Meet Cindy and Paul

Cindy Chant. Founded Sherborne Walks in 2013.

Cindy has earned a reputation as an enthusiastic and incredibly knowledgeable guide, promoting Sherborne in her own inimitable style. She has over 50 years of accumulated knowledge from living in the area and a passionate interest in its heritage and has devoted herself to the history of this ancient and beautiful town. Be warned – Sir Walter Raleigh is her true love!

“We had the most delightful walk with Cindy showing us all the hidden pathways in Sherborne with a few extra snippets of information on the way. A truly delightful tour guide who is very frank and says just what she thinks…..very refreshing!! If there is an award for best walking tour guide it should go to this very interesting lady!” [August 2018]

Cindy offers the High Season guided walks twice a week, and a number of special occasion walks.

Cindy was not always a Blue Badge Guide…..

In 1957, she left school, and immersed herself into London’s East End, nursing at the Royal London Hospital.

Fully fledged as a registered nurse, she then spent a year in Paris, France, returning to become a high flyer with Freddie Laker and his Airline Company.

After spending time in many corners of the globe, she returned to nursing, specialising in Plastic and Burns Surgery, finally becoming theatre sister in the small, but busy Sherborne Yeatman Hospital.

Following marriage and family life, she became a midwife, delivering many Dorset and local babies, then for twenty years happily worked in public health as a health visitor, getting to intimately know the area and people of North and West Dorset.

Later she offered up-market Bed and Breakfast from her home in deepest Dorset, before high flying once again becoming Sherborne’s own fully qualified Blue Badge Guide.

Paul Birbeck. Associate.

Since 2013, Paul has worked as a holiday guide across southern & south west England and led small private adult groups walking holidays to Devon, Dorset, Somerset & beyond. He became a South West Region Blue Badge Guide in 2018.

His previous career included secondary school teaching in Gloucestershire and Wiltshire; Geography & Environmental Education Advisor for Somerset, Headteacher in Kuwait, Windsor and Somerset, School Inspector and a School Management consultant. 

He is very knowledgeable and familiar with the social, economic & political history, geography & geology that create the distinctive character of the West Country.  

A confident and relaxed guide who has a reputation for making things interesting for clients. “His enthusiasm was passed onto the group and we all felt that not only had we walked along this incredible coastline, but we also had learnt so much about it. A top rate leader. Good local knowledge and friendly.” [HF guest feedback]  

THANK YOU for such a brilliant tour around the town of Sherborne. Everyone had a great day and I have received many notes from attendees commenting on the quality and detail provided. They also found both guides highly personable and very knowledgeable and passionate about the town.” [Tour Manager, Historic Houses Association. Sept 2018]

Our creditations

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  •   We had a personalised tour with Cindy as there were no other takers on that morning! Very glad we did as Cindy was wonderful. Very informative and made the town tour so much fun whilst imparting the benefit of her vast knowledge of the town. Everyone seemed to know her!!
    She pointed our many things of interest and gave us tips on where to go and what to look for. She gave us a really good historical background to all the places we went to or passed by. She also recommended other things to do, including going to a little village called Trent, a few miles NW of Sherborne which has a very interesting church and a great pub!
    Don't expect a tour of the Abbey as, to quote her, "they're a bit snotty" about tour guides as they have their own Abbey tour!
    After 3 hours, we only completed Part 1 of her tour (there are 2 more!)
    Very much recommended and brought the town to life.
    She can be contacted direct if you want a personal tour (£8/pp) on cindy@sherbornewalks.co.uk More

    Badgerisimus
    8/31/2019

  •   A Bank Holiday guided walk off the beaten track around Sherborne, with the added bonus of a sneak peek inside Sherborne School. Cindy is so knowledgeable and conveys a rare enthusiasm which makes the walks so enjoyable - a mix of history and her own...More

    thumb DaveMilnes
    8/29/2018

  •   What better guide than Cindy to tell you all about this fantastic town. Her enthusiasm and local knowledge know no bounds! If you thought history was boring, think again! This is such an interesting tour packed with anecdotes and humour.

    thumb longburtons
    1/02/2019

  •   We had the most delightful walk with Cindy showing us all the hidden pathways in Sherborne with a few extra snippets of information on the way. A truly delightful tour guide who is very frank and says just what she thinks.....very refreshing!! If there is...More

    thumb Burchell I
    8/28/2018

  •   It is well worth going on this fascinating walking tour. Cindy our guide has so much knowledge on the history of Sherborne. She is passionate about her subject and very entertaining. Cindy's tips and suggestions were extremely helpful and gave us lots of ideas of what else we could do in Sherborne and the local area.
    We highly recommend this tour.

    Linda R
    8/12/2019

  •   We we we we have just done another interesting 2.5 hr walking tour of Sherborne with Cindy. This time we did parts of Sherborne never seen before. Fascinating, interesting and fun. By chance we were able to visit historical parts of the boys school. This...More

    thumb Cavies
    8/27/2018

  •   Our visit around Sherborne with our tour guide Cindy was delightful. She is very knowledgable about Sherborne’s history, as well as the unseen secrets. I felt we could have gone all day and she would not run out of interesting things to tell us. We highly recommend spending a few hours with Cindy and Sherborne.

    Brenda S
    8/07/2019

  •   Cindy should be put forward for a Local Guide of the Year Award. Informative, amusing, occasionally risqué and utterly captivating if you can keep up with her boundless energy. A fascinating tour 'Off the Beaten Track' giving access to hidden and forbidden parts of Sherborne...More

    thumb topdoggie68
    8/27/2018

  •   A very interesting and entertaining 2 hour walk in Sherborne led by our guide, Cindy. I would highly recommend.

    thumb CM8882016
    1/01/2019

  •   Cindy is a very informative, interesting and entertaining guide. We spent a delightful couple of hours with her today and enjoyed every moment. We learnt so much about Sherborne and it's history. A real joy!

    Pat B
    6/27/2019