National Trust tour of The Beatles childhood homes

As huge Beatles fans we’ve always wanted to the National Trust tour of The Beatles Childhood homes. With Josh turning 30 back in March I thought it would be the perfect present for him so in June we finally got to do the tour and we both absolutely loved! 

The tour has to be booked in advance and departs at several times during the day. There’s only 15 people per tour so it’s recommended to book early. A private mini bus picks everyone up from the Jurys Inn hotel in Liverpool city centre. It’s the only way to see inside the childhood homes of John Lennon and Paul McCartney and you must take the mini bus there. It’s about a 15 minute journey from the hotel to the first house which is John Lennon’s home then from there it’s around 5 minutes to Paul McCartney’s home. You get around an hour at each house where you’re taken around by a guide and you can learn all about the early days of John and Paul. Both houses have either original items or have been restored to look like they would have looked when John and Paul lived there. All bags and personal belongings are secured in a room at each house so you’re not allowed to carry anything around with you. You also aren’t allowed to take photos inside the house but you are given a few minutes when you arrive at each house to take photos outside.

The first stop on the tour is Mendips where John Lennon lived with his aunt and uncle. The house itself is quite large and you’re taken on a tour of the ground floor rooms by a guide who will talk about John’s early days in the house and life with his aunt, right up to the very early days of the Beatles when Paul and George would come to the house. You’re left to explore upstairs on your own but you don’t get as much time to look around as you do downstairs. You can go in John’s old room though so make sure you go for a look upstairs!

While not as big as Mendips there’s still plenty to see at 20 Forthlin Road, the guide takes you around the whole of the upstairs and downstairs here, aside from a couple of rooms upstairs that are closed off as well as out into the garden. As lots of the early Beatles material was written in this house there’s a lot to learn about and at the end of the tour the guide kindly allowed people to play the piano that sits in the house. Josh is a great piano player so jumped at the chance to do this and now he can say he’s played the piano in Paul McCartney’s house!

Being really big Beatles fans we were unsure if the tour would just be a rehash of common Beatles knowledge or not but we both came away from the tour saying how fantastic it was. Both our tour guides (who happened to be husband and wife as well!) were amazing and you could tell they were really passionate about what they do. Rather than a rewriting of common facts you’re provided with a much more personal look at the lives of John and Paul and their families too. I’d highly recommend this tour to any Beatles fan as we enjoyed it a lot and I’m glad we finally got the chance to do it.