Sent by Donna B
Derby 29/09/2025
Fabulous service. Helen is patient & thorough making sure we got exactly what we wanted. 10/10
Based In Derby
Helen Summers
Available for new enquiries
It's Nice To Meet You
Hello, my name is Helen and welcome to my website. I’m a Derbyshire girl, born, bred and am still based here. Whilst I believe this to be one of the most beautiful counties, I have always been passionate about discovering new places near and far, and I endeavour to help you to do the same.
The first country I visited was Sweden on a school holiday in my teens. Since then I have been fortunate to have visited over 40 countries around the world - my favourites being Iceland, Vietnam, Canada, Cuba, Sicily. My trips have been varied - from city breaks to long tours, relaxing beach holidays to skiing snowy mountains, luxury hotels to hostels – so I have a wealth of travel experiences to delve into.
“I haven’t been everywhere, but it’s on my list” – Susan Sontag
As a traveller myself, I love to explore and see as much of a country as I can. This means I spend a lot of time researching and planning ahead. Therefore, I like to offer a bespoke holiday planning service and deliver itineraries tailored to your personal requirements, packed full of all the details needed, plus additional exciting ideas – saving you hours of time trawling the internet and looking through brochures yourselves.
I am customer-focused and aim to deliver a high-quality service to all my clients. I’m here to help you fulfil all your holiday needs, big or small! As a Travel Counsellor, I’m not restricted to particular suppliers (unlike other travel agents) so have access to a huge range of options in order to meet your criteria and more. I don't just sell off the shelf holidays, I am also able to provide tailormade packages specific to you!
You may want to book something in the UK or worldwide, a long or short break, single or multi centre holiday, package or bespoke, or just a flight. The list of services I can offer include but are not limited arranging:
• Flights
• Accommodation – hotels, villas, apartments, cottages, all board types
• Transfers and vehicle hire
• Trips and activities
• Family, Couples, Solo, Group bookings
• Activity based e.g. Skiing, Golfing, Cycling
• Cruises
• Safaris
• Fly-drives
We all hear of the myriads of unexpected things that affect travel, from global pandemics to erupting volcanoes, so it's important to book your holiday with someone you can trust, who can deal with these issues instead of you!
So please give me a call to discuss how I can help and hopefully I’ll be able to find the holidays of your dreams for many years to come.
My customer stories
Sent by Helen P
Derby 29/09/2025
Personal, very professional and efficient service. Helen took care of everything for us and I would not hesitate to approach her again in the future and recommend her to friends and business colleagues. 10/10
Sent by Helen C
Ashbourne 08/09/2025
Helen is amazing and the only person I trust to sort my holidays ! She’s arranged some fabulous trips for us where everything has run smoothly. Would definitely recommend.
Sent by Julie M
Derby 08/09/2025
Helen was very supportive, I am new to Travel Counsellors and Helen was very supportive
Sent by Catherine D
Solihull 07/02/2025
Helen is amazing. I would definitely recommend her. She is extremely helpful, efficient and friendly.
Sent by Alison K
Herts 07/02/2025
Helen is great at getting the best deal and looks after you before, during, and after the holiday!
Sent by Malcolm H
Burton-on-Trent 28/01/2025
We wanted a holiday to Morocco. We looked a lot on line, however we just couldn't be sure about the details. We told Helen our wish list and she came back with some really good options and a range of choices - one of which was perfect. Helen has a really nice way of talking to us, We liked our experience with her a lot and have already recommended her to some of our family.
Sent by Carole H
Ripley 21/01/2025
Top score given due to top service received. Helen is extremely approachable and efficient. She kept me informed of the process of organising our trip and came up with the most competitive quote. We had no hesitation about booking with her.
Sent by Margaret B
Belper 09/01/2025
It takes all the worry off me. Fabulous.
Sent by Jon M
Stoke-on-Trent 03/01/2025
Helen was very knowledgeable, full of good advice and listened to all our questions. She came up with some excellent hotel choices and helped take a huge amount of stress out of organising a multi flight trip. No question that we will use her service again and confidently recommend her business to friends and family.
Sent by Georgina P
Stoke 16/12/2024
Helen is a travel expert. If you are looking for an amazing holiday service, forget the rest and go straight to Helen!
Sent by Margaret V
Derby 16/12/2024
Without Helen's help - I don't think we could have arranged a cruise by ourselves. We told her what we wanted as first time cruisers, and she tailored a package to suit our wishes.
Sent by Louise L
Derby 09/10/2023
Helen is incredible. So supportive and really listens to what you want. She does everything she can to make sure you get what you want and is really knowledgeable. You can ask her anything and if she can't answer immediately, she will get back to you as soon as possible. I will now be using Helen to book all my holidays, I can't sing her praises enough.
Sent by John G
Newbold-on-Avon 09/09/2023
Very quick response and provided a tailor package that met our needs precisely. Excellent to deal with
Sent by Lynette E
Stoke 01/06/2023
From the first moment of contact Helen's approach is, friendly, professional and knowledgeable.. I would have no hesitation in recommending her to family and friends. 10/10
Sent by Georgina P
Staffs 18/01/2023
A great experience arranging our holiday; a friendly, informative and efficient process throughout. Thank you Helen!
Sent by Karen H
Staffs 18/01/2023
Helen has been fabulous! So patient and supportive throughout the whole process, working with us to develop the bespoke honeymoon of our dreams!
10 out of 10
Sent by Catherine D
Birmingham 07/10/2022
Helen is always so helpful. She’s approachable and friendly and she’s always there to ask questions and remind us what we need to do. I would recommend her to anyone.
Sent by Fabiola H
Derby 07/10/2022
Very helpful, knowledgeable and always available for any help needed.
Sent by Kate S
Derby 16/08/2022
Helen is brilliant! Understanding, helpful, patient. Everything you'd like from someone helping with a holiday. I can't recommend her highly enough!!
10/10
Sent by Jon M
Derby 20/07/2022
Helen has been outstanding! So helpful and has guided me through the whole process wonderfully, helping me with my enquiries and finding solutions to difficulties and changes of plans along the way to total perfection. Will definitely be having Helen sort out further adventures, with 2 more already in the pipeline to come. Couldn't recommend Helen more highly, simply fantastic, so knowledgeable and awesome customer service, can't wait for my trip :)
Sent by Donna E
Derby 20/07/2022
Helen went to loads of effort to build a holiday tour to match our needs and budget. Various options were explored and nothing was too much trouble. Thanks Helen
10/10
Sent by Alana C
Nottingham 30/04/2022
Helen always offers a friendly, knowledgeable and efficient service which makes the whole experience of finding and booking a holiday hassle free and pleasurable. 10/10
Sent by Janet W
Derby 28/04/2022
Helen has yet again found us a great holiday which we're really looking forward to. She took the time to ask and suggest options for our trip that we may not have thought of ourselves. Gave a final choice of hotels and deals taking the hassle away from searching for a holiday ourselves. 10/10
Sent by Julia Field
Solihull 25/04/2022
Helen has been amazing at fulfilling our holiday requests following the pandemic, offering comprehensive information on travel and booking schedules for us. I would highly recommend using Helen for all your travel needs, nothing is too much trouble for her and communication is fabulous. She has such a passion and that really shines through with knowledge and customer service.
Sent by John G
Warwickshire 14/04/2022
Understood our travel brief and provided a bespoke tour which matches perfectly with our requirements
Sent by Emma Hammond
Derby 21/01/2022
We have just booked our multi-centre honeymoon through Travel Counsellors and Helen has been an absolute powerhouse throughout our whole journey! As a couple who haven't been abroad together as much as we would have liked, Helen completely put us at ease and made us feel like we could trust her fully with booking in our honeymoon.
While we were going back and forward umming and ahhing over hotels and transfers and flight times, Helen had the patience of a saint and was always there to throw in advise and suggestions when we needed them. She really went above and beyond for us, from helping us figure out where in the world we actually wanted to go, to ironing out hotels, rooms and transfers, and has even offered to help with booking activities and excursions as we start to look at this further down the line. Not for one second did this process feel like a transaction or like we were being pressurised; the whole experience felt really personal and Helen was an absolute joy to work with throughout.
Helen was referred to us through our close friends who booked their own honeymoon last year with her, and we are so glad that we decided to go down this route instead of attempt to plan this ourselves. No stress for these two honeymooners!
Thank you Helen for everything, you've been amazing and we cannot wait to celebrate our first few weeks as husband and wife in the Canaries this September!
Emma & Alex x
Sent by Susie Christie
Derby 06/12/2021
Helen Summers has been fantastic - really helpful and also great support after bookings as well. Thank you
Sent by Georgina Patel
Penkhull 28/10/2021
Helen Summers has provided a professional, helpful and friendly service for the trips I have booked with her. She has a great understanding of a travellers needs and is committed to getting you the best holiday experience that you will remember for a lifetime. Thanks Helen!
Sent by Gemma Cayce
NOTTINGHAM 29/11/2020
Helen organised our staycation this year taking all of the stress out of our hands. Highly recommend her expertise to make your holiday as stress free as possible.
Sent by Janet Worley
Derby 29/08/2020
Helen found us a lovely break for our Silver Wedding Anniversary. She took great care in finding us a suitable break that met all of our requirements. We had a wonderful choice of 4 different locations and hotels, and I'm sure each would've been just as good as the one we finally chose.
Will definitely use Helen again!
Thank you Helen
Sent by Richard Robey
Derby 15/07/2020
Suffering from a cancelled holiday and battling with Ryanair I met Helen in a zoom network meeting on Thursday evening. We had a chat on Friday morning and by Saturday teatime Helen had found two cottages in the UK with us previously having struggled to find availability.
Super efficient, very helpful and worked on Saturday to find a holiday for us. Made us very happy.
Really pleased to find Helen and will be working with her in the future as we all try to support each other in businesses working our way out of lockdown.
Sent by Ursula Cameron
Derbyshire 07/02/2020
Helen is a very knowledgeable travel expert with a personable and helpful approach. She is well travelled herself and able to share useful first hand knowledge and experience. She was able to find out our holiday wishes and requirements with ease and efficiency enabling us to narrow down options and choices very quickly. I would not hesitate in recommending Helen for all holiday and travel plans.
Sent by Carmen Muir
Alsager 30/01/2020
Helen, was recommended to us by a friend and we've been completely bowled over by the service we’ve received. After a small brief from ourselves, Helen has created a fantastic dream holiday to the USA. Helen quickly produced a number of alternative itineraries for us to consider each of them packed with detail covering a wide range of activities at our preferred destinations of San Francisco, Las Vegas, Chicago and New York.
Helen instinctively knew what to include so that we could gain as many experiences as possible such as a visit to the Giant Redwoods, Wine Country and the world famous Alcatraz, followed by a ‘muscle’ car trip down the Pacific Coast Highway to LA, before jetting off to Las Vegas so we can indulge ourselves with a 3 night stay at the Bellagio and a helicopter tour of the Grand Canyon. Then we're off to Chicago and the Big Apple where we’ll visit Liberty and Ellis Islands before transporting ourselves to the One World Observatory where we can view the city lights.
Helen has been fantastic, organising in advance our seat reservations and flight check-in, along with airport parking UK side. All the other connecting flights Stateside were also arranged along with all airport/hotel transfers.
Helen’s knowledge and advice have been invaluable in creating our perfect ‘hassle free’ bespoke holiday. We will definitely be using Helen’s service again as her expertise and world-wide travel experience will ensure we create a wonderful new adventure to Japan and Australia!!
Thanks again Helen ....you're the 'Mary Poppins' of Travel Counsellors”
Sent by Georgina Patel
STOKE-ON-TRENT 03/01/2020
A very thorough service taking into consideration all of my needs. Helpful and friendly interaction to find the right solution. Highly recommended.
Sent by Rebecca Shaw
Derby 05/12/2019
Helen provided me with a range of improved options based on my trip requirements. She bought the cost of my plans in ‘on budget’ with an improved itinerary which reduced the number of flights required. In addition, she researched a host of inspiring activities for me and my family. Helen quickly understands your brief, is quick to get back to you and is a lovely person to discuss your holidays dreams with.
Based in
My Videos
I take care of everything!
09/01/2024
As a Travel Counsellor, I can take care of all your travel arrangements.... whatever they are.
UK Staycations
26/03/2021
Staycations - please ask me about your next holiday in the UK, whether it be something coastal, in the countryside or even a city break.
My Blog
I absolutely live and breathe travel and I love to write about my experiences! Please take a look through my posts - you might find your own holiday inspiration.
Svalbard - A fascinating destination to showcase expedition cruise!
24 July 2025
I'm just back from the inaugural CLIA Expedition Cruise Showcase in Svalbard and I still feel overwhelmed by this incredibly immersive learning experience in one of the most fascinating and the most northerly town in the world - Longyearbyen (Long-year-be-yen). Being in the travel industry, I am privileged to have so many amazing opportunities but I think this one tops them all and I very nearly
Anniversary weekend to Paris & Brussels, by train
15 August 2022
When we couldn't get tickets to see Coldplay in the UK, we noticed a date in Brussels, which happened to be our first wedding anniversary. Unfortunately, we couldn't get tickets on our actual anniversary, but a few days later on the Monday, and so a plan started to form. I'd never been to Paris as I'd decided to save this as a place to visit with someone special, it is the city of love after all
Honeymoons – not so easy after all
12 May 2020
Anyone who has ever planned a wedding must agree that it’s a stressful time. The honeymoon is probably one of the most enjoyable parts of the whole process and I’ve often heard couples say, it’s the thing they’re looking forward to most! Your honeymoon is going to be one of the most special, memorable, and possibly most expensive holidays you ever have. Therefore, there can be quite a lot of press
Learn to sail in the sun
23 December 2019
When my partner Andy and I started to discuss learning to sail, the thought of the cold English waters was somewhat off-putting. So I started to look at options to do this abroad. We found a great offer at the Mark Warner San Lucianu Beach Resort, Corsica in June 2019. Somewhere I'd never visited and wanted to go, so double tick. This activity based resort offered dinghy sailing courses at vari
Contact Me
Whatever your holiday needs I'm here to help you, so simply give me a call or send me an email with your contact details on and I can get things started for you: