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]

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  •   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

  •   Guide Cindy Chant took four of us round a very small area of Sherborne this morning. We spent two and a half hours with her because there was such a lot for Cindy to tell us. She explained the significance of the ostrich sign on...More

    thumb Annedeg41
    5/25/2019

  •   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

  •   Cindy gave us a fascinating and informative tour round the town. Having lived in the town for so long, she has an encyclopaedic knowledge of the history of the area. Many thanks, Cindy!

    frmichaeluk
    7/03/2019

  •   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

  •   Captivating, informative, amusing, full of local anecdotes and fascinating trivia from over the years of this ancient town. Thanks, Cindy, we loved it and will do it again next year!

    thumb Jane W
    4/02/2019

  •   My recent guided walk through time in Sherborne town centre was a delightful experience. Cindy’s enthusiasm makes it agreeable and interesting. She spared no effort to explain important facts about great figures of English History related to the origins of Sherborne. And to top all...More

    thumb Tradutexto11
    4/26/2019

  •   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 a very interesting and informative walk around Sherborne with Cindy. She was so knowledgeable and friendly. We spent 2 hours visiting the very best of all that there is to see in Sherborne.

    87marytheresaw
    6/27/2019

  •   We (as members of Wimborne NWR) enjoyed a really enjoyable guided walk round Sherborne. Our leader, Cindy Chant, was very knowledgeable and entertaining. More importantly, she made our walk come to life so we learnt a lot about the past and present history of this...More

    thumb inge g
    8/23/2018