We wanted to tour northern England in conjunction with a visit to friends in the area. Rick didn’t offer a tour of just what we wanted to see so we tried a Rabbie’s tour. It was the York, Dales, Lake District and Hadrian's Wall five day tour. Overall, the tour was good. The towns and specific sites chosen were all excellent. The 16 passenger van was able to get to sites that a coach could not. The driver / guide was very nice and explained a lot of the history and geology of each area. We let Rabbie’s choose our accommodations and both B&Bs were quite satisfactory with great hosts and delicious breakfasts.
That said, having been on a couple RS tours, it didn’t quite measure up. If it had been a RS tour, the guide would have been telling us about each site as we visited it. With Rabbie’s you need to do your research on the sites you will see (which isn’t a problem, you just need to be prepared). Another difference was that there were a couple of people on the van that were visibly ill - coughing the whole way. A RS guide would have asked them to wear masks. This didn’t happen on the Rabbie’s van and we ended up with colds by the end of the tour.
The tour was well organized. The folks at Rabbie’s gave great customer service when I emailed with questions. (I booked direct with Rabbie’s. Most of our tour mates seemed to have booked through a third party vendor.). Overall, I would say if Rick isn’t going where you want, they are worth a try. I admit, I am spoiled by the RS guides.