New info point opens at Delamere Forest

Chester Services Partnership’s new Visitor Information Point at Delamere Forest Café is now officially open to the public!

Set in the heart of the Cheshire Plains, Delamere Forest is highly popular with walkers, cyclists, wildlife enthusiasts and folk who enjoy the great outdoors. The café, which is located in the Forestry Commission Visitor  Centre, serves a wide range of freshly made food and drink. It currently enjoys a footfall of 750,000.

Comprising several local authorities and top tourist attractions, CSP controls a total of six elite VIPs in Cheshire and the North Wales Borderlands (including Chester Railway Station, Broughton Retail Park and Cheshire Oaks) – and has plans to increase its portfolio in the near future.

As a founding member of the group from its inception in the 1990s, LDS Tourism Services handles the promotional print for the partners and has exclusive rights to sell space in all the sites.

If you would like further information about displaying your leaflets and brochures in this or any of CSP’s information points, please drop us a line at lds@ldsts.co.uk.

Images: Delamere Forest Visitor Information Point, ©LDS Tourism Services Ltd 2013

LDS Tourism Services joins FTA

Last month LDS Tourism Services joined the Flintshire Tourism Association (FTA), an independent group of tourism operators with strong links to Flintshire County Council. The chief aim of the Association is to enhance the profile and importance of the County’s tourist industry by organizing events, publishing promotional literature and interacting on social media networks such as Facebook.

The FTA currently has a number of exciting projects in the pipeline, such as creating a 32 page newspaper called Discover Flintshire - which will be distributed to 30,000 outlets in the North West - and a Green Energy Expo scheduled for January 2012.

We’re thrilled to be part of this dynamic group of local business people and look forward to getting involved in future activities.

Image: © Flintshire Tourism Association  2011

Erddig: The real Upstairs Downstairs

We spent an enjoyable day at Erddig earlier this month - a unique stately home located just a couple of miles outside the town of Wrexham.

Designed by Thomas Webb for Joshua Edisbury, High Sheriff of Denbighshire, the original house was completed in 1687 and subsequently purchased by John Mellor, Master of the Chancery, in 1718. Mellor extended and furnished Erddig (you can still see his acquisitions in the State Bedroom, Saloon and Tapestry Room), before bequeathing the property to his nephew, Simon Yorke, in 1733. The house then remained in the hands of the (delightfully unconventional) Yorke family until 1973, when it was handed over to the National Trust so that it could be preserved for the enjoyment of future generations.

The weather was somewhat unpredictable during our visit but the rain stayed away long enough for us to amble around the estate buildings where the joiner and blacksmith worked. We walked through the midden yard with the saw mill and cart sheds to the stable yard with its tackroom, carriages, cars and cycles.

We then stopped off at the restaurant for sandwiches and cakes (I would highly recommend the hot chocolate) before making our way to the house via the bakery, complete with authentic baker kneading dough (you can buy his fresh loaves in the restaurant). From this point on, visitors were no longer allowed to use flash photography - understandable given the age and fragility of the photographs and portraits adorning the walls - but the use of cameras was still permitted.

There were human guides posted on every staircase and in each room, all eager to answer questions and impart their knowledge about the historic kitchens, agent’s office, butler’s pantry and fascinating collection of photographs and verses detailing the lives of those who worked for the estate. We made our way upstairs to a set of elegant rooms, used for formal entertainment, and from there we visited a nursery, the bedrooms, chapel, female servants’ quarters in the attic and spent several happy hours poring over the accumulated treasures of a family that ‘never threw anything away’.

The rain was falling quite heavily by the time we had finished our tour of the main house. We sat in a shelter for a time but the downpour showed no sign of abating, so we dashed to the gift shop for postcards and presents. The famous 18th century walled garden with rare fruit trees, a canal, pond and National Ivy Collection would have to wait for another time. Perhaps on our next visit we will hire bicycles and explore the country park with its motte-and-bailey castle and cylindrical cascade, known as the ‘cup-and-saucer waterfall’.

Erddig is open all year round (with the exception of 25th December) but times vary according to the season. You can pick up a copy of the official leaflet (The jewel in the crown) from most LDS Tourism Services’ information points in the region.

Image: The Bakery at Erddig, © LDS Tourism Services Ltd, 2011