European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - August 2, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Stamford England town that time forgot by Gregory Jensen United press International if the town s Only traffic Light is Green it Lake about three minutes to drive completely through Stamford thereby missing one of England most remarkable  Little known mid English town is a Small Miracle ice anyone who loves stately georgian Era buildings or the Sway cached tumbledown look of houses like something out of grimms fairy tales As line a town All of Stone As May be seen wrote Pioneer travel writer Celia Fiennes in 169t, and it still is for a Peculiar reason nothing really happened that s  said former mayor Bill Simpson. Most ancient British towns of Stamford s size population 17,000 have been gutted by three Maior upheavals in 200 years the Industrial revolution would War ii bombing and Post War redevelopment. Stamford escaped All three. Even the Railroad passed it by. So its 1,000-year-old streets arc like the aisles of a museum of architecture a living display covering 700 years no Small scale Domestic buildings All Buill of local urn nil Almeril none of them can be seen from a Caf ,, u16 Kilometres North of London is Perlecy Pool do Tho in Iii thai to properly see Runny English Tow my cities you be fool to get Cul there and walk to Hilp Tho Lovon has just produced nol one but live Touri tin loaf lots. They guide walkers past notable Structure firn the i3lh Century Onward with sketches and or Phi nations of each. So Rich is Stamford s architecture that one town Var even locusts on Chimney sin passing every Walker absorbs something of the town s Long Vily it has held a Markel on the same spot cd cry week Lor 1.014 years. The town s Lisl of mayors runs unbroken since 1461 the slam Ord Mercury boasts ii 15 Britain s oldest newspaper established 1695 and still nothing much happens.  always ask what do you do there"7 " Simpson  i a build ing practically new by comparison Only 176yc, and the answer is Well very Little really thai s part of the Point you walk around and look at the Archi Leclerc. Bui icon you Start to learn the history Tho Lille  like Kitaj Charles i s displeasure Over Stanford s Liller in he Imojo or about the town s Bull  a Peculiar ii it unpleasant custom which than Tully died out a Century or so Back today Stamford is a self satisfied even smug i town with Lew problems Low unemployment High Standard of living no disfiguring Industry and even less excitement it boasts that More than 600 of ils buildings Are so architecturally important they Are Prole cd by Law Agassi change. It takes infinite care of picturesque groups of genuinely ancient houses which seem to Dot every so real mysterious shoulder wide pedestrian fanes thread main streets together. Some like Silver Lane open Onlo hidden courtyards. Others conceal smart shops or pubs Hka the Hole in the Walt. Down Maiden Lane is the King s head the Best pub a 14th Century beamed building with an attractive courtyard restaurant. It could have been named Lor any of the i rec Kings who have stayed at the 16h con Lucy George Stamford s most widely known Fea Luro. The George its signpost on a beam that spans the main Road is an attractive 44-room hotel one of Lour in town five closely packed churches Dale from the Middle Ages even ils courageous Amateur theater group is rooted in the past the Stamford Shakespeare company is probably the Only Amateur theater group which owns a stately Home built in 1550. One of whose residents was alluded to by Shakespeare himself in twelfth night. Yet with All this most people who visit Stamford never Sci they head instead to the Gnagni Ficenc stately Home whose Park rubs the town s edges and having seen Burghley House they leave. Little hta changed Long Stamford s 1,000-yw-Oltt streets. The town it beat seen with e walking tour. The pleasures and perils of escorted Tours by Georgia Dullea new York times a Page 16 the stars and stripes Stock character on the escorted tour is the person who behaves As though the in had been organized Only for his or Hor Benefit Bany and Jane Linsky of new York encountered such a Man on recent tour of China in secret they called him lbs because of a physical resemblance to president Lyndon Baines Johnson. When most people on the bus wanted the air conditioning off he boomed leave in on when most people wanted to visit one More Temple he commanded sack to the hotel dining Wilh him was a trial chinese again Don t they know How to Cook anything else lbs has his moments though. As a tall Man 6 get 6 inches in a Short country he was More visible in a crowd than a Lour guide s upraised umbrella. Obligingly he took to wearing colourful Golf hats in High traffic areas like the forbidden City you could spot lbs s red hat 100 Yards away and you ran to catch up with it said Linsky an executive Al an Adverl Tsing Agency in new York. Even though you did l care Lor the Way he tried to impose his will on the majority he did have this other Side Hal made him a helpful group  there Are Many reasons for joining an escorted tour Economy Security companionship and. In places like China. The Ditl Cully of Independent Ravel. With a tour manager to handle customs Luggage meals and lips the traveler enjoys a measure of certainty on the other hand there is the uncertainty of spending weeks Wilh a Busload of strangers. Al Mere s a shyness quotient our travellers May be on the High end says Wilhur c. Tauck president of Tauck Tours in Westport conn., which operates hours in the United sales and Canada. Before ils buses gel rolling passengers Are Given a Booklet of helpful hints. Saturday August 2,1986 one hint on creating social chemistry is to make a Point of socializing Ana dining Wilh Many different members of the tour. Cliques Are discouraged and loners drawn into the group by the tour manager. G. Dom Passarelli of the International association of tour managers defines the Job As being a Bridge Over the cultural Gap " he adds however Hal Lour managers May be viewed in a More romantic Highl and thai despite rules against dating passengers. I would t say it s never  rivalry for the attention of attractive tour managers Mala and female is a big problem he says. Two other sources of conflict smoking and seating have largely disappeared in the Wake of new policies. Smoking is now banned on Many tour buses and seats Are olten rotated so that everyone gets a Chance to sit up Iron tour operator say that True to the stereotype their Besl customers Are older couples. At american express Lor example a typical Lour includes four single people and 20 couples. Most Are Over the age of 50, with household incomes of s25.000 or More. As Jay rising a director in the travel services division of american express in Mew York put it your  unlike the stereotype these travellers Are not without a sense of adventure according to Renala Laqueur a widow who has taken Hall a dozen Tours. The people i found to be a Lille More adventurous were Over 45." she said because they had More experience More education and a smattering of the  she said she avoids people of any age whose curiosity Aboul a foreign country is limited to what they can Eal or buy. They Are bores who just go to Ireland for Waterford or to France or perfume said Laqueur an adm Strator at memorial Sloan Kettering cancer Center in new York. Also to be avoided is the chronic complainer. The museum was closed the food was Lousy nothing was right rising said quoting typical complaints. In rare cases fellow passengers Are driven to complain about the complainer and the tour manager May suggest a refund and ticket Home