What an exciting range of Quality Garden and Special Interest tours we have in store for 2010.  New destinations, expanded themes and improved itineraries along with our hardy perennials.

The quality of our horticultural tour managers just gets better and better, and in the world of gardening they don't come much better than Mike Nelhams, curator of Tresco's Abbey Gardens; Chris Bailes from RHS Rosemoor; top tree expert, Tony Russell; Wolfgang Bopp from Hillier; Maurice Wilkins from Arduaine; Alasdair Moore, author and authority on proteas; Crinan Alexander, our Hebridean plants enthusiast - to name but a few of our team.

In archaeology we have another top line-up with Clive Warsop from Edinburgh University, Hazel Goar from Orkney and Jim McIntyre from Derry.  Our Blue Badge Guides have an even bigger following:  Michael Gill gets more fan mail than George Clooney, Hugh Trevarthen flies the flag for us in Cornwall, with Trish Strang, John Cowan, Pauline Corrigan and Malcolm Milne doing likewise north of the border - though whether David Bowen's jokes have got any better I would very much doubt!

Our tour managers are alchemists that sprinkle their magic over your holiday choice.  They are a great bunch and I am indebted to them all.  You see, a Brightwater Holiday is all about people, there's Helen Dillon in Dublin, Kazu in Kyoto, Marinda in Cape Town, Flavio on Lake Como; Angus 'the boat' for St Kilda, Tom Maclean (simply the nicest man you will ever meet - and he can drive a coach!), Paddy Scott at Scotland's Garden Scheme; Jock the stoker on the SS Sir Walter Scott, Evelyn in our Reservations team and not forgetting you - yes you, the passenger - the most important person of all.

I do hope there is something of interest within our new portfolio of holidays for 2010.

Please contact our office for advice and current availability - during office hours you will be answered by a human being, not a machine; sometimes even with a nice Scottish accent! 

Or look at our website www.brightwaterholidays.com where you will be able to gain more information on each holiday than we can comfortably contain in a brochure.

There will be more photographs to look at and primarily you will be able to see and print off a detailed day-by-day itinerary for each tour with approximate pick-up times.

That said, first and foremost we are a company made up of passionate travel enthusiasts, so please remember that if you have a specific question relating to any aspect of your holiday, or if you want advice about the content or suitability of any destination, feel free to pick up the phone and speak to one of our team on 01334 657155 - we enjoy nothing more than talking to our customers.

Graeme B Mitchell
Managing Director
Brightwater Holidays Limited