A right Royal day out! Take the Kate Middleton tour to the church

By RICHARD HARTLEY-PARKINSON


Introducing your host: Charmian Griffiths shows clippings of Will and Kate as the bus sits in a car park opposite the Old Boot Inn


It was supposed to be a one-off event, but the organisers of a tour of Kate Middleton country said it was so popular they wanted to keep on doing it and they are now taking bookings for more trips. In fact, they have even more than trebeled the price.

Mortons coaches in Berkshire carries out a whistle-stop tour of 'Kate Middleton Country' with highlights of her early life being pointed out.

For the prince(ss)ly sum of £35 each, tourists can converge on the banks of the River Thames in central London before being whisked off on an hour and a half drive to the countryside of Berkshire.


The different locations on the tour of Kate Middleton Country


n February the tours on the 33-seater coach were on offer for £10 with commentary from their 'Blue Badge' guide, Charmain Griffiths who insists on referring to Kate as Catherine.

Now they are three and a half times as much, but that has done little to stop its popularity.

A spokesman at Morton's Coaches said: 'It's proving popular. We have got one more booked for March 26, but no more as of yet, it all depends on how popular that is and how much demand there is.'

Since the first trip back in February, the company has had numerous requests from as far away as America and Japan. Admittedly most (if not all) of the trips have been from the press, but Mortons remain hopeful that things will pick up with tourists as Kate and Will's big day gets closer.


Since their engagement Kate's sleepy home village of Bucklebury has become very popular with outside


Tour guide Charmian Griffiths holds up a magazine clipping of Britain's Prince William and his fiancée Kate Middleton during a bus tour highlighting areas of Berkshire where Middleton grew up.

The first stop is at Kate's first school, St Andrew's Prep School - a private school set well back off the road and behind bushes and trees so that it isn't even possible to get a photograph. Tourists instead leave with a picture of the sign.

Her secondary school, Marlborough College, is miles away in Wiltshire so probably even more expensive than the £35 for the Berkshire trip.


Star attraction: One of the highlights of the £35 trip is St Andrews Church where Kate was baptised


The historic church where Kate was baptised, just down the road from her parents' house in Bucklebury


Following the visit to the sign in a bush, the royal tourists are taken to the church where Kate was Baptised.

Those disappointed that the school was out of bounds will hopefully feel that St Andrews Church in Bradfield is a bit more of a success. If you are lucky the church will be open and you can get pictures of yourself at the font, or even walking down the aisle.

With the morning out of the way and Kate's early years covered, the trip then fast forwards to lunch at the local pub where she has been known to drink with William.

The Old Boot Inn, in the deliciously named Stanford Dingley is a regular, unassuming village pub that might be threatened with closure if it didn't have this sudden international interest.


Royal education: As Kate's prep school is out of bounds, the first stop on the tour can only get as far as the sign at the end of the drive while the sign on the right is the after lunch treat


Bradfield School: The unassuming CofE primary that is now the focus of 'international tourism'


Lunch stop at the Old Boot Inn in the deliciously named village of Stanford Dingley


Outsiders aren't as welcome as you might expect, what with all the extra cash coming into the community, but the food and drink are good enough.

The landlord, along with many other people in the village, has received an invite to the royal wedding.

After lunch there is more excitement with a quick trip to stand outside Bradfield Primary School where she was a pupil. Then it's back on the road, heading to a house in the same village that she is thought to have lived in early in her life.

Up the road is Bucklebury, the home of Kate's parents, Carole and Michael.


Royal household: A house where it is believed Kate lived when she was much younger


Since their engagement press interest at the Middleton's house is only sporadic compared to the constant watch that was from across the road after the initial excitement.

Kate's Country Tour barely even stops outside their five-bedroom house before speeding off again to the next and final stop. A Spar.

Hash and Chan, the owners of the shop, are among the lucky few to be on the guest list at the wedding. They will pose for photographs, only too aware of the financial capital that having a royal in their midst will bring.


Welcome news: Carole and Michael Middleton outside their home in Bucklebury, Berks, which is the penultimate 'stop' on the tour before heading to the Spar shop in nearby Bradfield


Not everyone is enjoying the attention being turned on Bucklebury, however.

Wynne Frankum, chair of Bucklebury Parish Council, told the BBC: 'This is her home. Her family have been in the village and the parish all her life. We are privately proud.

People have been very protective of Kate for a long time and we respect her privacy'.

Frankum did concede though that tours through this 'quiet little backwater' would be good for local businesses.

Mortons also has a London-bound Royal Wedding tour, which promises to 'rejoice in the spectacle, pageantry and celebration' of April 29th by offering the 'best possible location to glimpse the Royal couple'.


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source: dailymail