My family and I recently experienced the wonderful Lines of Torres Vedras full day tour with Mark Crathorne from the British Historical Society of Portugal. Mark was a wonderful host, combining a natural storytelling gift with an ability to cater for our different levels of interest. Portuguese culture, geography and of
Mark Crathorne of the British Historical Society of Portugal guided three of us on a wonderfully informative and exciting two-day tour of the Lines of Torres Vedras. We’re all quite knowledgeable on American Civil War (1861-1865) field fortifications and were particularly interested in comparing and contrasting design, construction, and location elements
“A fascinating and informed insight into the fortifications of Torres Vedras and their significance, history and historical fiction brought to life by an attentive guide. Also an opportunity to see more rural Portugal, have a superb lunch at an exceptional location, an afternoon stop at a village pastelaria all included. Thoroughly
We had the pleasure of taking a full day tour of the Lines of Torres Vedras with Mark Crathorne, our BHSP guide. It was an excellent experience that combined great scenery, history and culture. We benefited from Mark‘s many years of experience leading field trips to the Lines. Mark conveyed information
"Absolutely one of the best tours in Portugal I have experienced! Mark is a superb host. He is a natural storyteller and brings to life the personalities and events of the Peninsular War. He reaches a wide audience from casual history buff to more serious student of the period. The amazing
“Mark Crathorne is an Englishman who has lived in Portugal for many years. He speaks Portuguese fluently. He is an ex-Army officer with a great knowledge of the Peninsula campaigns and a soldier's understanding of what they involved. He gave us an expert tour of the Lines of Torres Vedras, incorporating
“Having experienced a day tour of the Lines of Torres Vedras under the expert guidance of Clive Gilbert, we are very happy to recommend this event to others. The Lines and their fortifications make a gigantic footprint on the Portuguese countryside, and the terrain in and around the lines is challenging
“Thank you Clive for giving us such a revealing tour of the Lines of Torres Vedras last week. You have such a depth of knowledge of Portugal - a country we were visiting for the first time. You enabled us to visit places we wouldn't otherwise have been able to reach,
“Our guide, Mark Crathorne, was perfect. My wife had little interest in the war sites and I had far more enthusiasm than knowledge. So we asked for a "mixed" tour and Mark served up a beauty. We saw the works and learned about them, but also had a marvellous tour of
“What a beautiful, interesting, memorable day you gave us. We feel as if we had taken a real journey in time and space and learned a huge amount along the way. We are so grateful for all you did to make everything as perfect as it was, from the reading material
“Well executed, with a passionate and very well informed guide, the 11 Signal Brigade Battlefield Study to the Lines of Torres Vedras was both an excellent medium for professional development and hugely enjoyable.”
“Just a note to say that I have heard nothing but praise from all of our party for the excellent job that you did as a guide for our trip to Torres Vedras. The choice of restaurant and menu was also highly praised.”
“In order to properly understand Wellington's defensive lines, which run for many miles over the hills around Lisbon, it is highly desirable, if not essential, to have a well-informed guide. Luckily in Clive Gilbert, from the BHS of Portugal, there is someone who mixes depth of knowledge, with humour and a
“I booked my family on a half-day tour of the Lines and we all enjoyed the visit immensely. We especially appreciated the excellent explanation by the guide, Clive Gilbert, as well as the pleasure of his company. He also gave us extensive information on suggested reading. Thank you.”
Mark Crathorne is a superb battlefield guide and a delightful traveling companion. He took my wife and me to Óbidos, Roliça, Vimeiro and Torres Vedras. He brought the 1808 campaign to life for us in a friendly, relaxed and informative way that was satisfying both for me, a Napoleonic grognard, and
We both thoroughly enjoyed the trip, it was not only informative and interesting, but Mark’s insights brought the history of that particular part of the Peninsular Campaign to life. We also very much appreciated seeing parts of rural Portugal that would escape the notice of most casual visitors. The trip to
"I would like to thank Mark for making the extra effort to make the day-tour so interesting and action-packed. The tour was tailored in a way that it was possible to experience two different campaigns in just a day. I enjoyed immensely following exact troop movements of the Battle of Vimeiro
"Thank you for a very well planned, informative, and enjoyable day learning about Wellington in Portugal. I appreciated your suggestions for readings before the trip, which made seeing the ground more meaningful. I hope to have an opportunity to visit more of the Peninsular battlefields. If I do, you will be
Please accept this more formal expression of thanks for the two days which our ¨Gang of Four¨ spent with you earlier this month exploring the battlefields of Roliça, Vimeiro, and The Lines of Torres Vedras. Your thorough briefing materials with photos, narrative, and maps gave us an excellent preparation for the visits
“Our tour with Mark was the highlight of an excellent holiday. Calling it 'a tour' was rather like terming an Aston Martin 'a car', technically correct but totally inadequate. Think rather of spending a day with a good acquaintance who just happens to be a fine raconteur. He brought the Peninsular
“Overall Tour Experience: Five star, and highly recommended for anyone looking for a tour with a personal touch. The basic arrangements – transport, accommodation, meals – ran like clockwork, while the tour booklet neatly encapsulated the events in each day’s schedule. The guides knew the campaigns and the country over which
“Highly recommended. The Battlefield Tour was tailored to our special interests, well planned and efficiently conducted. Our guide was enormously knowledgeable about the Peninsular War and was able to explain clearly how the battles and related history unfolded. Seeing the terrain and having his explanations brought alive to us the battles
“Clive and Mark were superb guides and hosts. I can't imagine more informed guides for the Portuguese portion of the Peninsular War, including visits to unique sites seldom visited by others.”
“Both guides used their detailed knowledge of both the events of the time and the country in which they happened to take us off the beaten track to locations other tours haven’t reached. Their readiness to tailor the tour to include sites of particular interest to our group was also much
"Mark designed an excellent three day guided tour of the Peninsular War in Portugal. He was very companionable, extremely efficient and very knowledgeable. His enthusiasm for his subject was infectious and we enjoyably learnt a lot in a short time. We are going back for more, in Spain this time, next year."
"Mark Crathorne was our guide on two one-day battlefield tours of Torres Vedras and Bussaco. He took us to locations and monuments which were critical to our understanding of the battles, giving us an insight into Wellington’s and Massena’s strategic and tactical thinking as well as the challenges facing division and
“My battalion officers and I had the absolute pleasure of being guided around a number of the key battlefields of the Peninsula Campaign by Mark Crathorne of the British Historical Society of Portugal. Far more than a mere tour guide, Mark assisted my team in the planning and local liaison for
“I thoroughly enjoyed both days and learnt an enormous amount not only about Bussaco and the Lines, but the whole campaign - your extemporised summary of the Peninsula on the drive up to Bussaco was remarkable! Added to that your local knowledge and contacts made possible other highlights, including the visit
We can’t thank you enough for our tours. The two tours were well thought out and, as ever, you were excellent and, indeed, very kind in taking time to explain to two non-military individuals.
Our 5-day tour came off with military precision and the overall experience exceeded our already high expectations. We looked over each chosen battlefield, often from the exact spots where both the British and French commanders stood, to get the perspective of each side for both the development and execution of the
“Mark, as our tour guide and a companion, was excellent and that he went over and beyond the call of duty to do everything he could to make the visit of our group of eight a success. He really did bring the whole experience to life and the advice on hotels
“A short note to say thank you for the most excellent service that you provided to my team and me. Your knowledge was boundless and you really provided great value during our Battlefield Study of the Peninsular War. My whole team commented on your professionalism throughout and how the insight you
“I cannot thank you enough for a really special tour. We all enjoyed it tremendously and I was particularly taken by how you pitched the talk perfectly to the audience giving the boys enough information, yet keeping me interested. We would never have been able to find the lines of Torres
“We really enjoyed our time with you all. We appreciate your effort in organising our whole tour and the obvious work you put in to ensure our trip was a success. Your genuine interest in our wellbeing and your personable approach when guiding brought the Peninsular War to "life" for us.
“Being on the spot at Elvas, Badajoz and Albuera brings the history to life in a way that books simply can't do. For me it was not only standing on the Fatal Hill or the ramparts of the forts at Elvas and Badajoz, it was also being surrounded by the descendants
“Having found out about the tour and made arrangements only at the last minute, I certainly wasn’t expecting to have such a memorable time. Clive and Mark fit in as much as possible in one day and drove across the country and back, so I managed to see three of Lord
“The British Historical Society recently organised a one-day trip to some of the most notable and still complete battlefield sites of the Peninsular wars, namely to Elvas in Portugal and Badajoz in Spain. The tour guide Maj. (Retd.) Nick Halidie was superb. He was not only supremely knowledgeable and enthusiastic, but
“Mark’s deep knowledge of the Peninsular War, combined with his professionalism and enthusiasm, facilitated a superb Battlefield Study for a mixed group of military personnel and civil servants from HQ Army Recruiting & Initial Training Command; I would highly recommended him to others who are considering similar excursions.”
“Mark Crathorne’s relaxed and affable personality, combined with a deep expertise on the Peninsular War to truly bring our battlefield study to life. Mark is a fantastic guide and the Scots Guards’ study of the war was unquestionably richer for his input. His local knowledge also allowed us to exploit the
We spent four wonderful days exploring the Peninsular War battlefields with Mark Crathorne from the British Historic Society.of Portugal. Mark was incredibly knowledgeable about the Peninsular War, bringing its conflicts to life even for those of our party who had come without much background. Mark also took all the logistic challenges
“Mark Crathorne planned our battlefield tour meticulously and escorted us to as many of the key places as time allowed. Mark gave us all the historical detail with enthusiasm and with an eye to detail. We could not have enjoyed our trip more.”
"The Peninsular War is a unique and fascinating period in British and Continental European history. Mark from the BHSP brought it to life for us with great skill and knowledge. His story telling, use of first hand accounts and understanding of the battlegrounds is first rate. His enthusiasm for the subject is
“A friend and I, both with an interest in British military history, requested the British Historical Society of Portugal to design and provide us with a six-day tour of a number of battles fought during the Peninsular War. We were very pleased with the experience. We toured the sites of
“Our visit to Portugal was inspired by the story of my 3 x great grandfather, William McCraw, who was a Lieutenant in the 71st Regiment of Foot in the Peninsular War. Diaries written by two soldiers in his regiment give details of their involvement in the war and other army records
“A really fun and informative trip which we can absolutely recommend. Mark is an enthusiastic and knowledgeable guide and helped bring to life the battles and the human drama of the Peninsula Wars. He dealt with our tirade of questions with unfailing good humour. The fact that the trip took us
“‘Our four day trip with Mark and Clive was the highlight of a six week European holiday in 2013. It was great to be in the company of two people who were not only highly knowledgeable about the history of the Peninsular War, but were also enthusiasts. The insights to the
“Thank you so much for all those little ‘extras’. Seeing little villages and meeting the local historian was something special. Your contact in Madrid for visiting the battlefield site of Salamanca was very helpful and he put me in contact with a local guide who had played over the Arapiles as
“We want to say how much we enjoyed our British Historical Society of Portugal tour. You put together a programme that suited us ideally and we had a delightful and most interesting week in Portugal.”
Thank you for a highly informative, enjoyable and inspirational few days while you took us around the key Portuguese sites of the Peninsular War. You are quite clearly the foremost expert within Portugal on the Peninsular War, which you brought to life with many anecdotes. There were so many brilliant moments,
“I would like to thank you for the time that we spent with you at Óbidos, Porto and Elvas and all the other battlefields. Your enthusiasm and passion for the battles I found to be very informative and interesting and has inspired me to develop a greater understanding of the Peninsular
“We had such a great time, Mark. Our time with you was certainly the highlight of our whole trip. The care and professionalism you displayed when organising the trip was greatly appreciated. Your friendly, flexible approach and knowledge put us at ease and we enjoyed your company throughout the trip. The
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