A NEW mini-bus tour and sightseeing company is hoping to share Bermuda’s byways with the rest of the world. The brainchild of former teachers, Ray and Kay Latter, Byways Bermuda prides itself on offering uncommon and unusual walking and minibus tours of the island.The couple left England 40 years ago to teach school in Bermuda and following their retirement decided to take a “gap year” and travel.

They ended up literally going off the beaten track in Australasia and explored some of the most beautiful, yet isolated places in New Zealand, Thailand and Bali.

In fact they were so inspired by these “off the beaten track” tours that they decided to return home and do the same: “We wanted to give that experience to visitors to Bermuda.”

Mrs. Latter elaborates that the whole idea of Byways Bermuda was to share stories about the island’s history, environment, culture and tradition with visitors who might not experience this through conventional taxi tours.

But she insists they are not competing with taxi drivers and tour guides, because their package is an unusual and unique combination of walking and driving.

“It would be hard for a taxi driver to drop his guests off at Fort Scaur, walk with them along the Railway Trail and collect them with his taxi at Haydon,” she says.

The Latters’ mini-van can comfortably accommodate up to six visitors, and if a larger group is booked, the couple don’t hesitate to call in one of the local taxi operators to assist.

However, the couple prefer working with smaller groups of four. These are more personal and allow the Latters to provide more individual attention to visitors.

“You can pick up what they are interested in and go from there,” Mr. Latter explains.

His passion lies in history and anything military, while Mrs. Latter covers Bermuda’s natural history and the more “quirky” aspects of island life.

“Our greatest joy is having someone who is totally devoted to history, and of course birding,” she adds with a smile.

They came up with three unique packages: “The West End”, which takes visitors to the island’s various fortifications including Dockyard and the Royal Naval Cemetery; The “Where it all began” tour in St. George’s and “The heart of Bermuda” which offers a unique tour through narrow lanes, farmlands, lush estates, the island’s oldest church and a walk through Tom Moore’s Jungle.

“Sometimes we get the strangest requests,” she says, as was the case a few months ago when an elderly couple simply wanted a tour of the island’s golf courses.

The Latters love the outdoors and walking and also came up with two special walking tours from Somerset Bridge to Horseshoe Bay and from Somerset Bridge to Heydon.

“Bermuda’s a small place, so you’re limited to where you can go and what you can do, but we have found a few back roads our vehicle can get down and we show them things in a different way,” she says, adding that this might include watching the sunset at Dockyard, having tea at John Smith’s Bay or looking for birds at Spittal Pond.

Byways Bermuda tends to cater to the more “discerning” traveller and the couple will only take children on family-booked tours.

These tours are designed specially with children in mind, Mrs. Latter explains and include special age-appropriate activities and stops at places of interest for children.

Because the tours are so personal, the couple say they “meet strangers and part as friends” and it’s no unusual for them to be invited to visit their clients abroad, or receive parcels in the mail “with love and kisses”.

So far they have catered mostly to Americans and Canadians, but Mrs. Latter adds that there has been an increase in British visitors: “They usually want to do things like walks and birding and they’re more hands-on. But sometimes they also just want to sit and be taken around and shown things,” she says.

As for their research, Mr. Latter explains that over the years they were involved in various organisations including the Maritime Museum and the Bermuda National Trust, at one point conducting guided walks for those organisations.

“If we know someone is coming who wants to know about Military History, I will go through Ed Harris’ book,” he says, adding that he has over 900 books on Bermuda in his library so there is no shortage of research material.

Over the last year the couple have met their share of interesting people.

These have included an FBI agent, a lawyer from Washington DC who knew all the Presidents through the 1950 and 1960s and his wife who was the war correspondent for the Washington Post.<$>

“We also had a group called the Christmas Revellers who have been coming to Bermuda every Christmas for the past 15 years and staying at Rosedon,” she says.

“They’ve already booked us for next Christmas.”

The couple also hosted about 15 members of the English Rare Birds Club who wanted to learn everything they could about the Cahow: “One lady in that group turned out to have been the personal assistant to Sir Peter Scott, who was the son of Robert Scott, the Antarctic explorer.

“Peter Scott grew up to become a very well-known naturalist, environmentalist and TV personality in the UK.”

With a laugh she recalls a couple who came to Bermuda, armed with a cut-out character from the children’s book, Flat Stanle>: “Their niece had sent them a little ‘Flat Stanley’ drawing from this book and she asked them to show ‘Flat Stanley’ Bermuda.

“So we went around Bermuda showing ‘Flat Stanley’ Gibb’s Hill Lighthouse, Somerset Bridge... it was a riot.”

When asked what their greatest reward is, Mrs. Latter replies: “Turning visitors onto Bermuda...showing people what Bermuda is really like. Everywhere there are stories and you don’t have to go far to find them!”