Guildford Chronicles: A Historic Soundscape Journey

Explore Guildford at your own pace

A city of ancient secrets and roaring engines, Guildford hides its most dramatic tales in plain sight. Peer beyond the shopping crowds and feel history vibrating under your feet with this self-guided audio tour-a walking adventure where side streets echo with scandals, legends, and vanished revolutions known only to a few.

Why did fire nearly spell doom for centuries-old justice? What vital invention inside the Rodboro Buildings changed British roads forever? And which bus platform once sheltered a fugitive as the city slept?

Set out across vivid corners-where courts rumble with courtroom dramas, factory walls guard industrial breakthroughs, and bus engines hum with the promise of escape. Move through past and present as Guildford's untold stories ignite each landmark, changing how you see every brick and every bustling crowd.

Photo: Shea Lavington, Unsplash

Tour details

• Duration: 1 hour 19 minutes, entirely at your own pace
• Distance: around 3.2 km (2.0 miles)
• Stops: 13 landmarks, including Rodboro Buildings, Guildford Crown Court, Guildford bus station
• Audio: up to 33 minutes of narration
• Starts at: Rodboro Buildings

Map data by Mapbox and OpenStreetMap contributors

How it works

• Book here and a redemption code arrives by email within minutes.
• Download the free AudaTours app on your phone and enter the code.
• Download the tour once and the whole thing works offline.
• Walk to the first stop and press play. The audio for each landmark starts automatically as you approach it, so your phone can stay in your pocket.

There is no fixed date and no start time. The date you pick at checkout does not matter, and the tour stays on your phone permanently, so you can use it whenever you next visit and walk it again as often as you like.

What is included

• Professionally narrated audio that plays automatically at each stop
• An interactive map showing the walking route between landmarks
• Full offline access once downloaded, so you need no data or signal
• Freedom to start, pause and resume whenever you like
• Lifetime access - your code never expires

Where you will stop

• Rodboro Buildings
• Guildford Crown Court
• Guildford bus station
• St Nicolas Church, Guildford
• Yvonne Arnaud Theatre
• Guildford Museum
• Guildford Castle
• Guildford Guildhall
• Holy Trinity Church, Guildford
• Abbot's Hospital
• Bethel Chapel, Guildford
• Guildford Synagogue
• G Live

Image: AudaTours

What is AudaTours?

AudaTours turns a walk through a city into a story. Our guides bring landmarks to life with the history, the scandals and the detail you would never get from a plaque.

• Immersive: real stories about the places in front of you, not a dry commentary
• Offline: download once and use it with no data, anywhere
• At your own pace: start, pause and resume whenever you want
• Accurate: every story is built from verified historical sources and checked before release

Good to know

• This is a self-guided audio tour on your own phone. There is no in-person guide.
• It does not include entry to any building or site along the route.
• The landmarks on the tour are not affiliated with AudaTours.
• You need a smartphone with Android 7.0 or later, or iOS 16 or later.
• Bring headphones and start with a charged phone.

Who it suits

Solo travellers, couples, families and small groups who would rather explore on their own schedule than follow a guide and a fixed departure time. It suits a first visit, and it suits anyone who has already seen the famous sights and wants to know what actually happened in them.

Image credits

Photos: Hassocks5489 (Wikimedia Commons, public domain); Shea Lavington, Martine Mussies (Unsplash).