other people. I've learned from my guests, my guides, my partners, the places we've visited and, occasionally, from the things that haven't quite gone according to plan.
With the refreshed website now live, I thought it might be interesting to take a little trip back in time and share some of the things four years of Plantagenet Discoveries have taught me.
An itinerary is only the beginning
When I first started creating itineraries, I had a long list of places I wanted to visit, stories I wanted to tell and historical sites I was determined to squeeze into each journey. My enthusiasm occasionally got the better of me!
Four years of travelling those routes has taught me to look at things differently. I've learned to consider the rhythm of each day, the time spent on the coach and the pleasure of having an unhurried coffee or simply wandering through a beautiful medieval town.
Our Plantagenets in France tour is a perfect example. What began as a 10-night journey grew to 12 nights and now 13, as I realised that some places deserved more time and that trying to fit everything in could take away from the experience itself.
I've also learned to allow room for the unexpected. A conversation that continues over lunch, a little village that catches our attention or a few extra minutes somewhere because everyone is enjoying themselves. These moments often become some of our fondest memories.
The itinerary remains the framework for every journey, but I've discovered that the best experiences happen when there's a little room to breathe.
The Details Matter
A great deal of what goes into creating a tour happens in the details.
Over the years, I've become much more aware of how much these seemingly small decisions can influence the experience. Where we stay, when we eat, how long we spend somewhere, how we communicate with guests and what happens when plans need to change can all make a difference. I've learned to look beyond the obvious. A beautiful hotel is wonderful, but its location, the ease of getting there, the welcome from the staff and whether it feels right for the particular stage of the journey all matter too. The same goes for restaurants. An excellent meal at the wrong time of day can feel very different when everyone has been exploring since breakfast.
Then there are the details that happen before the journey even begins. Keeping guests informed, answering questions, making sure everyone knows what to expect and creating that sense that someone is there to look after the practicalities. Some of these things probably go unnoticed, and that's perfectly fine. If everything works smoothly, guests shouldn't need to think about what went into making it happen.
But I've learned that every one of those little decisions add up. They create comfort, confidence and, ultimately, the feeling that you can relax and enjoy the journey.
And perhaps the biggest lesson has been that paying attention to the details doesn't mean trying to make everything perfect. It means noticing what matters to the people who are travelling with you.
The right people make everything possible
When I started Plantagenet Discoveries, I knew I would need good people around me. What I didn't fully appreciate was just how much the right partnerships would shape the journeys we create.
As Plantagenet Discoveries has grown, I've had the privilege of working with guides, drivers, accommodation providers and other wonderful people who bring their own knowledge and experience to what we do. Each person contributes something different, and I've learned that finding people who understand the spirit of Plantagenet Discoveries is every bit as important as finding people who can do the job.
One of the most valuable partnerships I've developed is with France of a Lifetime Tours, who are our local operators in France. Having people on the ground who know the country, the suppliers and the practicalities of running a tour has saved me hours upon hours of work, but their value goes far beyond that. When I'm developing a new journey, their local knowledge can help me work out what is actually possible, what will work well and sometimes even point me towards possibilities I hadn't considered.
My French guide Ange is a wonderful example of another kind of partnership. His knowledge of French history and the places we visit is invaluable, but so is the relationship he has developed and continues to develop with our guests. He has become part of the personality of our French journeys, and I know how fortunate I am to have him alongside me.
I've also learned that good partnerships are built on trust. I don't need to know how to do everything myself, and I certainly don't need to be the best person at everything. What matters is knowing when someone else's expertise will make the journey better, and giving them the space to do what they do best.
Some of the people I've met through Plantagenet Discoveries have become much more than business partners. They've not only become people I genuinely value and look to for advice, but they have become friends, and that is something I never expected when I began.
The journeys may carry the Plantagenet Discoveries name, but there are many people behind them who help bring them to life. And I think that is one of the most rewarding things I've learned along the way.
However, the greatest lessons have come from my guests
For all the things I've learned about building itineraries, managing the details and working with the right people, the most important lessons have come from the people who have actually travelled with me.
Every group has taught me something. Sometimes it has been through a question I hadn't considered, sometimes through a piece of feedback, and sometimes simply through watching the way people respond to a place or a story. I've been fortunate that many of my guests have also shared their experiences in their own words, and you can read some of their reflections on our Guest Reviews page.
I've learned that the best way to understand the experience I'm creating is to listen to the people who are living it alongside me. And some of those lessons have actually changed the way I look at and do things.
Learning to Speak Up
One of the things my guests have taught me is that they actually want to hear from me more.
That may sound rather obvious, but it isn't something that’s easy for me. I was more than happy to let my guides talk about the history, and introduce the sites, but when it came to simply standing up on the coach and talking to the group, I was quite hesitant about it. I was much more inclined to let someone else do the talking, after all they are the experts. My job is to organise right? This year, however, my guests started asking me to speak more.
This truly surprised me. They didn’t want more historical information even though what we get from our guides is amazing, no… what they wanted were my thoughts, my stories and more of the little anecdotes I’ve discovered along the way. They wanted to know what I found interesting, what I was excited about and sometimes simply what my thoughts were about wherever we were headed that day.
It pushed me well outside my comfort zone, and made me rethink my entire role in the experience. I realise that I need to do more than just create and plan these journeys, and guide people through the itinerary. I need to share a little more of what I know and love. I need to share my passion. They have shown me that they don't just want to travel through the adventures I've created. They want to get to know the person who created them too.
And while I haven't had many opportunities to put this new lesson into practice yet, I know it’s going to change the way I approach future tours.
Learning to Listen
Another lesson my guests have taught me is to be a little more willing to question my own assumptions. Sometimes a decision that seems perfectly logical from behind the scenes can look quite different when you are actually experiencing the journey as a guest.
For the 2026 France tour, Mallory had recommended Hotel Bonsoir Madame in Paris. It was her go-to hotel in the city, and she had used it many times, so I was very happy to give it a go for our group. When she discovered that they couldn't accommodate us for our return night, she was understandably disappointed, but she set about finding another hotel for us in a different area of Paris, Hotel La Bourdonnais. I went into the tour thinking that, ideally, I needed to choose between the two. In my mind, having one Paris hotel that we could use consistently would make things simpler. There would be one relationship to manage, one set of arrangements to make, and one less thing to think about each time we planned a tour.
Then, after our farewell dinner, we returned to la Bourdonnais and about half a dozen of us, perhaps a couple more, gathered in the lounge for one last drink before everyone headed home the following morning. It was one of those lovely unplanned moments at the end of a tour, when everyone was relaxed and there was time for a proper conversation. I asked the group what they thought of the hotel and, if they had to choose, which of the two Paris hotels they preferred. I assumed they would have a clear favourite. And there was the lesson… Never assume!
Because I was so wrong, they had enjoyed Bonsoir Madame, and its quiet location at the beginning of the tour, but they also really liked Hotel La Bourdonnais and its vibrant location on the opposite bank of the river. Each had its own character, and each offered something totally different. I had been looking at the decision from the perspective of keeping the operation simple. My guests were looking at it from the perspective of the experience. And that conversation totally changed my mind. I then informed Mallory that moving forward, I wanted both hotels to remain part of the journey. It was a decision I probably would never have made without that conversation in the lounge.
And perhaps that is another part of what I have learned over these four years. I may be the person who designs the journeys, but I don't experience them in quite the same way as the people who travel with me. Their perspective matters, and sometimes simply asking what they think can open up possibilities I hadn't considered.
Learning to see it differently
Linda gave me another valuable lesson during our Plantagenet Heroines tour in England earlier this year. We were at Old Sarum, our very first stop of the tour, a place I had visited before and spoken about many times. I walked up to her and asked if she was enjoying herself. She turned to me and said, “I just keep going from ‘Wow’ to ‘How’.”
I absolutely loved that, because it captured something I had perhaps been overlooking.
It isn't always about the historical facts and the most well-known stories associated with a site. The first reaction is often simply wonder. We see the landscape, the ruins, the scale of a medieval site and our first thought is, “Wow.” But then, if we step back and allow curiosity to take over, the questions begin. How did they build this? How did people live here? Why was it built in this particular place? What happened here?
Those questions are where history really starts to come alive.
With that one comment, Linda reminded me that I don't always need to give people every answer before they have even had a chance to wonder. Sometimes the most valuable thing I can do is give them enough of the story to make them curious, then allow them the space to look, question and discover something for themselves.
That is something I want to keep carrying into the journeys I create. I know an enormous amount about the places we visit, and I am always going to be excited to share that knowledge. But I am learning that the experience becomes richer when I also leave room for my guests to have their own “Wow to How” moments.
Looking Ahead
So, four years in, and I still feel as though I am only getting started. When I look at where Plantagenet Discoveries began and where it is now, I am amazed by how much has changed. The journeys have grown, the stories have expanded and I have learned more than I ever expected about what it takes to create a tour that people genuinely remember.
But perhaps the biggest change is that I no longer see the next few years as simply a matter of creating more tours. I want to keep refining what I already do, listening to the people who travel with me and finding new ways to bring these extraordinary stories to life. There are already new journeys taking shape. The Wars of the Roses and The Cathar Story tours are coming, and there are more ideas waiting in the wings. Each one gives me another opportunity to explore a different part of the medieval world, tell stories that deserve to be heard and create the kind of experience that makes people want to keep discovering.
My Vision for the Next Five Years
So, if the past four years have taught me so much, what do I hope the next five will look like? I've thought about this quite a bit, because while I certainly want Plantagenet Discoveries to grow, I now have a very clear picture of what that growth should look like.
I want to keep creating journeys that feel personal, where guests return home with stories of their own, unexpected friendships, photographs that bring the memories flooding back and perhaps a slightly different way of looking at the past. And I want to keep learning alongside them. There are still so many places I haven't explored, people whose stories I haven't told and corners of medieval history waiting to be discovered.
Over the next five years, I'd love to be running somewhere between six and eight journeys each year, travelling in both Spring and Autumn. France and England will always be at the heart of what I do, but I can already see the Plantagenet story taking us further afield. Scotland, Wales and Ireland have wonderful stories waiting to be explored, and perhaps, eventually, we'll venture into other parts of Europe where Plantagenet history has left its mark.
I also want to give my guests more opportunities to combine journeys. For those travelling a long way to join us, back-to-back tours offer the chance to explore more of medieval Europe in one extended adventure. It's an idea I'm continuing to develop, and you can already see some of the possibilities taking shape in our upcoming journeys.
Of course, none of this happens without the wonderful people I work alongside. I've been incredibly fortunate to find guides, partners and colleagues who understand what I'm trying to create and care just as much about the experiences we share with our guests. Continuing to nurture those relationships will be an important part of the years ahead.
And then there's something I'm particularly excited about, although it's still very much a work in progress: the Plantagenet Circle.
I've been thinking about how I can better recognise and reward the people who have become part of the Plantagenet Discoveries story. I'm still working through what the different levels and benefits might look like, but my hope is to create something meaningful that acknowledges the loyalty, friendship and support of those who have travelled with me and continue to be part of this wonderful community.
Above all, I want Plantagenet Discoveries to grow while keeping the personal connections, storytelling, laughter, conversations over dinner and unexpected moments that have made these first four years so special.
And perhaps that's what makes looking ahead so exciting. I have a clear vision of where I'd like to go, but I've also learned that some of the most memorable experiences are the ones I never saw coming.
So, before I finish, I'd love to turn the question over to you. Where do you think our Plantagenet journey should take us next? Which places, people or stories would you love to discover? Where does your own interest in the Plantagenets lead you?
I'd love to hear your thoughts.
Images: © Plantagenet Discoveries
