Viv has a degree in English Language and Medieval Literature from Durham University. She spends part of each year in France, but for the past 25 years London has been home. Following two years of intense training she qualified as a Blue Badge Guide, coming top in her year. She particularly enjoys giving individuals and families in-depth tours of London focusing as much on the hidden and unfamiliar as the well-known - she concentrates as much on the here-and-now as the past. The City's fringes - Bankside and Spitalfields - hold as much appeal as Westminster and St James's. She enjoys sharing her enthusiasm for London's C18 and C19 history and her detailed knowledge of the city's royal connections. She has a particular interest in the great aristocratic landholdings of London, and has created walks around the 'villages' of London such as Chelsea, Bloomsbury and Spitalfields. Viv is currently studying for a part-time Research Masters in the History of the British Country House 1485-1945