World Travel Guide

Article Summary:

Article Content:

Scotland offers the finest scenery in the United Kingdom of Great Britain making it the greatest vacation destination. The majority of tourists decide upon Edinburgh as their main destination, while some decide upon something a bit different. This article looks at vacations in Scotland and some of the things to do when in Scotland. The article also examines the Wickerman Festival.

With an incredibly diverse countryside the selection of things to do is endless. Climbing mountains is tremendously popular, as are hill walking vacations. The most common holidays are golf or fishing. With the country of Scotland being the birthplace of golf it should not surprise you that that you are hardly ever too distant from at least one excellent golf course. With the River Tay and the River Spey you almost guaranteed of a superb time fishing. But what if you fancy a vacation with a difference?

Growing numbers of families are making music festivals their yearly vacation. Although the majority of music festivals are incredibly large with a focus upon making money, there are a small number of music festivals suitable for the family, such as the Wickerman Festival.

More of a music and arts festival, the annual Wickerman festival is held on farm land near Dundrennan, Dumfries & Galloway roughly 5m away from Kirkcudbright, Scotland. The event celebrates the cult movie “The Wicker Man which features appearances by Edward Woodward, Sir Christopher Lee, Britt Ekland, Ingrid Pitt and Diane Cilento.

The first Wickerman Festival was held in July, 2002 and was put together by local man, Sid Ambrose. With no experience of arranging an event of such magnitude it is a surprise that it still exists, especially when you think about the current economic climate. The Wickerman Festival has slightly changed each year and, like the film, has a cult following.

The festival is hugely family friendly it has many child orientated activities including, a mountain biking trail, a fairground, face painting and workshops. This can be easily verified by searching MSN, Google or Yahoo for Wickerman photos 2009 or simply pop along to the official Wickerman Festival Gallery.

Near to the festival site is the small village of Kirkudbright where you will discover many locations used in the film including Harbour Cottage which was used for the bakery and High Street Gallery (May Morrison’s post office and sweetshop). You will discover that there are a great many places of interest in the region and it is really worth spending a few days here so that you can visit all of the attractions. Popular destinations in which to stay include Castle Douglas and Dumfries. Bed and breakfast in Scotland is nearly always superb quality and is also very affordable and far less expensive than staying in a hotel.