College Tours
We offer in-depth tours of King’s College and Queens’ College.
King’s College
As Green badge guides, we are the only guides allowed to offer tours of Cambridge that include the inside King’s college chapel.
Our Kings College tour takes you inside the college to look at its buildings and the grounds. The majority of the tour focuses on Kings College Chapel, a building of such majesty and historical significance that it attracts an estimated 8 million visitors to Cambridge each year.
The History of the College
We give details on who founded King’s college and why. We also explain the impact the college had on medieval Cambridge and why it took so long to build.
The Chapel
Our tour takes you into the chapel and looks at in detail, including:
The Chapel Windows
We tell the story of the creation of the 16th Century stained glass windows and how they are still in existence today, as well as the overall story that they depict and the hidden messages within them – and how that message changed over time.
Stone and Wood carvings
We look at the architecture inside the chapel, from the delicate ceiling – the largest of it’s kind in the world – down to the dogs and dragons that boldly dominate the wall, but only at one end! We also explain why the beautiful oak screen is of such a different style to the rest of the chapel and what it has to say about power … and love!
The Choir
The Choir of Kings College are world renowned, particularly for their Christmas service of ‘A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols’. Find out more about them, their work, and how they still honour the College’s founder today.
And more…!
Want to know about the Tudor legacy and where you can find references to four of Henry VIII’s wives? How did a small red horse come to be so prominent in the Chapel? And what does this have to do with one of the world’s most expensive paintings?
The college buildings
Why do some of the buildings look much older than they are? What buildings were expected of a medieval college? And why did it take so long to complete the college. All will be explained in our tour
The grounds
What caused some of the once immaculate lawn to be handed over to wildflowers? Who is the statue of in the first court? What does a Chinese poet have to do with King’s college and how is he commemorated there? We explain how the college is structured and talk about some of the most famous people to have studied there.
Fees and Practical Information
A King’s college tour takes 90 minutes and includes a brief tour of the town. The cost of the tour is £120 per group. We like to keep our group sizes to no more than ten people, but if you have a bigger group, please contact us. Note that King’s do not allow groups of more than 20 people at a time (15 people in the summer)
In addition to the guiding fees, King’s college charge between £14 and £17.50 per person, depending upon the time of year and the people. A full explanation of fees can be found here
Queens’ College
Only Green badge guides are allowed to give tours inside Queens’ college. Our tour takes you inside the College, explains how it was created, how it has developed over time and shows you some of its most beautiful artwork.
The history of the college
Queens college was started five years after King’s college, but completed over 90 years before it. We tell you about the founders of the college and how they achieved this. We also talk about the signficance of the college to the rest of Cambridge and how it changed the university forever.
Queens’ college courts
Old Court in Queens’ is the oldest example of a purpose built college in Cambridge, while Cloister court is the oldest college cloister. We tell you what a medieval college was expected to provide and show you how to recognise the buildings within it.
Our tour takes you through the seven courts in Queens’ college showing you buildings from every century from the 14th to the present day.
The river
Queens’ was the first college to be built backing on to the river. We reveal the importance of the river to Cambridge and to the university, take you over one of the most famous bridges in Cambridge and tell you how it was made and by whom.
Art in Queens’ college
Our tour looks inside the hall of Queens’ and takes you into the chapel to look at some of the most amazing art in Cambridge. We explain how this came about and what it has to do with the industrial revolution and the pre Raphaelites.
And much more!
Why are there so many carvings of boars in Queens’ college? Which trees are both typically English and yet very rare and where are they to be found? What did “The great civilizer of Europe” achieve for Queens’ college and for Cambridge and what did he think about the town? And what role did velcro play? We reveal all.
Fees and Practical Information
A tour of Queens’ college takes one hour and costs £100 per group. The tour includes the college and (optionally) a brief tour of those parts of Cambridge close to it.
Queens’ college charge £5 entrance fee per person. More information can be found here