Who would have realised, just 2 mths ago, when we were at the Visit Scotland Thistle Awards, celebrating all that is best about Scottish tourism, that in such a short space of time all our worlds would have ground to a shuddering halt. At that point, we were in the early stages of the virus and people were being cautious, but, my how fast things moved. All of the UK, including Scotland, is still in lockdown, at the moment, at least for the next week or two, and then small movements should begin.
When the tourism and hospitality industry does recover, it is likely to look quite different from what we have been used to of late. We are likely to see fewer huge coaches, packed with people, and more small, personal tours. Mary’s Meanders is ideally placed for this, with the capacity to offer private and small group tours, with plenty of scope for social distancing if required, attention to detail on cleanliness and hygiene, and our ability to visit some of the less crowded attractions.
We are still keeping our fingers crossed for our tours in September, but we will continue to follow Government advice, and we will adjust the tours to take account of any extra measures we deem necessary.
We remain optimistic and look forward to welcoming everyone back again next year. Thank you so much to all of those who have postponed their bookings to next year. We are certainly going to be very busy then, and can’t wait to see old friends again, and make lots of new friends.
Mary’s Meanders in Lockdown
In the meantime, if you cannot get to Scotland, we are doing all we can to bring Scotland to you. We have started our Virtual Outlander tours, brought to you LIVE from Scotland. These are so popular we are adding extra spaces and extra dates as fast as we can. The tours are FREE to join, but we do welcome a small donation, if you enjoy them. The donation link is https://www.paypal.me/marysmeanders
There has been a little bit of confusion over timings of the tours. We are in Scotland, so the time to book is the Edinburgh time (this is GMT+1, as we are on British summer time just now). To help we have produced a small table showing equivalent times to help you decide what suits you. Times faded are for info, unless you are a night owl. If you have missed a tour, don’t worry, just sign up for another date.
And if you would like a regular “breath of Scotland”, why not join Anne on her daily walk, through Kinneil woods – just for a minute or two of calm. Posted regularly on our Facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/MarysMeanders/
We have also launched the Mary’s Meanders Ancestry Club, where we can all share stories of our research and help each other trace our Scottish Ancestors. We will shortly be launching on-line Ancestry workshops for beginners too. So if this downtime has given you the opportunity or the inclination to get started tracing your family roots please join us here
What’s Next
We have a number of exciting initiatives in the pipeline to help you through this difficult period, including more online tours and events, talks and workshops and Q & A sessions to help you prepare for when you can travel again.
First up- launching this week, Brunch at Home with Mary’s Meanders, with live chat and special guests. You won’t want to miss this party. Watch out for announcements.
To keep in touch with all our developments, make sure to follow us on all our Social Media Channels
www.facebook.com/MarysMeanders
www.instagram.com/marysmeanders
A request
We have so many wonderful friends and supporters. We thank you for championing us across Social Media. During this period, it is more important than ever, for us to remain in the public spotlight. We are sharing as much as we can and Thank you to those who are already mentioning us on different forums. We would be grateful if you would share memories and photos from your tours in Facebook groups you belong to and when people ask for recommendations, if you feel it is appropriate, please do mention Mary’s Meanders. We are aware that with so many big companies in our arena now, we do have to push that little bit harder to make our voice heard. Please also invite any friends who you think would enjoy our virtual world to like our pages.
Please tag us @MarysMeanders #marysmeanders whenever you can. Thank you so much.
Keep safe and well and we will see you soon.
All the best
Emma & Anne
*NEW* Virtual Outlander Locations Tour
