Find a Guide

Explore the world’s most trusted directory of battlefield guides

The Find a Guide directory details all those Accredited Members who have chosen to advertise their expertise and services as guides on the Guild website.  Each of these has passed our Accreditation Programme in which they have demonstrated the skills needed for us to say that they are high-quality guides who will give you a great tour.

When searching for a guide, we recommend that you filter by battle/campaign, country or capability and then click on the name of an Accredited Guide to read their biography. In stating their expertise and services, Accredited Members should be able to guide the particular battle or campaign on the battlefield. Sometimes physically guiding on that battlefield may be impossible or impractical, or it is presentation services that are required, in which case the Accredited Member should be able to guide the battle or campaign “remotely”.

As you will see, most Accredited Members have contact details by which you can contact them directly, and some have their own website, a Tripadvisor and/or a Google Review Page. If  you are having difficulty in contacting them, please contact them via the Guild Secretary  via our Contacts Page.

Please note, the Guild does not recommend or endorse any of the commercial products or companies of the members listed below. We are not responsible for checking that those listed below have complied with the relevant legislation or regulations in the jurisdictions they are based or guide in. Many are members of ETOA or other local guiding associations and some have a local authorisation to work with children or vulnerable adults. But it is your responsibility to ensure they meet all the criteria you need for them to work with your group.

Finally, this list shows only our Accredited Members. Our Ordinary Members are not listed here and if you would like to check whether a particular individual is a member of the Guild, or for any other further help (for example satisfying a request for which you cannot seem to find a guide), please contact the Guild Secretary via our Contacts Page.

Many Guides can develop bespoke personalised tours and can research where particular ancestors might have fought or died based on information which you may have, and this is generally part of their service. If you want to advice on following a particular ancestor and / or help and advice on researching military aspects of family history, there are several Accredited Members who may be able to assist with your genealogical enquiries.  A list of those members is here; if you would like to seek their assistance, contact details can be found by selecting their profile from those shown on this page.

Battle

John Harris

Accredited Guide Number: 82

John has been interested in military history since childhood. He comes from an extended military family and his early hobbies – modelmaking, wargaming and re-enacting – all allowed him to pursue his interest.

His involvement in re-enacting has taken him to battlefields across the UK, western Europe and the USA, and he has spoken to audiences of varying types, numbering up to 10,000 in one instance, about all aspects of conflict.

After a full-time career in Royal Mail, John took early retirement in 2012. His role as a senior manager with commercial and financial responsibilities gave him a keen awareness of the importance of customer satisfaction and ideas of value for money, concepts that are a key part of his touring offerings.

He has a BA (with First-Class Honours) in War Studies, completed part-time at the University of Birmingham and then the University of Kent while he was working.

Battlefield tour guiding has long been an ambition and John joined the Guild in 2015. He undertook training on the theory and practise of all aspects of guiding – the tour management side as well as engaging audiences in historic locations. He is proud to be a member of the Guild and to have been awarded Badge Number 82 in June 2017. In progressing towards the Badge, John was delighted to receive the Guild’s David Chandler Award for work he did on sources relating to the engagements of Lexington and Concord at the start of the American War of Independence.

John is a freelance guide and a keen motorbike rider. He specialises in set and bespoke motorbike tours of First World War and Second World War sites, the former including Ypres and the Somme, the latter relating to the May 1940 campaign, Normandy and the Battle of the Bulge. He is equally happy to guide those who prefer to travel on more than two wheels.

As well as the World Wars, John has a keen interest in eighteenth- and early nineteenth- century warfare, particularly during the Seven Years’ War, American War of Independence and Waterloo campaigns.

Adam Williams

Accredited Guide Number: 56

I served with the Army Air Corps for 24 years as a Helicopter Pilot/Instructor and Examiner and was first introduced to Military History during this time.  I come from a ‘Military Family’ with a Great Grandfather who fought in the Zulu War of 1879, a Grandfather that saw active service with the Fleet Air Arm in WW2 and a Father in the RAF.

I was first introduced to the Battlefield in 1984 on an Operational Tour to the Falkland Islands.  Fortunately, there were many veterans of Op Corporate on this tour and much of my spare time was spent with them on the battlefield.  It was during this tour that I developed an interest in Military History, but it would take a further 20 years before I started Battlefield Guiding.

Being a Pilot meant that I was fortunate enough to see the Battlefield from an aerial perspective.  I have
since conducted tours from the air, ranging from the Somme to Normandy and even Iraq! After reading a book about 9 Parachute Battalion called ‘The Day the Devils Dropped In’, I found my interest being directed towards Normandy and the D Day Landings of WW2.  I have led many tours of the Normandy Landing Beaches with a particular interest in 6th Airborne Division and the 1st Battalion The Suffolk Regiment.

I have a developing interest in the SAS/SOE Operations in WW2 and have also led tours of the SAS action in Oman in 1958/9 on Jebel Akhdar.  I currently live in the Middle East where I continue to fly Helicopters.

Anglo/Zulu War 1879Oman 1963-75Second World War 1939-45

AsiaEuropeFrance...Middle EastWestern Europe

Adult Coach GroupsBattlefield WalksBespoke Group...Clubs and SocietiesCollege GroupsCorporate ToursCultural ToursIndividualsLong ToursMilitary & VeteranMotorbike GroupsPilgrimage GroupsSchool GroupsSelf-drive or guided toursShort ToursSmall GroupsSpecial Educational NeedsYoung Offenders

Marc Yates

Accredited Guide Number: 90

I was born and brought up in Jersey, Channel Islands and from an early age became passionate about its history as well as military history generally.

One of my grandfathers had wartime service with the Canadian Infantry on the Western Front in WW1 and the other was a career soldier with the Royal Army Service Corps from the 1920s to 1950. My paternal great-grandfather had also served with the Royal Garrison Artillery for 21 years including the whole of WW1 on the Western Front. My father, whilst not joining up, did an apprenticeship at the Royal Woolwich Arsenal in the 1950s, a very interesting time in post war weapons systems development. It is hardly surprising that military history would help form my interests and I even contemplated a military career myself. However, that didn’t happen, and I followed a career as a lawyer for 35 years.

I got into guiding accidentally as a result of our law firm entertaining some visiting conference lawyers on a coach tour. I thought that the “pre-taped” commentary was so bad that I grabbed the microphone and gave my first guided tour! I was hooked and did tours whenever I could and upon retirement from my legal career, I set up my guiding business and at the same time became a licensed public service vehicle driver so I could legally undertake driver-guiding.

I focus on providing personal service for small groups as a driver-guide, although I am happy to guide larger parties. I believe in providing a complete experience to my clients to help them get the best of their exploration of a battlefield and the local environment. I love drawing in other aspects of history, as well as introducing disciplines like archaeology and geology to better understand the topography.

Most of my guiding is in the Channel Islands, which have an incredible history of battles, military history and fortifications extending as far back as at least the Iron Age, then all the way to WW2, when the Islands were the only part of the British Isles to be occupied by Nazi German forces for 5 years. However, I also guide elsewhere in Europe, particularly in France which is only about 15 miles away at its closest and which I can see from my garden!

I particularly enjoy the educational element of battlefield guiding – be it for individual clients, a class of school children or a military unit undertaking battlefield study exercises for visiting military units. My mother was a teacher, so I suppose that is where I get that from!

Finally, whilst not yet published, my research will hopefully result in books on the Hundred Years’ War in the Channel Islands; an answer to why the Channel Islands become some of the most heavily Nazi fortified places in Europe; and the life story of an extraordinary pair of sisters who served on the Western Front as F.A.N.Y.s in WW1 and then as senior officers working with the S.O.E. in WW2!

 

100 Years War 1337-145318th Century19th Century...20th CenturyAmerican War of Independence 1775-1783Arras 1917Battle of Gilieres 1944 - Haute SavoieBattle of the Atlantic WW2Battle of the Somme 1916British Civil WarsCanadians on the Western FrontChannel Islands in the Civil WarChannel Islands raids 1942-3D-Day - Op Overlord 1944English Civil War 1642-1651Fall of France 1940First World War 1914-18Flers - Courcelette 1916French Resistance WW2Hitler's Atlantic WallJersey 1779 & 81Liberation of Europe (1944)Life under Nazi Occupation WW2Logistics WW1Medical WW1Mediterranean theatre WW2Messines 1917Middle AgesMons 1914Napoleonic WarsNaval Battles WW1Naval battles WW2Neuve Chappelle 1915Normandy Campaign and breakout 1944Occupation of Europe (1940)Op Market Garden 1944 - Arnhem Eindhoven NijmegenOperation Chariot - St Nazaire 1942Other WW1 themesOther WW2 themesPasschendaele 1917Peninsular War 1808-13Resistance in Occupied Europe WW2S.O.E. in WW2Second World War 1939-45Siege of Gibraltar 1779-83Siege of Malta 1940-42Soldiers of the British Empire WW1The Occupation of the Channel Islands WW2Third Battle of Ypres 1917Vimy Ridge 1917WW2 Commando and other Raids in Occupied EuropeWars of the Roses 1455-87Western Front - Attrition (1917)Western Front - Counterattack (1916)Western Front - Defeat and Victory (1918)Western Front - Stalemate (1915)Western Front - The beginning (1914)Western Front Allies of WW1Women and war WW1Women and war WW2

BelgiumChannel IslandsEngland...EuropeFranceGibraltarMaltaNetherlandsPortugalSpainUnited KingdomWestern Europe

Adult Coach GroupsBattlefield StudiesBattlefield Walks...Bespoke GroupClubs and SocietiesCollege GroupsCorporate ToursCultural ToursEvening PresentationsFamiliesFilm workIndividualsLicensed Driver Guide ToursLong ToursMilitary & VeteranMotorbike GroupsPilgrimage GroupsSchool GroupsShort ToursSmall GroupsTripadvisor / Google ReviewWebsite