It doesn't seem so long ago that I used to sit in the shed at the bottom of my garden, scribbling out ideas for tours on the back of an envelope, with the only technology to hand being a telephone extension cable from B&Q which zigzagged across the lawn and onto the kitchen table, where my wife Kay would process our few bookings on a typewriter (remember them?). 

Fast forward sixteen years, when on the same day we had a group being shown round the beautiful private garden of Burle Marx in Rio de Janeiro; another group admiring the wonderful proteas on the slopes of Table Mountain in Cape Town, eighteen passengers boarding the 1046 Bullet train from Kyoto to Tokyo, while the Smith family from Basingstoke were watching Strokkur, the great Geysir, erupt in Iceland.  You could not imagine four tours further apart if you tried.

While all these exotic experiences were going on, one Mrs Ross from Kirkcaldy was enjoying the autumn colours of the Spey Valley slip by, before nodding off at the back of the coach - the sun shone through the window combined with her free 'dram' at the lunchtime distillery visit taking little time to send her off.  So who was having the best time?

The very same day Kay, myself and our Management team were being given a lengthy presentation by a computer company about the benefits of their new 'all-singing, all-dancing, customer-friendly, website transactional computerised reservation system' - quite frankly I was wishing I was with Mrs Ross at the back of that coach!

They - sorry, we - were all having a great time, of course: all receiving the 'Brightwater Treatment'.  All were enjoying a stimulating experience at a relaxed pace, making new friends and having fun - well at least our passengers were!

Technology has moved on and our tours have spread their wings somewhat since the early days of the garden shed, although a few original tours survive to this day, such as Highland and Island Gardens, and the Chelsea Flower Show, to name but two.  However, for 2008 and into 2009 we have an array of exciting new destinations from all around the globe, along with some new tours much closer to home.

We are now awash with computers, websites and emails, all of which have their place in a modern travel company, but however sophisticated our computers may get, I am confident that our tours are still hand crafted, although they are no longer planned on the back of an envelope!

In 2007 Brightwater Holidays was a proud finalist in the National Business Awards for Scotland.

Wherever you decide to travel I hope you enjoy the 'Brightwater Treatment'.


Graeme & Kay Mitchell
Directors
Brightwater Holidays Limited