- Travel Trade News - April 2008
Travel Trade News - April 2008
Group Travel Home | What's on for groups | Travel trade news | Excursion Itineraries
Competition | Shop Ahoy! Hull | Stately Homes & Gardens | York for groups | Standedge Tunnel | Leeds | China: The Last Days of Steam' exhibition | Vivienne Westwood exhibition | Red House | Great Yorkshire Show | Circus Extravaganza
Win a stay at the Rendezvous Hotel, Skipton!
Experience a little luxury in the heart of the Yorkshire Dales by winning a stay at the Rendezvous Hotel, perfect for group visits! All group organisers click here to enter our competition...Hull & East Yorkshire Shop Ahoy! Day Trip Packages for Groups – the key to group travel success in 2008!
Building on the success of the Hull Shop Ahoy! Day Trip packages for groups, the Shop Ahoy! brand has now been extended to take in the beautiful East Riding of Yorkshire. If you have already explored the City of Hull through the 7 varied packages on offer, you can still take advantage of the hassle free Shop Ahoy! service by exploring the neighbouring countryside that lies within 15 minutes drive of Hull. Encompassing delightful market towns such as Beverley & Driffield; the traditional seaside towns of Bridlington and Hornsea and a variety of stunning stately homes set in glorious grounds and gardens; there is something of interest for all tastes.
Shop Ahoy! Packages follow one simple itinerary, with options available for each element of the tour, allowing organisers to tailor the trip to their group’s requirements.
The packages start from £9.50 per person* and include morning coffee, a guided walk with an English Heritage Accredited Tour Guide, and a buffet lunch. The afternoon is left at leisure for your group to enjoy one of the many delights on offer.
Booking is simple – one call to the Tourist Information Centre and rest assured your booking is in safe hands! They will look after the itinerary design and all the arrangements. All you have to do is book your coach travel.
Why not send for the Visit Hull & East Yorkshire (VHEY) 2008 brochure, to help you plan your perfect day out? Or if you have already arranged your excursions programme for the early part of the year, but are interested in Hull & East Yorkshire as a destination for special events including Christmas packages, why not sign up to the Group Travel newsletter? Just visit http://www.realyorkshire.co.uk/ click on Group Travel and register to keep updated.
If you need to know more, just call 01482 486606.
Yorkshire's magnificent Stately Homes and Gardens re-open for another season
If you have visited many of Yorkshire's great houses and gardens before, then take a look again at the programme of events and exhibitions taking place in 2008 for some fresh inspiration. Here are just a few ideas to tempt you with a next visit:
Lost Treasure at the heart of the show at Harewood House…..
From March 15th, as part of Harewood’s special 2008 theme of China and Chinoiserie, visitors will be able to view a superb 1760s Chinese wallpaper that was previously hung at Harewood by Thomas Chippendale. This remarkable ‘lost’ wallpaper was discovered after being rolled up in an outbuilding for over 150 years. The paper, now fully conserved and restored is hung in the East Bedroom where it is complemented by Chippendale’s ‘Chinoiserie’ furniture and a newly refurbished Chippendale bed.
The accompanying exhibition will feature items from Harewood’s fine collection of Chinese jade and porcelain along with outstanding examples of furniture made by Chippendale in the Chinese style.
China at Harewood is included in the Group Freedom ticket price of £9, seniors £8 (for groups of 15 or more). For more information contact Louise Bullen Group Bookings Coordinator on 0113 218 1013 or email louise.b@harewood.org
Brodsworth Hall unlocks the doors to previously unseen rooms: Step back in time to an era of 19th century grandeur at Brodsworth Hall and Gardens. English Heritage have unveiled four fascinating new rooms, previously unseen by the public at Brodsworth Hall. Open now, the new rooms include two grand Victorian bedrooms, kitchen and scullery. For further information please visit http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/
See the new sets for Brideshead Revisited at Castle Howard…
In the summer of 2007; Castle Howard was used as a location for a new film of Brideshead Revisited. The film will be released in autumn 2008 and 
stars Michael Gambon and Emma Thompson as Lord and Lady Marchmain, Matthew Goode as Charles Ryder, Ben Whishaw as Sebastian Flyte, and Hayley Atwell as Julia Flyte. To celebrate this, Castle Howard will be opening once-ruined rooms in the High South used as sets in the film, and now featuring an exhibition on the new film and the 1981 Granada TV series of Brideshead Revisited. For further information please visit http://www.castlehoward.co.uk/
Visit Burton Constable Hall where you can still enjoy the exhibition Work & Play: Life on the Yorkshire Country House Estate. Find out how Work and play were indivisible in many respects on the Country Estates and how whether the activity was ‘work' or ‘play' depended very much on your social position. For further information, visit http://www.burtonconstable.com/
For a full list of Yorkshire great Houses and Gardens, please click here.
Three NEW reasons why groups should make a visit to York in 2008
Get Quilting at the Quilt Museum and Gallery, opening June 2008
Europe’s first museum dedicated to quilt making and textile arts opens in historic York’s medieval landmark, St Anthony’s Hall. The Quilt Museum and Gallery will be a new home for the Quilters Guild of the British Isles and their world-famous Heritage Collection, together with special exhibitions of contemporary textile artists, and spaces for seminars and workshops.
The Quilt Museum and Gallery adds another unique museum to York’s fabulous portfolio of historic attractions, museums and collections. The earliest known signed and dated patchwork, the extraordinarily colourful 1718 patchwork coverlet, is among some 600 quilts in the Guild’s Heritage Collection, which also includes miniature pieces, quilted clothing, tools and equipment. Originally built as the headquarters of a religious guild in the 15th century, St Anthony’s Hall has a colourful past – as a workhouse for the poor, a magazine store during the reign of Charles I, a military hospital, a prison, and a school.
For further information please call 01904 613242.
Visit ‘Against The Odds’ at the Yorkshire Air Museum
Against the Odds has been created in association with the Imperial War Museum and is a hard hitting story of the people, places and events which still echo to this day. Unique and controversial pictures, stories and film footage combine with dramatic displays to make this an unmissable experience. With the Yorkshire Air Museum, set on the authentic site of a former WWII Bomber Command Station, the largest of it’s kind open to the public in Britain, already housing many other fascinating displays and unique historic aircraft, this new attraction will make it one of the ‘must see’ destinations in York this year.
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With 2008 being the Centenary Year of British Powered Flight and also seeing the 90th Anniversary of the Royal Air Force, the Yorkshire Air Museum has a busy and exciting programme of events planned which will celebrate these historical landmarks, so come and share the experience of flying through history. Open daily, the Museum features attractive gardens that won a Silver Gilt accolade in the Yorkshire in Bloom competition in 2007. For further information please call 01904 608595 or visit http://www.yorkshireairmuseum.co.uk/
Discover the secrets of York Minster’s glorious Great East Window
As preparations move forward for the conservation of the Great East Window – the largest expanse of medieval stained glass in the world; visitors will be able to learn about this masterpiece and the restoration of the East Front. Although the Great East Window will be covered by scaffolding, visitors will be able to view a life-sized printed replica of the window which is to be put in place at the East End during spring 2008. This will be the largest indoor graphic of a window in the world. The space in front of the Great East Window in the Lady Chapel will begin to be used to tell the story of this wonderful piece of art and the current project to conserve the East Front. For further information please visit
http://www.yorkminster.org/.
Group packages at Standedge Tunnel
The Standedge Tunnel & Visitor Centre is a great introduction to the Huddersfield Narrow Canal, a waterway of startling contrasts, from tranquil countryside to dramatic mills.Visitors to the Standedge site can also see the audio visual and displays charting the history of the Huddersfield Canal restoration or take a boat trip into the highest, longest and deepest canal tunnel in Britain on the ground floor of the Visitor Centre FREE of charge.
Enjoy an atmospheric guided boat trip into the tunnel, stretching over 3¼ miles with refreshments afterwards at the Tunnel End Cottages. Groups can also visit the new Standedge Visitor Centre features exciting displays on the Tunnel’s history and the restoration of the Huddersfield Narrow Canal.
Follow the nature trail along the length of the Huddersfield Narrow Canal, which links into the Standedge Trail and the Colne Valley. You might recognise the scenery from the TV series ‘Last of the Summer Wine’ and ‘Where the Heart is’
For groups who have and haven’t visited Standedge Tunnel in the past, you will find lots to do in 2008. There is a very varied new series of events from March to the end of October. Also for groups of 15 or more the 1st floor of the Visitor Centre is available for hire for organisations when not being used for events. Capacity is 100 standing.
Group leaders qualify for a free boat trip and hot drink and a reduced ticket price of 50p off. Group Adult is £4.00, Group Child £3.00 and Group Senior/Student is £3.50.
Wheelchair access is available on the glass roofed trip boats, the Visitor Centre and toilets and there is a dedicated car park for Blue Badge Holders.
For further information on Standedge Tunnel please call 01484 844298 (in season), 0113 281 6860 (off season), email info@standedge.co.uk or visit http://www.standedge.co.uk/
New to Leeds!!! All aboard the River Aire!
Leeds City Cruises now provides a new and unique element to its city break offering. Take a cruise on the historic waterways of Leeds, the heart of the Industrial Revolution. Leeds City Cruisers began the city's first Waterbus services on Good Friday enabling visitors to travel in style to the Royal Armouries. Tours include cruises to historic Thwaites Mill (1 hour). Experience the excitement of navigating the Aire and Calder navigation breathtaking lock system...
Special events throughout the year are also hosted on the boats, which include Christmas Lunch, Valentines Day, Halloween Fright Nights and live theatre performances. 
Why not experience elegant Evening Dining Cruises, scrumptious Sunday Roast Lunches and the most exciting venue in Leeds to hire for your own unique and exciting tour?
Cruise in style on the Leeds Waterway, whatever the weather, relax with friends and take a trip back in time. The Black Prince wide beam boat is licensed to cruise with 53 passengers, has central heating, a fully stocked bar, W.C.s and windows at every table so you can watch the scenery unfold as Leeds City Cruises describe the interesting history of the City and the place it holds in today's world. The Bar and Galley serve delicious choices of drinks, snacks, afternoon cream tea or meals.
With one, two or three hour cruises available it's the perfect Destination for your Tour!
Contact Leeds City Cruises for details on how to plan a full day out at reduced cost! Telephone: 0845 388 4901, email: info@leedscitycruisers.co.uk or visit http://www.leedscitycruisers.co.uk/
China: The Last Days of Steam’ exhibition, 21st March-31st August 2008
Yorkshire’s railways are an important part of the regions history and industrial heritage. Home to the world’s largest railway museum you’ll find over three hundred years of world railway history here from Japanese Bullet trains to Queen Victoria’s favourite carriage.The National Railway Museum (NRM) is now celebrating the launch of a groundbreaking new photography exhibition documenting the end of steam on China’s railways.
Michael Rhodes’ ‘China: The Last Days of Steam’ exhibition (Fri 21 Mar - Sun 31 Aug) consists of 56 spellbinding images of China’s railways, some of which were taken on the Jitong line, the last steam hauled mainline in the world.
China was the last place in the world to build steam locomotives for ordinary service. Although steam was once a common sight all over China, rapid modernisation meant the final vestiges of this technology was restricted to the country’s industrial and narrow gauge lines.
The Jitong line in Inner Mongolia was worked by steam for just 10 years. Completely independent of the state network, the 560 miles long (900 km) line was constructed with the help of the World Bank and used 120 relatively new steam locomotives which may otherwise have been sent for scrap.
In his quest to document the last days of steam, Michael Rhodes has visited every area in China, a country over 38 times the size of the United Kingdom. His spellbinding pictures provide a fascinating insight into the culture of remote Chinese provinces and capture a society going through a period of rapid change.
The Chinese railway network is now the third largest in the world. Having grown by almost one fifth in the past 30 years, it is essential to the country’s rapid development and impacts on millions of lives. The NRM’s exhibition shows in glorious detail how people and railways co-exist in China, as Chinese railways are unfenced and day to day life takes place around the tracks.
Stephen Richards, Head of Creative Development at the NRM said:
“Michael has gone to extreme lengths in pursuit of the last of the steam railways. He has travelled to China more than 25 times in the past 15 years, and visited in excess of 
100 different routes. This has culminated in an awe-inspiring collection of photographs which capture a vision of working steam, the people and the landscape of China and we are very proud to share them with the world in this new exhibition.”
‘China: The Last Days of Steam’ consists of three photographic “essays”. The exhibition text is also translated into Mandarin, so it can be understood by the museum’s many Chinese visitors.
From the 2nd May, visitors will also be able to access the gigantic Chinese Locomotive on display at the museum.
Vivienne Westwood: a retrospective exhibition, 29th May-21st September 2008
‘Fashion’s just life, and I do believe that appearances are everything’
On tour internationally since 2004, this is the only chance to see the V&A’s blockbuster exhibition in the UK before it closes.
‘The only reason I’m in fashion is to destroy the word ‘conformity’. Nothing’s interesting to me unless it’s got that element’
Vivienne Westwood’s career stretches from anarchic beginnings in the punk era of the 1970’s to her present-day iconic status within the world of high fashion. Her inventiveness is revealed here in over 150 exhibits from her personal archive and the V&A's collections. It spans the extremes of fashion, from the streets of London to the Parisian catwalks, and her own evolution from subversive shop owner to fashion doyenne.
‘I still adore what remains of the British tradition in clothes’
The exhibition will look at Westwood’s often subversive adaptation of British traditions and gentle parodies of royalty and will include sections devoted to tailoring, tartan and accessories. The famous blue mock-croc platform shoes Naomi Campbell wore when she fell on the catwalk in 1993 will be on display, alongside fabulous corsets, the famous Mini-Crini collection, and a wide selection of lavish fashion photography.
For ladies who lunch, Top Shop princesses, and tweed-loving gents across the North – Millennium Gallery is the home of fashion this spring and summer.
Pre-booked groups of 10 or more can get a 10% discount on entry to the Special Exhibition Gallery. For more information please call 0114 278 2655 or please visit http://www.museums-sheffield.org.uk/
NB Thumbnail image provided by Rankin
Red House Period Garden Festival, 22nd June- 6th July 2008
With scented old roses, climbing arbour and arches; borders of lavender and stocks; the ornamental Rose Pillar and a stroll on the Serpentine Walk around tree shaded
lawns, visitors to Red House garden will find it an enchanting delight.
Red House is a former Yorkshire woollen cloth merchant's home with strong Bronte connections - step back 200 years into the garden Charlotte Bronte knew when she visited her friend Mary Taylor. Both house and family feature in Charlotte's novel Shirley.
The Red House is an award winning site with period house, galleries, gardens and shop. A fantastic festival Programme of talks, tours, workshops etc is available from May 2008.
SPECIAL FOR GROUPS: Pre-booked Group visits with Guided Garden Tour by Costumed Character are available Monday-Friday only. They cost £20 (up to 20 persons), £40 (20-40 persons) and £60 (40-60 persons).
The Red House is located in Gomersal, West Yorkshire. For further information, please call 01274 335100, email red.house@kirklees.gov.uk or visit www.kirklees.gov.uk/musuems
150th Great Yorkshire Show, 8th-10th July 2008
Come and join in this fantastic celebration of agriculture and country life at this year’s Great Yorkshire Show and bring your group to visit the biggest regional Show in the UK. This three day countryside showcase held at the 250-acre ‘Great Yorkshire Showground’ on the edge of the Spa Town of Harrogate, is attended by, in excess of 120,000 people annually.
More than just a celebration of Yorkshire and Agriculture – the Great Yorkshire Show is a fantastic day out – giving many the opportunity to see all aspects of country life and farming.
Group Benefits include:
• Discounted ticket prices for Group Bookings – save £37 when you order 25 tickets
• Fast track entrance – no queuing
• For every 10 tickets booked, receive a FREE Commemorative Show Programme
• FREE Coach Parking – with easily accessible drop-off point
Key Attractions for 2008:
• Black Dyke Band
• Diggerland – have a go in construction machinery
• The Great Show Wheel
• Hot Air Balloon Launch
• Vintage Tractors
• World Class Cattle
• Fashion Show – 150 Years of Bridal Wear
• Cookery Theatre
• Top International Show Jumping
and much, much more!
Celebrate with us as the Show will be our 150th – so be part of it!
To discuss details further, please call Sally Wall on 01423 546218 or email sallyw@yas.co.uk.
Come and visit us at the Yorkshire stand at the show, we will be on 5th Avenue, stand 181.
For further information on the show, visit http://www.greatyorkshireshow.co.uk/
Circus extravaganza at Eureka! 19th July-31st August 2008
Perfect for primary groups, Eureka! The Museum for Children is a magical place where children play to learn and grown-ups learn to play. Based in Halifax, West Yorkshire Eureka! is the leading museum of its kind in the UK and gives groups with children aged 0-11 a fun-packed day out.
- Everything at Eureka! has been designed to inspire children to find out about themselves and the world around them. With 100s of hands-on exhibits, from a futuristic world alive with sound to your very own home in the desert, there’s a lot to explore!
For the summer months, the Eureka! Beach is open once again, where kids will have endless fun digging for treasure and building sandcastles.
Special packages and exclusive benefits are available for school visits and pre-booked groups. Including:
- Priority entry - beat the queues!
- Discounted admission prices
One adult FREE with every FOUR paying children aged 1-12 - FREE coach parking and a hot drink for the driver
- Meet and Greet from a Eureka! Enabler
- FREE preview pass for group leader
- Special pre-visit information tailored to groups and a gallery support pack on request
Find out more at http://www.eureka.org.uk/. To book your group visit call the bookings line on 01422 330012 or email bookings@eureka.org.uk
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