Press release -
Dropping into a garden near you
A number of the country’s celebrated visitor attractions will take part in one of Scotland’s most popular outdoor festivals for the first time this year.
Blossoming across the country from 28 January to 12 March, the Scottish Snowdrop Festival features more than 50 properties, including 13 newly added for 2017, showing off spectacular swathes of snowdrops carpeting their grounds.
There are 300 varieties of Galanthus – to give the snowdrop its botanical name – and the versatility and hardiness of the classic winter flowering plant means it grows in a great range of locations.
New attractions set to join some of Scotland’s finest gardens, woodlands and estates for the festival this year include Fyvie Castle in Turriff, House of the Binns in Linlithgow and Castle Kennedy in Stranraer.
The annual event, now in its 11th year, aims to encourage locals and tourists alike to enjoy the wonders of Scotland’s gardens during the snowdrop flowering period and highlight the diversity of the country’s array of snowdrop collections.
Supported annually by VisitScotland, the festival is being organised for the first time this year by garden tourism organisation Discover Scottish Gardens.
Research shows that one in three visitors to Scotland make a trip to a forest or woodland park during their stay while 42% visit a country park or garden.
Malcolm Roughead, Chief Executive of VisitScotland, said: “Over the past decade the Scottish Snowdrop Festival has grown to become an annual calendar highlight with the first snowdrops of the year a sign that spring is just around the corner.
“The festival provides a welcome boost for attractions during a traditionally quieter period of the year and we hope many people will be able to get out and about to enjoy this great seasonal sight around Scotland’s most stunning gardens and estates.
“Many of the Scottish Snowdrop Festival locations are within the grounds of some of Scotland’s most historic buildings.
“Such buildings are a perfect fit for Scotland’s Year of History, Heritage and Archaeology. From World Heritage sites to ancient monuments, cultural traditions to our myths, stories and legends, the year-long programme will shine the spotlight on our greatest assets and icons, as well as our hidden gems.”
Catherine Erskine, from Cambo Estate, Chair of Discover Scottish Gardens and founder of the Snowdrop Festival in Scotland, said: “We are very lucky in Scotland to have a fantastic climate for snowdrops, with many species thriving here and creating stunning displays. And this year, due to a mild winter, snowdrops are certainly popping their heads out earlier than they have for many years.”
New participants taking part in the Scottish Snowdrop Festival for the first time are:
• RSPB Loch Garten, Nethy Bridge, Inverness-shire
• Fyvie Castle, Fyvie, Turriff, Aberdeenshire
• Braco Castle, Braco, Perthshire
• Fingask Castle, Rait, Perthshire
• Kilbryde Castle, Dunblane, Perthshire
• Langley Park, Montrose, Angus
• Maolachy's Garden, Lochavich, by Taynuilt, Argyll
• New Hopetouns Gardens, by Newton Village, Broxburn, West Lothian
• House of the Binns, Linlithgow, West Lothian
• Newhailes Estate, Musselburgh, East Lothian
• Castle Kennedy, Stranraer, Dumfries & Galloway
• Brooklands, Crocketford, Dumfries & Galloway
Many of the gardens are also offering new activities for the 2017 festival such as the Cambo Estate in Fife where the opening of a new nature playground area, ‘the lost elf village’, will launch their Snowdrop activity. Other participants with new elements to their snowdrop activity this year include Cringletie House and Gardens in Peebles and the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh as well as its regional Gardens Dawyck and Logan.
For details of all the gardens and grounds taking part in the Scottish Snowdrop Festival 2017, visit www.visitscotland.com/snowdrop
Topics
- Tourism
Categories
- corporate communications
Regions
- Scotland
Notes to Editors
- 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.
- Spending by tourists in Scotland generates around £12 billion of economic activity in the wider Scottish supply chain and contributes around £6 billion to Scottish GDP (in basic prices). This represents about 5% of total Scottish GDP.
- The Scottish Government is the Managing Authority for the European Structural Funds 2014-20 Programme. For further information visit www.gov.scot or follow @scotgovESIF
- 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
- 2017 Year of History, Heritage and Archaeology
- 2017 is the year to delve into the past and discover Scotland’s fascinating stories through a wide-ranging variety of new and existing activity to drive the nation’s tourism and events sector, boosting tourism across Scotland.
- The Year of History, Heritage and Archaeology begins on 1 January 2017 and will end on 31 December 2017. It will build on the momentum generated by previous themed years in Scotland including the 2015 Year of Food and Drink, Homecoming Scotland 2014, the Year of Creative and the Year of Natural.
- The Year of History, Heritage and Archaeology is a Scottish Government initiative being led by VisitScotland, and supported by a variety of partners including Creative Scotland, Scottish Tourism Alliance, Scottish Enterprise, The National Trust for Scotland, Historic Environment Scotland, Highlands and Islands Enterprise, Built Environment Forum Scotland, Heritage Lottery Fund, Museums Galleries Scotland and Traditional Arts and Culture Scotland.
- The Year of History, Heritage and Archaeology is supported by £570,000 of Scottish Government funding.
- The Year of History, Heritage and Archaeology events fund is managed by EventScotland, part of VisitScotland’s Events Directorate.
- For more information visit visitscotland.com/HHA2017 or join the conversation at #HHA2017
