The Beatles, Chatsworth, Wedgwood and Well Dressing | Travel Research Online

Ours is a creative industry and if you like thinking out of the box, you’ll love what’s in store for you and your clients on this side of the northern gateway of Manchester. As many of you can easily use Virgin Atlantic’s flights from Atlanta, Boston, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, New York and Orlando (see schedule) start a conversation with anglophile clients about customised tours that include Beatrix Potter, the Brontës, Wedgwood, David Hockney, Hadrian’s Wall and the heritage cities of Chester and York. Let’s create something that matches their interests, time frame and budget. Take a close look at this website and discover no fewer than 23 exciting new products that are waiting, just for you!

John, Paul, George and Ringo Did you know that as an action-packed, one-day Liverpool shore excursion, your clients can visit the Beatles Story? They can also go inside John Lennon and Sir Paul McCartney’s childhood homes, see the Strawberry Field heritage attraction, lunch at the Hard Day’s Night Hotel, discover The Casbah Coffee Club where the Beatles truly began and the Magical Beatles Museum and finish with the Story of British Music. I’ve just put that together for 4 people who re-boarded their cruise ship, knowing that no one else on board had done this tour! Manchester Airport to Liverpool takes 30 minutes and these experiences can be blended into a more leisurely 2-night Beatles tour before a train ride to London for a Rock ‘n’ Roll experience.

Gateway Manchester for Three Country Tours Get the little grey cells moving and look at the possibilities for three country tours that start in Manchester before heading to Snowdonia in North Wales and then by fast ferry to Dublin for some time in Ireland. Another version might start in Dublin, perhaps with a day at Bloom, Ireland’s largest and most spectacular gardening event before the ferry crossing to Holyhead for a visit to Caernarfon Castle and a ride on one of the Great Little Trains before finishing with a day at next year’s RHS Chatsworth Flower Show. Alternatively, consider three nights in the Lake District, and three more in Edinburgh before turning south to the Viking city of York, returning home from Manchester or from London after a two to three-night extension in our capital city.

The RHS Chatsworth Flower Show I recently spent a very rewarding day at the Royal Horticultural Society Chatsworth Flower Show, just over one hour east of the Manchester gateway. Many of your gardening contacts will have read about it in their specialist gardening magazines, but as it is only in its third year, few of them will have been offered the chance to visit it. It lived up to its billing with a mix of gardening inspiration, vibrant summer colour, have-a-go workshops and unique shopping within the spacious surroundings of the Chatsworth Estate. Seeing the stylish Wedgwood stand reminded me that the World of Wedgwood in Stoke on Trent should be included in any itinerary. Next year’s provisional dates are 10th – 14th June 2020.

Fly To China And The World Of Wedgwood I’m hugely impressed by the quality of the experience on offer at the World of Wedgwood (take a look). Use the non-stop Manchester flights for a long weekend that starts with Wedgwood, includes a special visit to Emma Bridgewater, the ceramic’s collections at the Potteries Museum and Art Gallery, and an utterly absorbing day among the priceless treasures in nearby Chatsworth House. Time it to coincide with The British Ceramics Biennial celebrating its 10thanniversary this year with an expanded programme that includes the China Hall in the original Spode factory site extending to AirSpace gallery, and springs up across the city with special site specific commissions at the Middleport Pottery, the Potteries Museum and Art Gallery and the World of Wedgwood, the champions of Stoke-on-Trent’s ceramic identity.

Manchester For Green Fingered Clients To encourage you to take this idea very seriously, your gardening contacts will be very pleased to learn that in the north of England there are no fewer than 11 former winners of the prestigious Historic Houses Association/Christies Garden of the Year Award. Among them are Castle Howard, one of England’s finest stately homes and used as the location for the filming of Brideshead Revisited; and in the Lake District there’s Levens Hall, where the topiary design dating from 1694 has remained largely unchanged to this day. In addition, there’s also Bodnant Garden in North Wales, one of the finest in the country. Any Manchester-bound castles, stately homes and gardens tour can be enhanced by head gardener and owner led tours which add extra value to any visit.

Try Your Hand At Well Dressing From May to September, towns and villages across Derbyshire’s Peak District National Park come together to create natural art installations known as Well Dressings. These are pictures made from natural materials such as wool, bark, flower petals, berries, leaves and seeds secured on a bed of soft clay spread over a wooden board, that’s then erected at the site of the spring or well. Dressing a well can take a team of skilled local people up to a week, and the finished well lasts a week or so before the flowers fade and the clay dries out. For those who fancy trying Well Dressing for themselves, with a word in the right ear, I can set this up for you as a special hands-on experience.

Paull Tickner, owner of U.K.-based Custom GB, is known for his expertise in creating and operating imaginative, value-added tours of Great Britain and Ireland. Visit his website at www.customgb.co.uk or email him at ptickner@customgb.co.uk