Creative Walks has been established as a tailor-made, self-guided walking holiday company by two owners, Marcelle Hoff and Martin Garland, who have both a lifelong interest in walking in Great Britain and overseas as well as being the owners of a successful luxury tour operating business, Expressions Holidays Ltd.
Creative Walks has been designed for kindred spirits who enjoy the freedom of walking and who appreciate the benefits it brings; exercise of the body and spirit, an immersion in our natural surroundings, an inquisitiveness to explore new surroundings or just to revisit and hear again the sound of a bubbling brook or to feel the wind in your face, the sound of a lone bird or the sight of a herd of deer in the distance.
Coupled with this is an appreciation of all things ‘Slow’; a quality of life and living that encourages the authentic, the considered, the well-crafted. Finally, Creative Walks wants to bring you a real flavour for the places you walk, with stays in comfortable and authentic places, offering traditional, regional cuisine and yet with a style that makes you feel good. Creative Walks is all about walking holidays that are authentic, a comfortable challenge, and that provide space for you to be creative in your thinking, your decision-making, and your life
How our walking holidays work
Our walking holidays are self-guided, for individuals.
You do not join a group with a set departure date, although we can arrange a walk for a small group of friends and family together.
You choose your own departure date.
You can combine one of our holidays with other holiday arrangements.
You make your own travel arrangements (trains, flights, car-hire, self-drive) but we can advise on logistics for each holiday.
The accommodation has been chosen to be authentic and typical of each region. It may be a 3-star or 4-star small hotel; it may be a local pub; it may be a Bed and Breakfast, or even a mountain refuge. There may be a choice in some places and sometimes alternatives to those mentioned in the itineraries will be offered because of availability.
We supply detailed route notes and maps as described in each itinerary. These vary from itinerary to itinerary and will depend on the location of the walk.
Suitability of our walking holidays
Our walking holidays are generally suitable for fit and healthy people who have experience of walking and will not be uncomfortable with a walk of several hours’ duration over a mixture of terrain including some ascents and descents. Most of our walks are considered as a Grade 2 or 3 and distances and durations are provided with each itinerary. Where gradients are considered significant, these are detailed too. Where some tracks are narrow or exposed with a vertical drop, this is mentioned in the itinerary if exceptional to the rest of the trail or would be rated a Grade 4. If you are in any doubt about your fitness, you should consult your doctor before booking or travelling.
Our team
Our team in our Exeter office includes support staff who are widely travelled and speak at least one foreign language, including French, German, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese. Many members of our team come to us as graduates from Exeter and other top universities. We also employ current Exeter students, both as undergraduates and post-graduates, for part-time work. Throughout Great Britain and abroad we work with local suppliers who know their areas and their walks, and who can provide assistance at any time.
Our clients
At the heart of Creative Walks and everything we do are our clients. We hope that our clients find in us like-minded souls who have tailored arrangements to fit their requirements perfectly. We certainly work hard when we are putting our itineraries together to think about how clients would appreciate something, what information they would need and how they would feel in a certain situation.
Our location
Creative Walks is based in the flourishing regional capital and university, cathedral city of Exeter. We have offices in an accessible location on the outskirts of the city, yet only 10 minutes from the city centre. If you would like to arrange a visit, please call us. We look forward to meeting you.
Financial Protection
Financial protection is offered when you book a Creative Walks package holiday as defined by the Package Travel Regulations 2018. Creative Walks is a trading name of Garland Hoff Ltd. The package air holidays are ATOL protected by the Civil Aviation Authority. Our ATOL number is 3076.
As a member of the Association of Bonded Travel Organisers Trust Limited (ABTOT), we have provided a bond (licence number 5263) to protect non-flight package holidays commencing in and returning to the UK and other non-flight packages excluding pre-arranged travel to and from your destination. Please refer to our booking conditions for full details.
We are also members of AITO (the Association of Independent Tour Operators), an organisation of some of Britain's best specialist tour operators.
We have chosen not to be members of ABTA (Association of British Travel Agents) as we are a tailor-made specialist tour operator and not a travel agent, and we feel that the Association of Independent Tour Operators (AITO) is an organisation that represents our interests, as a tailor-made specialist, best.
Links:
www.caa.co.uk
www.aito.co.uk