Flying Purple Pig Transfers & Tours

Press Release page.
"With the 'Flying Purple Pig's Private Tours the choices are yours - you set the itinerary

14 December 2016:

SOME FANTASTIC SOMERSET COUNTY TOURS ARE NOW BEING PLANNED...
WE HAVE AGREED SOME FANTASTIC DISCOUNTS WITH ATTRACTIONS AND HOTELS!
ALL IN CONJUNCTION WITH VISIT SOMERSET (TOURIST BOARD).

THIS WILL INCLUDE DAY TRIPS FROM LONDON & TWO DAY TOURS WITH EXCLUSIVE ACCOMODATION!
PLEASE ASK FOR DETAILS OR WATCH THIS WEBSITE!

10th March 2016:

A Facebook page... at last!

We now have a FaceBook page, which can be found at www.facebook.com/flyingpurplepigtours

We look forward to seeing your comments and photo posts...

15th February 2016:

100 years since Battle of the Somme!

The Thiepval Memorial to the Missing, designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens and unveiled in 1932, is one of the main focal points of remembrance for the centenary of the Somme Battle of world war one. We are pleased to announce that our owner, Sir Keith Ceeney, will be attending along with the dignitaries from France and Britain. Unfortunately this does mean there will be no tours led by Sir Keith from 29 June 2016 until 5th July 2016.

Background to Thiepval.
The Somme Battle (or offensive) was to start at the end of June 1916 and was designed originally to be a joint operation between the French armies and the British army to push back the invading German army. Before the planning of Somme operation could be finalised, the French were in desperate need of troops in their 'meat-grinder' battle around Verdun and were unable to provide more than 3 Corps to the offensive. Planning continued, with French political pressure and British ineptitude, with inexperienced British Army & their Generals taking the lead, & France needed the Germans to be diverted away from Verdun!
(We need to remember before world war one Britain ruled the waves, with their navy! We had a small professional army that was almost completely wiped out in the first year or so of World War One)

Eventually, and after a much planned build up, and the infamous seven day barrage (which the German army simply hid in their dug outs from), 1st July 2016 arrived and the offensive started, with 19 underground mines being blown and the famous Kitchener's Army of volunteers advancing into an almost intact German full-time & trained army. By the end of that one day nearly 60,000 British and commonwealth troops were dead or wounded! Many dead had no known grave, they simply disappeared, some beneath the earth never to be found, and some vapourised by artillery fire. Of those that were fortunate enough to be buried in graves, many were lost in the later battles of the war never to be found. These are the soldiers names that are recorded on the Thiepval Memorial.

Outcome of the Battle(?)
Although famous for the 1st of July, the Battle of the Sommme continued as a battle of attrition for another four & a half months! By it's end the Allies had advanced just a few miles in some areas! To the British, the Somme Battle was a major event in history. It changed the demographics of villages & towns throughout Britain, where the men between 18 and 40 simply never returned. It also changed the political thought processes of the British Empire. The Empire realised Britain simply could not be trusted to be followed blindly, and this single offensive is thought by some to be the beginning of the end of the British Empire? Meanwhile in Britain this Battle woke up the sleeping giant of the working class man. The sheep were no longer going to be led to the slaughter willingly!
(However they were dragged unwillingly for many years after this battle!)

These were perhaps not the only results of what is often considered to be a 'Wanton waste of life". France was saved! Verdun was alleviated by Germans switching to the Somme region. Many Empire troops efforts were rewarded by a nationalism back home that brought about an independent awareness that eventually led to independence. Australia in particular, but also Canada and even India, the Jewel in the British Crown, started becoming self-aware at this time. Perhaps because of the slaughter inflicted on them by the British ruling classes and inept British Generals and politicians during this period, and because of deeds done by their countrymen in this battle.

Future...
"Perhaps we need to remember that many soldiers survive a war! It's not just about the dead heroes, it's about the surviving heroes too! That's why 100 years later our political leaders will be honouring the fallen of the Somme, but Sir Keith will also be remembering the sacrifice that the survivors, like Harry Patch and many others made too. "

"May we also remember the survivors of more recent wars too, and November 11th this year we will do that too!"
Sir Keith Ceeney (November 2015)

8th July 2014: BREAKING NEWS!

English Heritage have recently asked us to come to park at the visitor centre during our visits to Stonehenge, rather than use the Byways. Rather than get involved in the politics, we have agreed, for the time being, to bring our guests to "check-in" at the visitor centre... (and use the land-train). However we will still ask our guests not to visit the museum if they are offended by the Human Remains on display here.

If the lines are particularly busy or our guests are likely to be left in bad or wet weather with no shelter, we will seek an alternative tour route around the World Heritage Site and stay in our vehicles except for photographs.

Our owner, Sir, Keith Ceeney said, "I spoke in some depth with Ms Kate Davies at English Heritage Stonehenge, and she could not endorse or approve of the Byway being used to enter Stonehenge, and didn't approve of people not coming to the visitor centre at some time during there trip, and this original verbal agreement was now null and void! I can do nothing but conform with EH as they are in control at Stonehenge."

Sir Keith also added, "It is a distinct possibility that we may start to promote other exciting sites around the UK for the Winter season, instead of pushing on Stonehenge visits... Windsor Castle, Avebury, Salisbury, Bath and the Cotswolds are equally good days out and certainly if the weather is bad we will be taking our clients here instead!

I think we'll probably stop suggesting that clients buy advance tickets, except during the busy summer months."

15th April 2014: FEBRUARY & MARCH 2014 BEST TOUR SEASON ON RECORD!!!

THANKS FOR MAKING THE FLYING PURPLE PIG TOURS SUCH A SUCCESS! With our new agreement with English Heritage attracting plenty of interest from media and tourist alike, we are hoping to continue with this success for the rest of 2014!!

A big THANK YOU to all our guests who have made such an effort to share information about our services. As you may know we never advertise and run totally on recommendations from past clients. If you have travelled with us and haven't left a feedback about us online, please leave a message on a web-media travel site (TRIPADVISOR etc). Thanks again for such a great start to the year, we hope you all enjoyed touring as much as we loved showing you around our beautiful islands! Until next time...

6th Feb 2014: NEW TOURS TO EUROPE ANNOUNCED!!!

NEW TOURS TO COMMEMORATE 100 YEARS ANNIVERSARY OF WORLD WAR ONE... COMING SOON!!!

We are planning to set up some new private tours into France & Flanders (Belgium) starting this year to commemorate WW1. The first type will be a Somme Battlefield Remembrance Tour and will be two nights/three days long. The second type will be a combined Ypres and Somme Battlefield Tour and will be three nights and four days long.

We are thinking that July, August, September and November will be the most appropriate this year, but are open for other times if we get enough response. We only have one world war one driver/guide for these tours, so availability may be an issue. (Should demand be significant we may look into hiring French based English speaking guides to meet up with our tours on arrival in Europe and using some of our other driver/guides from other UK tour routes?)

Canadians might be particularly interested in the Somme Tour as we will be visiting a Canadian Government run Beaumont-Hamel Newfoundland Memorial site among other areas..

Places will be limited to 3 couples per tour, maximum of six passengers, and will be operated on a first deposit process. As for accommodation, we are looking at 3 or 4 star bed & breakfast hotels and we have already inspected and approved a Bed & Breakfast on the Somme Battle Region. We will be arranging more inspections in Belgium shortly to make our choice there, and will look into local guides at the same time.

Prices should be around £200-300 per couple including...
Transportation - (including ferry/Eurostar crossing)
Accommodation - Bed & Breakfast
Site visits (but not any entrance fees or main meals).
Guides - where necessary.
...so this should be good value for money

Please contact us straight away if you are interested.

20th Jan 2014: EXCLUSIVE!!!

A NEW AGREEMENT TO AVOID THE NEW LAND-TRAIN AT STONEHENGE HAS BEEN REACHED BETWEEN FLYING PURPLE PIG TOURS AND English HERITAGE!

Flying Purple Pig Private Tours are pleased to announce that they have reached an agreement with English Heritage at Stonehenge to avoid using the new Land Train and Visitor Centre for our guests only. This will save our guests one hour in tour time, and will avoid them having to wait in all weathers for the trip to and from the new visitor centre.
Provided that we purchase timed tickets in advance* for each guest, we can now continue with our new world heritage site tour route and bring you directly up to Stonehenge circle, without the anticipated 2 mile excursion to the visitor centre.
Our owner, Mr Keith Ceeney said, "We are grateful to English Heritage for this provision and hope that this means our tours in 2014 will be even more successful in trying to understand and explain what we have recently discovered in this incredible World Heritage Site, rather than Land-Train our guests into the Stone Circle with just an audio guide."
*All guests to Stonehenge will have to purchase timed tickets in advance from English Heritage from March 2014 anyway. Walk-in guests will have to wait at the visitor centre for the next available time slot, so we had already anticipated having to purchase tickets in advance!