Season’s Greetings From All Of Us Here At Brit Breaks ..........

Just a quick word to all our clients, friends and followers to thank you all for making this such a great 2013 for Brit Breaks. We founded the company to promote this wonderful country of ours and to encourage everyone to get out and about and enjoy everything that it has to offer, and from the feedback that we have received, it looks as though you are doing just that.

We have marvelled at the time and energy that many of you put into projects and charities (often unpaid), we have also been humbled by the lengths that you will go to in order to protect things that are dear to you.

Season's greetings to you all!

As we prepare each day’s editorial, we learn more about this land that we all call home, from the first riotous appearance of early spring flowers, through to the summer with its melting ice cream cones, the delighted shrieks and screams of the fun fair and the smell of seaside candy floss.

The year moves gently through to autumn, with its wonderful array of harvest festivals coupled with the many popular and often quirky traditions that history has bestowed on us. The dazzling display of autumn leaves at places such as Westonbirt Arboretum, the Wye Valley and Stourhead lead us through to the first early frosts and the smell of crackling wood burning fires.

During the year, we have garnered a whole portfolio of exceptional cottages and apartments that will allow you to get out there and enjoy all of the experiences that we have highlighted. There are currently over 2,000 quality properties to choose from, with more being added all the time.

We have deliberately chosen quality over quantity, and will want to place continued emphasis on properties offered by smaller, conscientious owners who can offer that more personal service that we feel is important. See how the site develops over the coming years to see what we mean.

It only remains for the directors of Brit Breaks, Steve and Chris, together with Gareth to wish you every happiness for Christmas and the coming year.

Our feature writers Rosie and Sam (that well known self appointed expert on zip wires and wind farms) also join with us, together with the support team of research and editorial staff in hoping that you will continue to follow our work and provide the feedback that we so enjoy reading.

See you next year!

Even Tourism “Hot Spots” Like Plymouth Need More Attractions

So says the National Marine Aquarium's Dr David Gibson. He then went on to suggest that   it must be clear whether the trumpeted £21million History Centre is one of those – or just for the people of Plymouth.

Dr Gibson is the sector contact for the tourism and leisure priority sector, and has often been quoted in the local Plymouth press calling for another major attraction to help the NMA pull visitors into the city – and asking whether expanding the North Hill museum will do the trick.

He said: "Plymouth needs one or two more national quality attractions to give it the critical mass for people to come and stay for a weekend. York is a similar size to Plymouth and has about five attractions, pulling in 250,000 people or more.

Even Plymouth needs more attractions

"Bristol has its zoo and that attracts 500,000 people a year. Successful cities have three or four attractions bringing in 250,000 people or more. If we want our tourist economy to take off we need to move on from events tourism to having 'sticking' power."

He said this would benefit the city's coffers, going on to explain that for every £10 of daily spend in a tourist attraction, up to £50 is spent by visitors in the wider economy. "If a family of four comes to Plymouth the wider city gets about £200 minimum," he said. "But it depends on what market we pitch at."

Dr Gibson is a supporter of  Plymouth City Council's plan to triple the size of the City Museum, on North Hill, by 2018. But he said: "It's a great project, but needs to be clear in what it's trying to achieve.

"It needs to decide if it's a national attraction or servicing the local community and local needs. Plymouth deserves a very good centre to celebrate its heritage and history – but that may not appeal to a national audience. So it needs to decide early what audience it's aiming at."

A multi-million pound budget was on hand -  "there is enough to build a national quality attraction, but the subject matter needs to be right". It needs to be a national attraction of national quality, with a subject matter that appeals to a broad demographic, something people will travel to see," he said.
Dr Gibson said the city is currently missing a "celebration of maritime heritage and history".

He can see the potential that is on offer in the upcoming Mayflower 2020 celebrations, which will mark the 400th anniversary of the Pilgrim Fathers' sailing. But he stressed: "We need to have some national scale ambition around that date."

He has praise for Destination Plymouth, and said: "It's fantastic to see it getting into its stride."
But having said that,  he was sorry to see the landmark Big Wheel leave Plymouth's Hoe last month, although felt that its loss would not greatly hit the city's tourist economy. "It's a shame the wheel has moved on," he said. "But the economic impact has been minimal. There were 45,000 visitors last year but it was not drawing new comers into Plymouth." But Dr Gibson said it would still be missed because "major cities are expected to have a wheel" now.

                                                                Plymouth Tourism

Visitor Centre Opens To “Return Dignity” To Stonehenge

The new Stonehenge visitor centre, a £27 million project that has been many years in the making has now opened. English Heritage, who have responsibility for the site have said that the new centre will “restore dignity” to the monument.

A significant part of the project was the closure of the A334 next to the actual stones themselves, something that was first mooted in 1927. Visitors will be transported about a mile-and-a-half (2km) from the venue to the stones via shuttle bus, and the new centre will include an exhibition of some 250 prehistoric artefacts, many of which are being seen for the first time.
Simon Thurley, chief executive of English Heritage, said it was the "end of an incredibly long journey".

A visitor centre worthy of the name

"Stonehenge is almost certainly the most famous ancient monument in the world and up until now it hasn't really had adequate visitor facilities," he added. There's been no exhibition, no opportunities for people to even have a cup of tea.

"This is a radical change for the million people a year who come to Stonehenge. They can see the stones for the first time free from the clutter and rubbish that have accrued around them since the 1960s. We now have something that I think is worthy of one of the world's greatest archaeological sites."

Stonehenge is believed to have been built between 3,000 BC and 1,600 BC, and the view of experts is that it was likely to have been used for a variety of religious ceremonies. Plans have always included the closure of the nearby A334 when ideas were bandied around as far back as 1927, but it was not until June that it finally closed. The road has now been grassed over.

One of the real highlights of the new exhibition is a forensic reconstruction of an early Neolithic man, based on a 5,500-year-old skeleton buried in a long barrow burial site near Stonehenge. Also something new on display will be two rare 14th Century manuscripts, including some of the earliest drawings of the monument, Roman coins and jewellery, and early surveying equipment.

Culture Secretary Maria Miller said: "Stonehenge is one of the UK's most iconic sites, undeniably worthy of its UNESCO world heritage status, attracting one million tourists every year from the UK and all over the world. So it's only right that, after decades of indecision, we can now offer them a visitor exhibition centre and experience they deserve."

Attendance figures show that more than a million people visit the site each year, with the best part of two thirds of them coming from abroad.

In an important step, The Avenue, Stonehenge's ancient processional approach, has now been reconnected to the monument. Visitors familiar with the site will also notice that the landscape around the stones has been improved, with the road running past the Heel Stone closed and tall fences removed.

Work to decommission the existing outdated 1960s visitor centre and grass over a car park, will begin next month.

                           The new Stonehenge Visitor Centre really is something special

Five Star Abbotsford Gets Its Just Reward

It is a property that has featured prominently in our blogs and news items over the last year, and it is perhaps only right that Abbotsford House, former home to the celebrated Scots author and poet Sir Walter Scott, should save its best news for when the old year is coming to an end.

Despite the fact that it only reopened to the public on the 3rd July, the attraction has been awarded five star status by VisitScotland, whose regional director, Paula MacDonald said a site had to "exceed expectations" in order to achieve its five-star rating.

Following a multi-million pound restoration, Abbotsford House near Melrose was opened by the Queen at the beginning of July. More than £12m has been spent on the restoration and refurbishment work to "preserve and protect" the property.

Five star Abbotsford

Ms. McDonald continued on the theme of what “exceeded expectations” really meant. "That is quite a broad statement but it means every single element of the attraction that touches a visitor has to go above and beyond," she said. "So it has to have excellent customer service, fantastic retail, really exceptional food, brilliant volunteers - and Abbotsford really has nailed it on every single element of the criteria for the five-star programme."

Abbotsford's marketing manager Beverley Rutherford said the award was testimony to the work which had been put in and the support received. "We are planning ahead, we are planning events," she added. We want to keep the site fresh and we want visitors to experience Scott in so many different ways."

                                                      Enjoy the Abbotsford Experience

Settle To Carlisle Rail Link Continues To Thrive

Proving once again that there is a whole lot of life left in this particular dog, the famous Settle to Carlisle railway, one of the last great main lines of the Victorian era, continues to enjoy success, some thirty years after the hangman’s noose was metaphorically dangling.

A vociferous campaign was fought to save it, and now it is a thriving route, clocking up 1.2 some million journeys a year. It was a poorly kept secret in December 1983 that British Rail were considering possibly closing the line, and then printed closure notices appeared setting the dreaded date as May 1984. The track would be lifted, stations boarded up and viaducts and tunnels left to decay, and the seventy two miles would cease to exist.

One of the most iconic train journeys in Britain

The infamous Doctor Beeching had already seen off some 5,000 miles of railway lines in the 1960’s, and it now seemed as though this beloved length of track was about to go the same way.

But life occasionally has ways of working for the greater good, and fortune smiled on the Settle-Carlisle, because that blunt and drily-worded closure poster contained a fundamental legal error meaning the posters had to be taken down, reprinted and reissued, thus giving the newly-formed Friends of the Settle-Carlisle Line vital time to get organised and encourage objectors to write letters.

John Moorhouse, who was the chairman of the North West Transport Users Consultative Committee, played a key role in fighting the closure and says the unexpected level of opposition to the plan gave some hope.

"You had to be optimistic, the objections kept mounting up and I think that closure notice being reissued was a big help in the campaign to keep the line open," he said. Also shutting the line was opposed by the local authorities, they came together and made a very good case to keep it open."

As is often the case, the extra publicity that the railway line was receiving resulting in  passenger numbers starting to rise.

Because they felt that time was running out, visitors to the Yorkshire Dales and Cumbria's Eden Valley took to leaving their cars at home and catching the train instead, believing it might be the last chance they would get to travel over Ribblehead Viaduct or through England's highest mainline station at Dent. The resultant rise in passenger numbers meant that British Rail had to increase the number of services it operated over the route and, for the first time since the 1960s, the spiral of decline had been halted.

The biggest hurdle was likely to be the main reason that British Rail was advocating closure and that was the dilapidated state of the viaduct at Ribblehead. Built in 1870 the 100ft (30m) high structure was in desperate need of repair. Official estimates put the price at £7m, but the campaigners found engineers who were able to prove that the work could be carried out at a fraction of the cost.

The arguments against closure were diminishing, but the railway was still sucking up public money and even though the prospects were looking brighter, it was felt that the pro-road Conservative government would eventually give closure the green flag.  The final decision would rest with the then Minister of State for Transport and Thatcher loyalist Michael Portillo.

Virtually without warning in May 1989, Mr. Portillo told British Rail he was refusing permission to close the railway, which on reflection he admits was a difficult decision.

"There was awkwardness because Conservatives want to do two things, they want public services to run efficiently, so we wanted to reduce public subsidy to the railway line, but we also had a respect for the national heritage and we knew it was a very remarkable and historic line," he said.

"Fortunately we managed to bring the two things together, because the economic case for closure was very much weakened when vast numbers of people began to travel on the line. There was a sort of closing down sale and also some very clever engineers discovered they could do the job of restoring the Victorian structures much more cheaply than we thought."

The Settle-Carlisle line had been thrown a lifeline by a sympathetic minister, who had more than a passing interest in the history of Britain's railways.  Since 1989 the line has boomed, and last year there were 1.2 million passenger journeys compared with just 90,000 in the dark days of 1983.

The railway also helps pay its way by carrying timber from a line-side forest as well as providing a route for heavily-loaded coal trains that make their way from Scotland to Yorkshire's power stations.

Back to Mr Moorhouse who makes the point that if British Rail had got their way some of that traffic would instead be crawling along roads in the Yorkshire Dales.

Ironically, with privatisation, British Rail disappeared in the 1990s and the increasingly popular passenger trains are now operated by Northern Rail, which regards the route as a jewel in its crown.  Drew Haley, who helps co-ordinate the promotion of the line for the company, says he is glad the closure poster was published 30 years ago.

"The closure notice was the best thing that could happen to this railway, because what doesn't kill you actually makes you stronger and now the stations look fantastic, there's a lot more trains and there's hundreds of thousands of extra people using this line every year, from all over the world," he said.

So what does the future hold? Those campaigners who realised the line was an asset back in 1983 are now talking in terms of a direct service into Manchester to create even more journey opportunities and after 30 years campaigning to save the line, the chairman of the Friends of the Settle Carlisle Line Mark Rand has said he can finally say the line is secure.

"I think the likelihood of us seeing in the future a notice of closure for this railway line is hugely, hugely unlikely. This line is here to stay now."

                                               All about the Settle to Carlisle Route

Jobs Under Threat At North Wales Coastal Resorts

Yet another example that the economic recovery remains a fragile one comes at Rhyl and Prestatyn where three leisure sites are under threat of closure with the loss of 70 jobs.

News filtering from Clwyd Leisure, a not-for-profit trust, said the decision was due to a funding dispute with Denbighshire Council. and a consultation process has begun with staff at the three centres namely, Sun Centre in Rhyl, the Nova Centre and the North Wales Indoor Bowls Centre, both in Prestatyn.

The council said it is "shocked" at the statement and will respond further on Monday. Clwyd Leisure was set up by the council in 2001 with the remit of running tourism and leisure facilities on its behalf.
For its part, the Trust has responded by saying that despite there being a  legal obligation,  the council has undertaken a programme of continually cutting its funding, a position that has  resulted in an impossible position where the centres will have to close.

Sun Centre Rhyl is under threat

It said that since it began operating the facilities the annual funding had been reduced from £391,000 to £295,000. Earlier this year the council imposed a further reduction of £50,000 and now proposes to make a further year-on-year funding reduction of £50,000 annually, the trust said. It added that unless a way is found to move forward,  the Sun Centre in Rhyl may not open for business in 2014, with the Nova Centre and North Wales Indoor Bowls Centre possibly could closing on 31 March. As well as the 70 permanent staff jobs, another 55 seasonal positions are also likely to be affected.

The trust board said it had given Denbighshire council "forewarning" about the situation and it "regretted having to take this action but have been left with no alternative options. The board of Clwyd Leisure wish to offer sincere apologies to our staff, customers and the communities of Rhyl and Prestatyn for these potential closures," it added.

"This situation is not of Clwyd Leisure's making, had Denbighshire County Council listened to our request that the funding be maintained we would not be in this position. It is extremely unfortunate that our customers and local communities are now likely to suffer and jobs will be lost due to the action/inaction of the council."

Denbighshire council said: "It's come as quite a shock to see the Clwyd Leisure press release, and we will consider our response in full over the weekend. Given what the company has said, we will be responding accurately and fully at a press briefing on Monday morning."

For the sake of North Wales tourism, it is to be hoped that all of this is just a bit of posturing. With the fine summer just gone, the area, like so many others throughout Britain has recorded positive visitor figures. It would be a shame if all of the ground that has been gained was now lost by a dispute that could have been avoided.

New Gilded Bald Eagle Adorns Liverpool One Shopping Centre

The building that housed the world’s first US Consulate is now the proud possessor of a new gilded bald eagle. It is a fibreglass replica of the original pitch pine eagle that was removed about fourteen months ago, having been deemed too fragile to remain in place, even after a thorough restoration job by the National Museum of Liverpool Conservation Centre in 2008.

The idea for the more modern replacement came as a result of a meeting of minds between the Museum itself, and the Liverpool One shopping centre, where it now stands. A moulding was made to cast the new sculpture, and a bonus for the Museum is that the original wooden eagle will go on display from next year. The new eagle is said to be indistinguishable from the original.

Site of the first American consulate in 1790

There is no great record of how old the original carving is, and it is quite likely that it is not the first eagle that was placed in situ when the Consulate was first opened in 1790 by James Maury, appointed as consul by the first US president, George Washington. It has always been assumed that it was part of a clipper sailing ship’s stern decoration.

Historians say that the eagle was not only a powerful advertisement for the new United States, but was also a landmark for illiterate sailors visiting one of the most important ports in the world
Chris Bliss, Liverpool One estate director, said: “The bald eagle is a tremendous figure with a fantastic history and one which is obviously very important to the city.

“While we are proud to have it ‘nesting’ in Liverpool One, it was likely to become damaged from wind and rain. With this in mind, we decided it would be best cared for by the Museum of Liverpool. By making a replica, we can retain the connection between the statue and its original site while ensuring that the original is protected.”

Jane Duffy, Museum of Liverpool deputy director, said: “As the statue adorning the world’s first US Consulate, it represents the special relationship which the city has enjoyed with North America. Liverpool One was rightly concerned about its continued exposure to the elements. Being wooden, it becomes increasingly vulnerable with age. This solution provides the best of both worlds: the original is looked after and displayed, while the former Consulate maintains its facade with an exact replica.”

Fred O’Brien, an expert on Liverpool’s historic links with the US, welcomed the move. He said: “Liverpool’s special relationship with North America is now in its fourth century and the eagle is a very important part in representing that story.

“When the US Consulate opened in 1790, a lot of Americans in the city were sailors. As many were illiterate, the eagle was a vital symbol for them to recognise. One of the Consul’s duties was bailing drunken sailors out of trouble, so it was crucial that they knew where to go for help!”

Iconic Whitley Bay Landmark Saved By Lottery Grant

Proof perfect of the old saying that you should never give up has been highlighted by the £3.7 million grant that has been made to save the Spanish City and Dome at Whitley Bay. The money will be used to restore the Grade II listed building, and is a success for perseverance, as a previous bid for financial assistance had been turned down.

Bright future for this wonderful building

That took place earlier this year, and although the scheme had the requisite support, the bid was rejected as £52m worth of applications to the Heritage Lottery Fund had been received from across the country for just £12m of funding.

North Tyneside Council then made a further application for the money by way of a new Heritage Enterprise funding scheme. This was coupled with a campaign to garner support from the public.
Consultation events were held and more than 800 people made comments about the site’s future. The resultant success of all of this hard work is now welcomed. Mayor Norma Redfearn said: “This is really exciting for us. This building is loved by most people in North Tyneside and beyond. We had lots of support from the public to get this show on the road. This announcement is the fruition of everyone’s efforts. I can’t tell you how delighted I am. I look forward for this building to develop into a fantastic facility.”

The restoration scheme incorporates proposals for an activity centre, community space, and food and retail outlets in the Dome. The grant will also help towards vital repairs to bring the structure back to its former glory.

Under the scheme, £182,700 will initially be awarded to the council to fund the development of the project. Detailed proposals will then be considered by the HLF at the second-round stage and the scheme will continue after it is rubber-stamped.

Ivor Crowther, head of HLF North East, said: “We have awarded this grant because we really do feel it’s a special project. One thing we really do want to see is the economy boosted and more jobs being created. We could see there is genuine support for this building to be brought back into use.

“The Heritage Enterprise programme looks to invest in historic buildings that without our investment would stand empty. To have such a wonderful building like this not being in use and becoming semi-derelict is a real shame. We have to look at making it sustainable for the future.”

When completed in 1910, the building had the largest freestanding dome in the UK after St Paul’s Cathedral, and in its pomp, the Spanish City and Whitley Bay Pleasure Gardens attracted tens of thousands of visitors from across the country. Following a period of decline during the 1980s and 90s, the building closed permanently to the public in 2000.

                                                  Learn more about this iconic building

Tenbury Wells Is The Centre Of Britain’s Mistletoe Industry

Some experts will tell you that it is more by luck than judgement, but undoubtedly part of the reason is that Tenbury Wells which sits alongside the River Teme where Shropshire, Herefordshire and Worcestershire meet has some of the best growing grounds for mistletoe in the country.
Being parasitic in nature, the plant delights in attaching itself to fruit trees and the large number of orchards in Herefordshire and Worcestershire were thought to play a large part in the abundance of mistletoe in the area.

Mistletoe is steeped in myth and legend

But this is dismissed as just a myth by Jonathan Briggs of Mistletoe Matters, an authority on mistletoe whose consultancy offers information and advice on all aspects of the plant in the UK.
"There are lots of apple orchard areas elsewhere in Britain that don't have mistletoe," he said. "The answer is climate - it only thrives in areas with patterns of low winter temperatures and high summer ones."

Obviously, Tenbury does not have its own microclimate - so how has the town become more synonymous with mistletoe than the rest of the region? Historian Jane Vyer thinks it could be partly down to luck.

"Mistletoe auctions were probably a common sight in the area from the mid-19th Century, especially in market towns which would have a weekly livestock or vegetable sale anyway," she says. "And in the way that things go, the more popular auctions survived longer than others.

"Once a venue was a favourite, it would naturally suck away at the popularity of the rest, and when an event starts to get a reputation for something in particular, it just snowballs. Just like there is no real reason, other than tradition, to associate Appleby Fair with horses - after all, you can sell horses anywhere - its reputation maintains the brand."

Unsurprisingly, residents of  Tenbury have put heart  and soul into promoting the brand of "mistletoe capital". When the town's annual auction was threatened with closure, they fought to keep the link.
History will tell you that for more than 100 years, mistletoe and holly sales were based at the town's cattle market but nearly disappeared when the site was sold for development in 2004. Nick Champion, Tenbury's mistletoe and holly auctioneer for more than 35 years, was responsible for keeping the tradition going by moving it over the border to Herefordshire for four years.

As a result, a group of local people set up the Tenbury English Mistletoe Enterprise (TEME) to help restore Tenbury's traditional status as the mistletoe-trading capital of the UK. Traders jumped at the opportunity to tempt buyers, and consequently almost every shop in the town becomes decorated with mistletoe - photographs, drawings and paintings of mistletoe, mistletoe embroidery, and also poems and factsheets about mistletoe.

In 2005, TEME organised a mistletoe festival and established 1 December as the official Mistletoe Day, endorsed in Parliament by MPs. There are estimates that the festival this year drew more than 500 extra people into the town.

Mr Champion said he thought the demand for mistletoe today was not as high as say 30 years ago, and that the prices generally were lower. "Last year was a dreadful year, it was hardly selling at all," he said. "But this year we had more first-quality mistletoe, with lots of berries on. You need a lot of berries for top prices."

Caroline Palethorpe, festival project manager and member of the Tenbury Mistletoe Association, said the extended cold period in February and March was ideal for early pollination of the plants. "Mother Nature must have known that we all deserve a good Christmas to end 2013," she added.

There is a considerable mark up in prices, with mistletoe that is woven into wreaths and split into sprigs sometimes fetching ten times what the buyers would have paid for it in the first place.

Researching mistletoe down the ages, you will learn that the Romans thought that it  represented peace, love and understanding and was hung over doorways to protect the household, said historian Jane Vyer. She said it was then adopted by Celts and druids as a fertility symbol, which is probably where the tradition of kissing underneath mistletoe stems from. Even the modest Victorians at least used mistletoe to flirt under.

Every year Lottie Foster drives for four hours from Brighton with a seven-tonne lorry, and  bulk buys the plant and then sells it on at London's Covent Garden.

"I make it up into little bunches and put a ribbon on and sell it mainly to young courting couples - I can sell a little bunch like that for a fiver," she said. "I may sound cynical, but romance brings in some good money.  Romance sells, and the only place to buy it is here. It's the mistletoe capital of Britain."

Dark Sky Awards To Northumberland And Inner Hebrides

Congratulations are due to the Isle of Coll in the Inner Hebrides and also to the Northumberland National Park and Kielder Water and Forest Park, which are celebrating the receipt of the prestigious Dark Sky Award. The result of the award means that the night sky in both areas is protected and lighting controls are in place to prevent light pollution. They join an illustrious list that also includes Sark Island, Exmoor Reserve and the Brecon Beacons.

The award is made by the The International Dark Skies Association (IDA) which is based in Tucson, Arizona. In the case of Northumberland the award was a gold status, being the highest available, and the area is to be renamed the Northumberland Dark Sky Park in celebration.

There are advantages to being left in the dark

As far as Northumberland was concerned, the two-year campaign to protect the 579 square mile (1,500 sq km) area was jointly led by Northumberland National Park Authority, Kielder Water and Forest Park Development Trust and Kielder Observatory Astronomical Society.

Steve Owens, dark skies consultant and chair of the IDA's development committee, said: "The quality of Northumberland's night sky, and the huge efforts made by local communities to preserve them, make Northumberland Dark Sky Park a gold tier site, and one of the best places to stargaze in Europe."

Elisabeth Rowark, director of the park's trust, said: "We have worked so hard together to reach this tremendous day for everyone committed to securing protection for England's largest area of starry skies. We do not want to turn off the lights, but rather encourage better lighting using the latest technology. This is the start of a new chapter for Northumberland where quite literally the sky is the limit."

Coll Dark Skies Group member and local stargazer Tony Oliver said: "The first winter on Coll I was in awe of the night sky, it's on a par with many of the high arctic regions I'd visited. Soon I discovered Coll had some real stargazers which eventually led, over many pints, to where we are today.  Now we have the opportunity to share our darkness with others and I hope anyone visiting Coll off-season will be equally inspired."

The award is the result of years of work from the Coll Dark Skies Group, which has taken measurements of the darkness, carried out an audit of all outside lights on the island and adjusted or refitted lights that had spoiled the view for stargazers.

The island has a bit of a head start as it has no street lighting and is relatively free of light pollution that can be found in developed urban areas. The 200 islanders, together with their counterparts in Northumberland, will now be hoping that the prestigious will lead to a surge in winter tourism.
Galloway Forest Park has seen a rise in off-season tourism since it was recognised in November 2009.

                                                      International Dark Skies Association

Bristol Museums Top In Visit England Poll

Put your South West England tourism hat on and consider just for the moment what sort of attractions would be on your “must see” list. Well for a start you can’t pass through Wiltshire without a quick peek at Stonehenge, with its soon to be opened visitor centre, and then of course Cornwall offers such luminaries as the Eden Project and the Lost Gardens of Heligon.

The Roman and Georgian magnificence of Bath is undeniable, and the twin National Parks of Dartmoor and Exmoor undoubtedly have their supporters.

Bristol's M Shed is a top South West attraction

But Bristol tourism chiefs are indulging in a well deserved round of back patting as a result of figures released by Visit England which shows that the public museums of Bristol came out top in terms of visitor numbers over the last twelve month period.

With visitor numbers in excess of one million, the museums and galleries were ahead of the aforementioned Stonehenge; The Eden Project; Roman Bath and even popular Brean Leisure Park in Somerset. The cast list of Bristol attractions includes Bristol Museum and Art Gallery in Clifton, the recently opened M shed, Blaise Castle House Museum, The Georgian House Museum, Kings Weston Roman Villa, The Red Lodge Museum and Bristol’s Record Office. Not content with this success in topping the overall list, Bristol’s museums were the most visited free attractions in the whole of the South West including Devon and Cornwall.

“We are delighted with these figures,” said Julie Finch, head of Bristol Museums, Galleries and Archives. “It makes me and the museum team very proud. We had an increase of 25 per cent in visitor figures in 2012 compared to 2011. These figures show people just love to visit us, perhaps it’s because we go that extra mile to welcome visitors and show off Bristol’s treasures”

She added “Bristol Museum and Art Gallery and M shed can both boast internationally-acclaimed collections, outstanding exhibitions, amazing displays and unique, exquisite arti- facts. We have a busy calendar of events, talks and activities as well as a first-class schools’ learning programme. Our museum shops and cafés offer visitors the chance to relax and discover more about Bristol and the wider world.

“And while we are certainly celebrating being the South West’s number one attraction, we know that such accolades come because of a lot of hard work, commitment and dedication from staff, volunteers, Friends, business sponsors and funders. So a big thank you to everyone who has helped to make our museums, galleries and archives the number one most visited tourist attraction in the South West.”

Bristol has become a major player in the tourism market and enjoyed one of the sensations of the tourism year just gone by, with the Gromit Unleashed trail which during the summer saw more people flocking to the city to see them.

The city is the most popular destination in the South West and the trade is worth around £200 million to the local economy.

                                                                    Bristol Tourism

Glasgow 2014 Official Having To Defend Use Of Hampden

The head of venues for the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games, Ian McKenzie, this week finds himself having to defend the use of Hampden as the venue for the athletics events. This is at the time that work is starting to install the running track.

Mr. McKenzie said: "We have a very good athletics stadium at Scotstoun but it doesn't have the spectator capacity that is required for a Commonwealth Games," he said.  In Hampden we have a stadium that is in the right shape - a bowl shape.”

Sacred turf being removed

"It's the most easy to convert into an athletics stadium." McKenzie further argued that Glasgow is "very well served by three world-class stadia" in Hampden, Ibrox and Celtic Park. He added: "Glasgow's Games will have no white elephants, and another stadium that accommodated 40,000 is something Scotland doesn't need."

Work has already been completed on the North Stand to improve access, but last Tuesday was when the diggers moved in to remove the turf and begin constructing a platformed track that will extend into the current seating area to satisfy Commonwealth size requirements.

"To achieve [a large enough track] we have to build a platform 1.9m above the existing pitch level," explained McKenzie. To do that we are going to use a system that is a combination of posts and beams.  These are steel and specially designed for raising the platform and on top of that we will build the athletics track."

The combined cost of renovating the national stadium and neighbouring Lesser Hampden is expected to run to some £27m.

David Grevemberg, chief executive of the 2014 organising committee, described the work as "innovative".  He said: "This platforming system has never been accomplished on this scale so there is a degree of risk in the project but it's a risk worth taking. We are very confident that we will deliver.

"We have done a lot of testing, we have worked very closely with the IAAF [International Association of Athletics Federations]. They are very excited about it, as are we, with this solution.  It will really open the world of athletics to so many more stadia around the world.  It's pioneering so there is a lot of keen interest, both from an architect's standpoint but also from an athletics enthusiast's standpoint."

Some people have been saying that the remedial work to return Hampden to a football venue will mean there is no athletics legacy from the Games. However, McKenzie believes the right decision has been made.

After commenting on the existing facilities at Scotstoun he said: "We've helped fund a new clubhouse for Queen's Park Football Club.  We will be demolishing their old temporary facilities and after the Games, when we take out most of the warm-up track at Lesser Hampden, we are going to leave the sprint straight there for the community to use."

The Scottish Schools Championship in May will be used as a test event once the conversion work has been completed, and there remains the possibility that the stadium could host a Diamond League meeting just two weeks before the Games.

Para-athlete Meggan Dawson-Farrell, who competes in the T54 1500m, is looking forward to the chance of  racing on the new track.  "There's no turning back now. It's exciting. It's nice to know I'll be here again next year competing on home soil," said Dawson-Farrell, currently recovering from a rotator cuff injury.

"It will be nice to be cheered on but at the same time it will be scary. You want to do well but you have to use that to your benefit to pull you round."



                                                     Scotland 2014 Commonwealth Games

Pushchair And Wheelchair Access To The South West Coast Path

Well done the Rural Development Programme for England, with news that seven coastal access schemes plus 40 extra routes are now available relating to the South West Coast Path, giving wheelchair users and those with pushchairs access by Christmas. Information has now been posted on the coast path website.

There are stretches that were once impassable to the above mentioned members of the public, and the newly accessible routes include parts of Padstow where a £24,000 project improved the surface and widened the path in Stile Field.

Good news for wheelchair users

The work has been financed by the Rural Development Programme for England and its partners, which include the National Trust and local authorities, as part of the South West Coast Path Team's 'Unlocking our Coastal Heritage' project.

The princely sum of  £2.1million has been put into the pot over three years to conserve, enhance and interpret the coast path. Wheelchair and pushchair access has been improved at sites which include Port Isaac, Treyarnon Bay, North Tehidy Country Park and Penrose Estate in Cornwall, as well as Putsborough, Bolberry and Revelstock Drive in Devon.

The accompanying routes take in all of these improvements, as well as many existing parts of the coast path and other rights of way that were already accessible but no detailed route description was previously available.

One of the first parts to benefit was Heddon Valley on the Exmoor coastline, with the introduction of Tramper mobility scooters through a separate project led by Countryside Mobility South West, which has opened up many parts of the Coast Path to new users.

                                                       The South West Coast Path

Top Edinburgh Museum To Get £2.7 Million Makeover

One of the most prestigious British museums has been successful in obtaining funding for a revamp, the first such works to take place since 1908. The Heritage Lottery Fund has made a grant of £2.7 million to the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh Museum that is home to the most historic collection of surgical pathology artefacts in the country.

The money will be used to redevelop the Surgeons’ Hall Museum. Exhibits include a pocket book made from the skin of the infamous murderer William Burke. Having opened to the public in 1832, it is Scotland's oldest medical museum.

An institution steeped in history

Another fascinating exhibit to be found in its archives is a letter from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle crediting Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh Fellow, Dr Joseph Bell, as the main inspiration for the character of Sherlock Holmes. The Lister project, which is named after Joseph Lister, the man who was responsible for making improvements to safety in surgery by way of the use of antiseptic is also one of the top exhibits.

Having waited 105 years for a further upgrading, rumours are that the major works will focus on the creation of new displays and galleries, doubling the number of items which can be put on display and showcasing innovative audiovisual and interactive elements.

A new glass atrium will transform the Playfair-designed building which will be conserved. An education suite will include a seventeenth century dissecting theatre.

The president of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, Ian Ritchie, was happy to talk about everything that was going on. "We are delighted that the Heritage Lottery Fund has chosen to support this exciting and important project,” he said.

"The promotion of patient safety and care has been at the heart of our college and its activities for over 500 years, inspiring advances in our profession and across healthcare. Our museum and Library lie at the core of this heritage, through them we are able to highlight the achievements of the past, educate surgeons and the public about the development of our profession and inspire generations of future surgeons."

Colin McLean, head of the Heritage Lottery Fund in Scotland, said: "The Lister project will take the Surgeons' Hall Museum to a world-class level commensurate with its outstanding collections. Scotland's pioneering history of surgery will soon be a source of education and inspiration for visitors from home and abroad while making an important contribution to our tourist economy."

                                                                   About the museum

You Thought It Was All Greek, But Apparently Things Are A Little Different

You would have to be living on a different planet not to know that 2012 was the year that London and many parts of Britain came alive, celebrating the success of the Olympic Games. 

There were high levels of bookings in all sectors of the British holiday industry,  particularly in places that were close to the events themselves. There is now a fair bit of navel examination going on, but it seems that there is a “legacy” of some sort, and coupled with the Queen’s Jubilee, 2012 was definitely a great year for Britain … poor weather aside that is!

Meanwhile, Greece is hitting the headlines for all the wrong reasons, but it always prides itself on being one of the “cradles of civilisation” and the “birth place of the modern Olympiad”.  The birthplace it certainly is, with the date of 776 BC marking the first games in the city of Olympia.

Much Wenlock has an Olympian history

Held in honour of Zeus, it was originally a games with just one race, although it was expanded to include chariot racing (think Ben Hur at this point!) From 720 BC onwards, competitors apparently took part in the nude,  which makes you wonder where today's athletes would put their sponsor's logo! What we would now call the “ancient” Olympics came to an end in the fourth or fifth century AD.

So where is this rambling blog leading to I here you cry? Well hold your horses (another chariot based technical term), and you will shortly see how we arrive at the modern spectacle, a multi-event extravaganza said to be costing some four or five times more than the proposed budget. There are people in Britain who can answer that question for you, and a lot of them live in the lovely Shropshire town of Much Wenlock.

In 1860, Dr. William Penny Brooks, who was a well regarded surgeon who also had interests in botany and education, set up the first Wenlock Olympian Games in Much Wenlock in order to promote physical education. Despite warnings that it would lead to rioting, lewd behaviour and drunkenness (a bit like soccer, really)  it  became quite a success story.

In 1890 the Wenlock Olympian Games were attended by Baron Pierre de Coubertin in his capacity as an organiser of an International Congress for Physical Education. He was so taken by what he found that in 1896 the Summer Olympics were held in Athens, having been arranged  by the Baron's International Olympic Committee, a title that is still in use today.

The celebratory dinner in 1890 was held in honour of Baron de Coubertin at the Raven Hotel, a building that survives to  today, and if you are in the area, you could do far worse than pay the hotel a visit to see original correspondence between Sir William and the Baron, and take the opportunity to enjoy something off the splendid menu.

The Wenlock Olympian Games continue to this day, having been honoured by visits from the Princess Royal in 1990, and Juan Antonio Samaranch for the IOC in 1994. Perhaps this vivid connection to the modern Olympics explains why one of the two mascots for the 2012  meeting was called Wenlock.

Take in the delights of this lovely Shropshire town. The county is becoming increasingly popular as a tourist destination, and towns such as Ludlow and Shrewsbury combine modern hustle and bustle with a long and well documented history. Shropshire promotes itself as a “walker friendly” county, with many well marked paths and trails to follow. The early Victorian tourists discovered Church Stretton and nicknamed it “Little Switzerland”

Browse through the Properties section on Brit Breaks and find a property that would suit your holiday needs. You won't regret it!

                                                  Learn some more about Much Wenlock

                                                        Wenlock Olympian Games 2014

Lottery Funding – Chatham Celebrates While Railway Museum Waits

There is rarely a week that passes without a mention in the local or national press about the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) providing funding for some project or another, normally to safeguard a building or attraction that could be lost to the nation, or to establish a museum or society to make sure that enthusiasts can work with financial liquidity.

As the week starts we appear to have news of one such project that is celebrating a successful application, and another worthy cause that is just starting out on the same run that it hopes will have an equally happy ending.

The Great Central Railway - waiting in the wings for Lottery money

The Historic Dockyard Chatham is the team that has already got the bubbly out as it has received a grant of £4.5m Lottery funding to support its Command of the Oceans project. Their project will preserve and repair a range of the dockyard's scheduled ancient monuments and a set of 18th Century ship’s timbers that were discovered in 2012.  Moreover, the grant will also be used to create galleries and visitor facilities, with the work due to be completed by 2016.

The site is also regarded as one the world's best preserved examples of a dockyard of its age, and perhaps unsurprisingly is one of eleven places shortlisted for World Heritage status.

Chief executive of Chatham Historic Dockyard Trust, Bill Ferris, said he hoped the grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund would give "a major boost" to the dockyard's World Heritage Site bid. As a result of the award a further £4m for the project is unlocked, including a £3m contribution from the Homes and Communities Agency, responsible for the regeneration of the adjacent Chatham Maritime site.

Glancing enviously towards Chatham are the enthusiasts who are hoping to establish a new railway museum in Leicester, and as a measure of their intent has submitted a bid for £10m to the HLF. The plans are that the museum would be built close to the Leicester North station of the Great Central Railway, which spans Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire.

The projection is that visitor numbers could reach in the region of 230,00 per annum, and it is also being suggested that the museum, when built, would be a "significant annexe" to the National Railway Museum in York. A further £5 million of funding would be required if the award came to fruition.

The Great Central Railway is the UK's only double track main line heritage railway, meaning two tracks run parallel in opposite directions. Managing director Bill Ford said, "The museum will help people reconnect with Leicester's railway story and our shared heritage. Together with our thriving steam line, we're confident tens of thousands of people will visit every year."

The railway attracts about 120,000 visitors annually, and is already a seasoned film star, having been featured in films including Buster, Shadowlands, The Hours and Cemetery Junction. It was also used for the one of the many notorious Top Gear episodes, the one involving caravans being attached to a specially modified car and towed down the line.

Officials are also working with Leicester City Council on the project, and  City Mayor Peter Soulsby said that it was hoped that the museum would complement the nearby National Space Centre and Abbey Pumping Station.

                                                              Command of the Oceans

                                                                Great Central Railway