In case you missed last Friday’s announcement, from Monday 2nd August, fully vaccinated Americans can travel to the UK. Having been in the long, dark Covid tunnel for nearly 18 months, it’s hard to believe good news when it appears; but it’s true, and we’re slowly but surely emerging into a new landscape. There are still rules and regulations that have to be adhered to but, as far as Product GB is concerned, while the pandemic has stalled UK-bound travel, it hasn’t destroyed our historic sites, cathedrals, great castles and stately homes, literary shrines, pubs and tea rooms—or prevented Mother Nature from producing our great gardens!
To celebrate this significant step forward, here are five bright ideas that will help you to immediately profit from some of the pent-up demand especially among your anglophile clients. They include the late September Chelsea Flower Show, in October the spectacular Japan Festival at Kew Gardens, the 72nd staging of the annual Cheltenham Literature Festival, the Ceramics Biennial in the world capital of ceramics aka Stoke on Trent, and a fabulous Antiques Fair just south of Stratford upon Avon.
Autumn Celebrations At The Chelsea Flower ShowCovid-19 prevented the annual Chelsea Flower Show from taking place, normally at the end of May. The good news is that it’s been rescheduled for 21st-26th September. Share this year’s Virtual Chelsea Flower Show with your green fingered clients, and steer them towards this new date. With a very full day among the stunning exhibits, follow it with three more, either in the Cotswolds or among the many fabulous castles and stately homes in the southeast of England. When your clients return, use their first-hand experience to stimulate interest in a Chelsea Flower Show—when it once again takes place in its traditional surroundings between 24th-28th May 2022! |
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The Wonders of Japan Revealed At Kew GardensIf the late September dates don’t work for a Chelsea Flower Show tour, talk to them about the celebration of Japan’s iconic plants, art, culture and food at Kew Gardens’ Temperate House, the world’s largest surviving Victorian glasshouse, and taking place between 2nd-30th October. The large-scale artistic installation One Thousand Springs will form a truly magnificent centrepiece to the festival, supported by some magnificent horticultural displays in the Temperate House Octagons. Kew’s own horticultural team have designed a spectacular display celebrating the magnificent Chrysanthemum, Japan’s national flower. Completing the experience, an emotive, immersive soundscape will capture the harmonious natural sounds of the rivers, waterfalls and bird calls. |
Spend Time With Fellow Book-lovers in the CotswoldsThe 72nd Times and Sunday Times Literary Festival takes place between 2nd-11th October in the Regency spa town of Cheltenham. It offers a great opportunity for your book-loving clients to rub shoulders with others from Europe and beyond, while listening to and perhaps even meeting some of the world’s greatest writers and thinkers. Bookend it with an Oxford literary/on location tour following in the footsteps of C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien and Lewis Carroll, and TV greats like Endeavour, Morse and Lewis. At the other end of the bookshelf, add two days in Bath where the focus sharpens on the life and times of Jane Austen. |
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Meet Master Craftsmen and Women at the British Ceramics BiennialThe British Ceramics Biennial returns to Stoke-on-Trent from 11th September-17th October, bringing together more than 300 contemporary artists in a vibrant programme of exhibitions, installations and events taking place in six iconic cultural venues across the city. To add extra value to this China Experience, create your own masterpiece at the World of Wedgwood, take a behind-the-scenes tour of the Emma Bridgewater Factory, discover the beautiful art pottery at Moorcroft, see demonstrations of traditional skills at the Gladstone Pottery Museum and stroll through the four great British brands of Portmeirion, Spode, Royal Worcester and Pimpernel at one of the Portmeirion shops. Shop and ship information is readily available. |
Find Priceless Antiques In The CotswoldsThe Cotswolds Art & Antique Dealers’ Association (CADA) is the first and preeminent art and antique regional association in the UK. Their membership comprises of 50 dealers of knowledge, integrity and reputation, and their expertise spans a wide variety of art and antiques with many of their members being world renowned specialists in their field. Their ninth annual Fair opens at Compton Verney Art Gallery from 14th-17th October when some 26 exhibitors will gather to offer oil and watercolour paintings, original etchings, clocks, jewelry, campaign furniture, oriental ceramics, carpets and rugs, textiles, glass, fine furniture, garden and architectural antiques, interior accessories and objets d’art for sale covering several centuries. |
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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.
