Grand UK Holidays expands festive tours collection
One of our popular featured tour operators, Grand UK Holidays, who specialise in breaks for the Over 55's, have boosted their range of Christmas and New Year holidays in their new 2013-14 brochure to cater for festive demand.
The coach tour operator has added new destinations and hotels to its extensive range of holidays in the UK for the Christmas period, as well as New Year breaks, Turkey & Tinsel favourites, and Christmas markets at home and abroad.
There is also a new theme of 'Festive Treats' encompassing special Yuletide events, such as the 'Christmas Spectacular' shows at Thursford and Tatton Park. New for 2013, the Christmas Spectacular at Tatton Park has been dubbed 'the biggest and most exciting Christmas show in the North West'.
It features a cast of singers, dancers and speciality acts from stage, TV and the West End in a festive extravaganza. This new escorted tour to see the show costs £349pp for five days.
Sales director Harold Burke said: "Our festive range grows each year as more and more of our customers want to celebrate with fellow holidaymakers over the Yuletide season. Many of our clients are solo travellers who like the opportunity to be with like-minded folk over the festive season, so we make sure we have plenty of availability for singles, and they don't have to worry about supplements on UK mainland tours."
Trips to see Christmas markets in the UK and Europe start at just £189pp for four days, and include new choices such as Festive Folkestone & Bruges Christmas Market (from £169pp for four days). Other new UK options include Dunster By Candlelight and Bath Christmas Market (£189pp for four days) and Christmas Markets of the Pennines (£199pp for four days). Meanwhile, over on the Continent, new Christmas market holidays take in destinations such as Valkenburg, Aachen, Cologne and Dusseldorf.
More than a dozen festive destinations have been added to the range of holidays over the Christmas and New Year periods, with five-day Christmas holidays starting at £299pp, and New Year breaks from £289pp. Among those added for the Christmas period include Christmas at the Lodge, based at the Sporting Lodge Inn in Lancashire (£329pp), plus new options in Bridlington, Sheffield, Blackpool, Fishguard and Bournemouth.
There is a new Grand UK Gold tour for this period, the 'Christmas in Chester Gold' tour, which is based at the Mercure Chester Abbotts Well Hotel (£529pp for five days). Also, there is a Grand UK Gold addition featuring Oxford among the fresh New Year options.
To get into the festive mood, the operator also features a wide range of Turkey & Tinsel holidays, starting at £199 for five days, and new options include Fishguard and Bournemouth.
As well as the extensive range of festive breaks, the new brochure also boasts a range of autumn and spring holidays, including the annual reunion, which will take place from 24 February 2014 at Mill Rythe (£189pp for five days).
In addition to the perennial favourite theme breaks – such as cards, dancing, bingo and bowling – there are also new options, many with a gardening twist.
They include 'Secret Gardens of Yorkshire' (£299pp for five days); 'RHS Malvern Gardening Show and Springtime at Arley' (£329pp for five days); and 'Ireland in Bloom'.
Next year also sees the centenary of the outbreak of World War One, so the operator has included a new tour to see sites associated with the conflict, called 'In Flanders Fields, We Will Remember Them'. It visits the Flanders Field Museum, Ypres, Tyne Cot Cemetery and the Memorial Museum Passchendaele 1917. The holiday costs £299pp for five days.