Press release -
Blog Boom for Scottish Borders
The group known as the @Scotlanders visited the Scottish Borders in June to research the region as a travel destination and the ideal place for visitors to enjoy, ahead of the opening of the Borders Railway.
The group consisted of Dougie Baird of Great Travel Images, Kim Kjaerside, Susanne Arbuckle of Adventures Around Scotland, Kay Gillespie of The Chaotic Scot, Nicola Holland of FunkyEllas Travel and Neil Robertson of Locomotion Scotland.
Each of the bloggers visited a number of different attractions in the Scottish Borders on a trip organised by VisitScotland, in partnership with Borders Railway with assistance from European Funding.
Kay Gillespie used local buses to get around and her first stop was to visit Mary Queen of Scots House & Visitor Centre before enjoying a historic and insightful ‘do it yourself trail’ on a circular route developed by the Scottish Borders Council. On Kay’s second day she discovered the ancient remains of Jedburgh Abbey, stopping at the Abbey View Café and Bookshop for lunch, before visiting the Abbey Bridge Tollhouse and then Jedburgh Castle Jail to learn about 19th century prison life.
Kim Kjaerside took a trip to see the region’s fantastic built heritage including a visit to Dryburgh Abbey and later to the Teviot Smokery & Water Gardens to watch traditional methods or smoking fresh fish and taking in one of the area’s most classic scenes at Scott’s View.
Nicola Arbuckle experienced a guided tour at Johnstons of Elgin Cashmere before visiting Harestanes Countryside Visitor Centre where she was able to enjoy the beautiful woodland walks as well as the craft and textile outlets. The journalist went on to learn about the ancient craft of glassmaking and watched glass blowing demonstrations at Scottish Borders Glass Art before visiting Kelso Pottery and viewing the hand-building techniques used to create animals, birds and figures. The day was topped off with dinner and a stay at the Horseshoe Restaurant with Rooms.
Dougie Baird experienced independent travel around the new Border Railway stations and checked into Abbotsford’s Hope Scott Wing luxury accommodation to enjoy a special opportunity in the splendour of inspirational surroundings before joining fellow @Scotlanders at Burts Hotel in Melrose to discuss their different Scottish Borders experiences.
Susanne and Neil opted for outdoor activities and got to grips with the Treetop Adventure Experience at GoApe in Glentress, leaping off Tarzan swings and navigating obstacles, before chilling out in Kalzie Gardens Restaurant to enjoy some fresh, local produce. The fifth highest waterfall in the UK, The Grey Mare’s Tail, was their next stop before a visit to Scotland’s oldest inhabited house - Traquair House near Peebles.
All bloggers were given a press pass to visit the Borders Book Festival to get involved with the events and activities taking place over the five day literary celebration. Other attractions included in press trip itineraries were; Floors Castle, Abbotsford House, Melrose Abbey, Harmony Gardens and the new Born in the Borders Visitor Centre.
The new Borders Railway will be the longest new domestic railway to be constructed in Britain for over 100 years. Running between Edinburgh and Tweedbank, the journey will take less than an hour and will open up opportunities for visitors to explore Midlothian and the Scottish Borders which boasts an international reputation for excellent cycling opportunities and beautiful countryside famous for inspiring Sir Walter Scott.
Paula McDonald, Regional Director for VisitScotland, said;
“We have been working closely in partnership with the Borders Railway group to maximise all opportunities to promote the fantastic achievement of re-introducing the railway through the Scottish Borders which will open in September.
“VisitScotland is helping to deliver an ambitious, targeted and co-ordinated marketing programme that brings the Borders Railway to life, targeting potential leisure and business visitors from domestic and international markets and encouraging them to visit the Scottish Borders. Inviting the @Scotlanders bloggers has been just one initiative which will help us promote the region on a world-wide scale encouraging more people to this great part of Scotland this year and beyond.”
The blog group have been tweeting lots of fantastic images of the Scottish Borders from @Scotlanders. Blog posts/videos can be found here:
Kim Kjaerside
https://kkjaersidephotography.wordpress.com/2015/06/22/my-scottish-borders-visit/
https://kkjaersidephotography.wordpress.com/2015/06/18/scottish-borders-abbotsford-house-home-of-sir-walter-scott/
Dougie Baird - Great Travel Images
Abbotsford video: https://youtu.be/KBgiIEsUGIE
Borders Railway – all stations: https://youtu.be/PwHpQYgOFwc
Neil Robertson – Locomotion Scotland
http://www.locomotionscotland.co.uk/weekend-in-the-scottish-borders/
http://www.locomotionscotland.co.uk/abbotsford-house-review/
Susanne Arbuckle – Adventures Around Scotland
http://www.adventuresaroundscotland.com/travel-blog/monkeying-around-on-a-tree-top-adventure-in-the-borders
Nicola Holland - FunkyEllas Travel
http://www.funkyellastravel.com/design-and-craft-in-the-scottish-borders/
http://www.funkyellastravel.com/the-horseshoe-restaurant-with-rooms-peebles/
Kay Gillespie - The Chaotic Scot
http://www.thechaoticscot.com/jedburgh/
Topics
- Tourism
Categories
- corporate communications
Regions
- Scotland
Notes to Editors
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- Follow us on twitter: @visitscotnews
- VisitScotland is Scotland’s national tourism organisation. Its core purpose is to maximise the economic benefit of tourism to Scotland.
- The organisation’s core objective is to contribute to the Tourism 2020 Strategy ambition of growing tourism revenues by £1 billion by 2020.
- This will be supported by seven overarching strategies:
- Marketing: we will market Scotland and its outstanding assets to visitors from all parts of the world, including the promotion of Scotland to people living in Scotland to visit different parts of the country
- Events: we will support the national events strategy and its delivery, and sustain, develop and promote Scotland’s international profile as one of the world’s foremost events destinations
- Internationalisation and International Engagement: we will utilise all our platforms to enable Scottish-based tourism businesses to better understand international opportunities and market to a global audience and we will work within One Scotland Partnerships to optimise the potential of Scotland’s Diaspora and our strategic partners at regional, European and global levels
- Customer Experience: we will provide information and inspiration to visitors both locally and globally via their preferred medium of choice
- Quality and Sustainability: we will provide support and advice to businesses, with the goal of improving the quality and sustainability of the tourism sector in Scotland. We will provide quality assurance to visitors through our Quality Schemes
- Inclusive Tourism: we will strive to make tourism in Scotland inclusive and available to all
- Working in Partnership: we will listen to and work with the industry, partners and communities to shape our offering and support
- VisitScotland works together with tourism businesses to make tourism a success for everyone and ensure the industry continues to grow.
- The organisation employs 700 people and has offices and VisitScotland Information Centres across Scotland.
- According to a recent Deloitte study, the tourism economy supports 270,000 jobs in Scotland in 20,000 diverse businesses. The same study calculates that the tourism economy contributes £11 billion annually (direct and indirect impact, including day visits) and supports around 10 per cent of employment in Scotland. Almost 16 million tourists take overnight trips to Scotland.
- For VisitScotland’s press releases go to http://www.visitscotland.org/media_centre.aspx, tourism statistics and frequently asked questions go to http://www.visitscotland.org/
- Where possible, a Gaelic speaker will be made available for broadcast interviews on request (Far an tèid iarraidh, agus far am bheil sin nar comas, bruidhinnidh neach le Gàidhlig aig agallamh)
- For holiday information on Scotland go to www.visitscotland.com
- For information about business events in Scotland go to www.conventionscotland.com
Year of Food and Drink 2015- 2015 is the Year of Food and Drink, a celebration of Scotland’s natural larder and the role that food and drink plays in shaping our economic success.
- Scotland generates over £2.5m per day through food and drink tourism.
- A series of themed months will create an appetite for key areas of Scotland’s food and drink industries – from seafood and whisky to berries and high-quality meat
- For more information, visit www.visitscotland.com/tastescotland
