Grand tour showcases Cumbria's delights

“I used to think I’d like to do that job, telling people what a lovely county this is,” she recalls. But she never dreamed that she would – or, to her mild embarrassment, that she’d be awarded an MBE for her efforts.

And if it hadn’t been for a health problem that left her almost blind in one eye, she might never have made the change in direction which led her to it.

Carol has spent 38 years leading tours around the Lake District and southern Scotland – so far.

Now aged 73, she is still full of energy as she talks about the delights of the region and the importance of telling its stories to visitors. She comes across as one of nature’s teachers.

And she stresses repeatedly that it’s not all down to her, but to the other tour guides she works with.

She agreed to accept the MBE on behalf of all of them.

But if it hadn’t been for the eye problem life might have turned out very differently.

Carol grew up in Barrow and was a keen member of the local ramblers’ group in her teens.

“We rambled all over the Lake District,” she says. “History and geography were always my interests, and I liked the landscape.”

Carol pursued two careers simultaneously.

She became an apprentice in the drawing office of Barrow shipbuilders Vickers Armstrong.

Meanwhile in the evening she studied dressmaking and tailoring.

When she and her husband Peter moved to Cheshire she took a teaching qualification, allowing her to teach dressmaking.

And then she started suffering double vision. Soon after she found she couldn’t thread a needle.

At first opticians prescribed a stronger pair of glasses, which didn’t help. Then an eye specialist realised what the problem was.

He diagnosed a condition called keratoconus, in which a curve or ripple develops in the cornea. It affected her right eye at first but spread to the left, and Carol has had to have operations on both.

Her left eye is fine with the help of a contact lens – but images in the right are distorted and she still has to attend the eye hospital in Newcastle for regular treatment.

It meant she could do neither of the jobs she was qualified for.

“I was terribly upset about it,” she admits. “It was like a wall you were up against.

“There was the scary feeling that if anything happened to my left eye I’d have no sight at all.”

By this time the couple had moved to Faugh, near Heads Nook, where they still live.

“Eventually I pulled myself together,” says Carol. “I had to get my head round it. I said: ‘I can’t do these jobs, so I’ve got to reinvent myself.’”

She remembered how history, geography and the idea of tour guiding had always appealed to her. So she offered her services in Carlisle as a tour guide.

“In September 1978 I took my first guided coach tour to Hadrian’s Wall.”

And as tourism grew in the 1980s and 90s, demand and destinations increased. She set up an association of local guides – Cumbria and Border Heritage Guides – to become a central point of contact for those who needed them.

Tours soon stretched throughout the Lake District, to the west coast and into Scotland. “We went to Dumfries, Annan, Caerlaverock Castle, Jedburgh, Melrose, Moffat. There where people staying at the Crown & Mitre that we took to Edinburgh.

“British Rail offered tours to various parts of the country.

“They’d bring people from London up to Carlisle and we would take them to Hadrian’s Wall and Housesteads.”

Leading tours to such varied destinations involved a lot of research. And her experience as a teacher helped.

“You are obviously teaching,” she says. “You’re telling a story. I think if you’re interested in a subject, you do your research and you really plan, that comes across to people.”

Meanwhile, the city council had decided to set up a dedicated tourism department, and a tourism office at the Old Town Hall. Carol became assistant manager and then manager.

Carol Donnelly She was still organising the tours at the same time, and persuaded the council to integrate guided tours within the tourism department.

“Looking back, that was a period when so much was happening,” she reflects. “It was a dynamic time for tourism. I’ll always be grateful I was in the right place at the right time.

“There were lots of people from overseas. You’d walk around the town and hear all kinds of foreign languages.”

In 1990 English Heritage recruited them to conduct guided tours of Carlisle Castle, which ran for the next 23 years.

Then in 1998, suddenly and unexpectedly, the city council cut back on tourism. Carol and others lost their jobs. “It was very upsetting. Everyone was shocked.

“But some of the tour guides asked if I would continue to organise them. So in 1999 I set up as Open Book Visitor Guiding.”

The company is still busy, but she finds tourism in general in Cumbria is not what it was in the boom years.

“There’s been a recession and there’s a lot more competition out there now. There are people with a lot more money to advertise themselves.

“And it can be up and down for all sorts of reason – foot and mouth, or floods, or a scare at Sellafield.”

Yet there’s still interest, especially among people from elsewhere in Britain.

So it was an unpleasant surprise when the AD122 bus from Carlisle to Hadrian’s Wall was abruptly cancelled in 2014.

“I went into the tourist office and there were people there crying, they’d been so looking forward to visiting.”

So she organised a minibus offering a direct link from Carlisle to the wall during August.

Last year, with money from the Sustainable Transport Fund, it was able to run from June until September, and this year it will be running over the same months – with an extra stop at Lanercost on the way.

And, of course, there’ll be the commentary from a tour guide.

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Of all the tours Carol has led, she admits her favourite destination is still the one she did first back in 1978 – Hadrian’s Wall.

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Towards the end of 2011 Carol received the letter informing her she’d been put forward for the MBE in the upcoming New Year’s Honours. But at first she didn’t take it seriously.

“I thought it was a scam,” she recalls. “I left it to one side.

“Then a few days later I looked at it again – and there was a stamped addressed envelope inside for St James’s Palace.”

She was in two minds about whether to accept it.

“I’m not really in favour of individuals receiving these awards, because it’s never just you.

“But out of respect to whoever nominated me I decided I’d accept it – on behalf of everyone.

“I can’t do what I do without the support of the other tour guides, and everybody we work with.”

Carol has no plans to stop. There’s too much still to do. On the bank holidays in May and August there will be more “secret history” tours of Carlisle.

On Saturday, June 11 – the day of the Queen’s official birthday – there will be a tour recalling past royal visits to the city, and ending at the Tithe Barn for tea and birthday cake. “It should be a fun day,” she says.

Royal visits tickets will cost £10 per adult and need to be booked in advance from the tourist information centre or by calling (01228) 598596.

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There are also going to be guided tours of the both sides of the Citadel later in the year. The western side closer to the railway station houses the old crown court and jail cells – and the spot were people used to be hanged.

Beneath the eastern side are the remains of the original citadel built by Hadrian VIII.

Of course, there are always people who want to go on holiday just to visit the shops, pubs and restaurants – or who would rather explore a place for themselves.

But Carol finds there are plenty who are keen to learn about our history.

“It’s essential to get people here and have a wonderful time, and it’s great if we can be part of that.

“We want them to leave with happy memories so they’ll go home and tell other people about it.”

And she wouldn’t still be doing it, she adds, if she didn’t enjoy it.

“I like people. It’s great if you can make a difference to their holiday.”