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.