UK | Ireland

Timeless possibilities in the UK are immense but obviously top of our list of outstanding UK destinations is our home town of Wells, Somerset. England's smallest city, Wells is a visitor's paradise: small, charming and perfectly formed, the fairy-tale setting boasts the oldest residential street still fully 'in tact' in Europe; 'England's most poetic' 12th C Cathedral; the medieval moated Bishop’s Palace & Gardens; a picture-perfect market square and stunning, state-of-the-art concert hall Cedars Hall. Everything can be reached on foot from your accommodation, making Wells the ultimate ‘Eco’ destination. A quintessential, unspoilt city that is sure to carve a place in your heart with delightful day trips including the Roman spa town of Bath, the iconic Glastonbury Tor, Cheddar Gorge and Stonehenge. Please see www.wellsyouthmusicfest.co.uk for more photos and info on the Wells Orchestral Weekend.

Dozens of other splendid UK destinations include the famous cities of Oxford & Cambridge where college chapels, town halls and university churches make particularly excellent venues. In the south London & Salisbury should be on any visitor’s list and further north, Shakespeare’s home town of Stratford-upon-Avon is ideal for history, culture, charm and the poignancy of performing in the very church where Shakespeare is buried or indeed the perfectly placed bandstand in front of the Royal Shakespeare Theatre. Further excellent opportunities for performances and sight-seeing are close by in the form of St Mary’s Church, Warwick, Malvern College and Tewkesbury Abbey, as well as the idyllic Cotswold villages of Stow-on-the-Wold, Burford and Moreton-in-Marsh.

Further north still, good old Yorskhire has a thriving cultural scene in the summer and opens its welcoming doors to visiting musicians for community concerts in town theatres and village halls, major Abbey ruins and private estates as well as churches and squares in the Viking city of York.

Your journey north does not need to stop in the Yorkshire Dales: bonnie Scotland eagerly awaits, and whatever you are looking for as your perfect venue, Edinburgh has the answer. Be it Castle courtyard, medieval hall, open-air theatre, concert hall, historic church or famous Cathedral, Edinburgh has plenty to choose from and in between concerts you will have the time of your lives. This city offers as much in history, culture and tradition as it does in entertainment and fun. Further afield in this vast country, Stirling, New Lanark, Aberdeen, Perth and Inverness and even the isles of Mull and Iona offer unforgettable sites, venues and experiences.

For a truly unique and instantly recognisable culture, traditions and hospitality there is no place like Ireland. Dublin, Cork & Galway all offer their equal shares of churches, cathedrals, prominent squares, castles and bandstands in which to regale summer crowds and the charming towns and monuments of Kilkenny, Killarney and Limerick offer a number of outstanding venues. Folk parks, Castles, Heritage and Visitors centres, country manors and estates are a-plenty and popular places to perform; wherever you go in this wild, vibrant and glorious country, you can be sure that people and places will never be forgotten.