Britain Calling - Highlights Of London, Edinburgh & Glasgow.
By Lisa RaffaeleAccording to Meredith Pearson, media relations manager, Canada, VisitBritain, the Canadian market is the shining star in the Americas. In 2007 Britain welcomed 852,000 Canadian visitors, each averaging a 10-night stay, spending just over $1 trillion (up 11 per cent).
A group of Canadian media, travelling to the first-ever Best of Britain & Ireland in London in March had a chance to discover why so many of us are heading to Britain.
London Essentials
VisitBritain has introduced the Essential London Pack, a package of savings offering several London tourism products for one price, including an Oyster Card (access to London’s Underground system), the original London sightseeing bus tour ticket, which includes a Thames river cruise and two walking tours, and an adult one-day London Sightseeing Pass with access to over 55 of London’s attractions. The Essential London Pack is $130, a 15per cent savings over buying the products individually. Visit visitbritaindirect.ca.
Royal Sights
We ventured to Kew Gardens, a collection of attractions that includes a treetop walkway, four glass houses and the Princess of Wales conservatory. As part of the celebrations to commemorate the garden’s 250th anniversary, Kew is working to safeguard 25 per cent of the world’s flora by 2020. Free guided tours are available daily from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Visit kew.org.
Next stop was Hampton Court Palace, home of King Henry VIII. To celebrate the 500th anniversary of Henry’s accession to the throne, Historic Royal Palaces and the Royal Armouries have partnered to present Henry VIII: Dressed to Kill, through January 17, 2010. It includes original artifacts and personal arms of Henry on three floors of the White Tower. A special 2009 joint ticket for the Tower of London and Hampton Court Palace offers a 20-per cent discount. Visit hrp.org.uk.
Home To Scotland
This year Scotland celebrates Homecoming Scotland 2009 (homecomingscotland.com), a yearlong program of events and festivals to mark the 250th anniversary of poet Robert Burns that highlights whisky, golf, ancestry and Scottish culture, great minds and innovations, as well as Burns himself. And we sampled it all.
Fresh off the plane, we arrived at the Scotch Whisky Experience (whisky-heritage.co.uk) in Edinburgh, for a sneak preview of the newly refurbished visitor experience that includes a tour the distillery in a cask.
After sampling whisky from the Islay, Highlands, Lowlands and Speyside regions of Scotland, we proceeded to trace our lineage at Scotland’s People Centre, which provides access to thousands of birth, marriage and death records, many going back as far as 1553. Visit scotlandspeoplehub.gov.uk.
Innovations were covered by a ride on the Falkirk Wheel, the world’s only rotating boat lift (thefalkirkwheel.co.uk), while we explored culture at the Gallery of Modern Art (GoMA) in Glasgow which housed the city’s contemporary art collect in the heart of Glasgow; and at the National Museum home to a range of exhibitions, including ‘Scotland, A Changing Nation’. Visit nms.ac.uk.
And then there’s golf. Allan Minto of the East Lothian Golf Partnership at Cragielaw told us this particular area was known for links courses, the oldest style of golf course with sand dunes as major course features. There’s even golf for the kids at three children’s courses: North Berwick, Gullane and Craig Law. Visit eastlothian.com.
