Here at Discover Newmarket we pride ourselves on having the best tour guides on offer for your day out. Not only are these guides passionate about their roles and showing off the town to visitors but they also have loads of knowledge and experience to share with you.
In our Meet The Guides series of blogs we are giving you the chance to get to know a little bit more about our team of tour guides. Next up is the chance to learn a little bit more about Char Collins.
A member of the Discover Newmarket team since its early days, Char admits that meeting different people every time she takes a new group on tour is one of the thing she enjoys so much about being a tour guide. “You will find the most unique place in the world,” says Char about encouraging people to visit Newmarket. “That and the racehorses.”. It’s a simple enough explanation that sums up the wonder of a town that has a royal patronage dating back to the 17th Century and prides itself being the Home of Horseracing.
“I’m born and bred in Newmarket. My father was a horse vet and my brother is one now. I’ve ridden all my life, mostly racehorses and rode out for various trainers in my school holidays including Bruce Hobbs and Henry Cecil. A long time ago!” she jokes.
Char’s time as a guide has included delivering tours of The National Stud and she can also be spotted showing groups around on Warren Hill, one of her favourite spots in Newmarket, and inside various trainer’s yards on things like the Country Mile and Short Head Tours. Her recommendation for a tour to go on is the Thoroughbred Breakfast because “it offers a total insight into training a racehorse and what happens behind the scenes.”
Like a large portion of racing fans, her favourite racing memory involves the legendary Frankel and his demolition of the field in the 2,000 Guineas at Newmarket Racecourse and if she had a racehorse it would be named Rudyard Kipling, after one of her favourite authors.
Are you keen to join Char on a tour? Find out more about our list of tours by clicking here.
As we celebrate International Women’s Day (8th March 2025), we’re taking the opportunity to look back at a definitive time in history when Ellen Chaloner, a trailblazing trainer became the first woman to be given a permit to train horses by the Jockey Club in 1886.
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The National Stud has announced that the first mares covered by Diego Velazquez have been scanned in foal.
The tourism body Discover Newmarket has unveiled the first of its 2026 series of ‘Morning With’ trainer tours – which provide exclusive behind-the scenes access to the world of horseracing.
Greater Anglia and the Ipswich to Cambridge Community Rail Partnership (CRP) are launching a competition to find a promotional name for the Ipswich to Cambridge line.
Valentine’s Day is all about spending time with the certain someone you care most about, and showing that appreciation of love… along with maybe a glass of bubbles or two!
Camilla Perrett has been appointed as the new Chair of Discover Newmarket, the not-for-profit organisation at the heart of British horseracing.
Discover Newmarket is backing the bid to secure UK Town of Culture status for Newmarket, marking an exciting opportunity to celebrate the town’s rich heritage, culture and history while inspiring new cultural projects for the future.
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