Up helly aa

Monday 31st January 2011

Great feedback this morning from last week's group that were in Shetland for the Up helly aa Viking Festival - have a look - www.uphellyaa.org

'Tour Manager was amazing, made everything run smoothly and advised us wisely'

'The burning of the boat was a fantastic spectacle'

'Well worth doing. Enjoyed every minute - I really appreciated how well I was treated as someone who has just had a knee replacement and both hips replaced!'

(Good for you - the Viking spirit is clearly still strong!)

'Felt that the Up helly aa day was too long - would have preferred to go to another area and be brought back later in the day for the evening festivities' (Fair comment and noted for next year)

Please see website details for the 2012 Up helly aa tour details.

Fair fa' your honest, sonsie face

Monday 24th January 2011

Last Friday I motored down to Ayrshire as I had been invited to the opening of the new Robert Burns Birthplace Museum in Alloway by the National Trust for Scotland. To be honest I wasn't quite sure what sort of an evening it would be, however being a Burns buff I did not want to turn the opportunity down. I arrive in Alloway about half an hour early due to the now first-class road from Glasgow right to Ayr and beyond and rather than sit in a car park I stopped outside Burns's Cottage itself where on the 25th of January 1759 the great man was born - it is said he was born in a thunderstorm, and lived his life lit by flashes of lightening. Sadly it was shut - but I had a wee poke round and it looked as if it hadn't changed a jot since I was last round it as a young laddie, however when I reached the new NTS Burns Birthplace Museum it is as modern as any museum I have ever been in.
It was a glittering gathering of the great and the good of Scotland with Alex Salmond being the main guest, along with other Politicians MP's, MSP's, Dukes, Duchesses, 'Coonselors' and 'aither hangers on' (as Salmond said in his opening address) 'And anyone who sneaked in at the back withoot pay'n' - I have to say Salmond was a very polished performer - he said that people ask him if this museum is worth the £21 million it has cost? You are damn right it is he roared!
But there was a lot of hanging around - we were asked to be there at six-thirty and we hadn't seen a single exhibit until after eight as the speeches went on and on....... Burns would have hated that............but once we got into the museum proper it was a wonderful experience to see the original writings in Burn's own handwriting .......... Auld Lang Syne, Scots Wha Hae, and A man's a man for a' that. His very desk is there, original copies of the Kilmarnock Edition of his Poems, um teen portraits and prints from the earliest Burns Societies and as much Burns Memorabilia as you could wave a stick at.
I have to say I thought it was very dark in the museum (presumably because of the sensitivity of the old documents) and one lady fell head over heels straight into one exhibit, and another banged her head against a glass cabinet - so perhaps a few tweaks are still in order at the Museum. Of course there is a good NTS shop and an excellent tearoom.
I have to say I loved it, and will definitely go back for a more leisurely look at the exhibits when it is not so busy. http://www.burnsmuseum.org.uk/
Have a look at our new tour Gardens of Ayrshire and Arran which includes a visit to the museum.

Brochure blooper

Wednesday 19th January 2011 (already)

I am tickled by the amount of comments we have been having over our deliberate mistake with the switch of captions on page 41 of our new brochure - Parks & Gardens of Chile - where we have captioned the photograph of the Tour Manager Mike Nelhams 'Beautiful creature'. I have to say it was nothing to do with me, however a certain Dundee United supporting member of our Operations team who was responsible for that page of copy said the he just couldn't resist it!
Mike has said that of course he is a 'Beautiful creature' but he has never heard of a hummingbird being called 'Mike' before.
We have known him for many years as the Curator of the Abbey Gardens on Tresco in the Scilly Isles www.tresco.co.uk/see/abbey-garden and is a great friend to Brightwater Holidays, he has also escorted many garden tours on our behalf. Mike's horticultural knowledge is second to none and fortunately (for us) his sense of humour and fun makes him one of the most entertaining individuals to escort you around any garden.

To brighten up a dull day

Tuesday 11th January 2011

There is still snow on the ground and a lot of January to come (let alone Frbruary) but look at these pretty photos taken on our Bulbfields cruise last year during early April - that's only about 12 weeks away. So don't despair with the winter blues, spring is just around the corner.

Have a look at http://www.keukenhof.nl/ for more colourful images of this wonderful garden.

Our Bulbfields Cruse starts from as little as £435 - for full information give Evelyn a call on 01334 657155 - she'll tell you all about it.

Here we go here we go here we go!

Thursday 6th January 2011

Happy New Year to all our readers and passengers! A great time was had over Christmas and New Year with snow, stranded flights, flu and ear infections leading to an extra 600 miles of driving - but I couldn't leave my wife behind in the Western Highlands could I?

The office was opened yesterday after the extra day's public holiday in Scotland, everyone is delighted to be back at work (?!) - It is a funny sort of week starting mid-week, I guess things will not really get back to normal until Monday. That said, the office has been very busy with good bookings from our new brochure. Some very nice comments have been received about the new-look A4 sized brochure 'Your best yet' 'Very impressive' -(Thanks Dad) - it is strange when we have been working so hard on it for the last few months you forget how good it is as you get too close to it, then when the physical thing appears before you fresh from the printers you think 'Wow! that is good.' - although, you can have the best brochure in the world, but it is all about the bookings. So don't be shy ..... to order your copy go to www.brightwaterholidays.com and we'll send one out to you straight away.

I was giving a talk last night to a really nice garden club near Oxford in the village of Watlington. I was speaking in a rather splendid 17th century Town Hall in the very hub of the village - have a look at www.watlington.org to see a nice photo of the most unusual building. They were a lively bunch and I was made very welcome, in fact several members were regular travellers with Brightwater. One sprightly lady in the front row kept asking me questions about pick up arrangements, the size of our groups and whether we had Tour Managers on all our tours etc. - she seemed very keen - then another lady informed me she was 104 years old (105 in March!) Fantastic - and you can see from the photo of the Town Hall there were three flights of stairs to climb just to get into the the hall - good on her. To my knowledge to oldest passenger we have taken to date is 98 - so if she books we'll set a new record.

Back in the office on Monday. A whole year ahead of us - how exciting - I wonder what it will bring? Read on to find out.....