Art and garden tourism - 

 

Shetland enjoys a large number of tourists who come to explore the islands each year. Some notice my artwork around shops and visitor centres and assume I have an open studio at home, often turning up to have a look! Similarly some of my garden visitors often request and expect to see my artwork as part of their garden tour.

 

So this has made me consider ways of possibly offering a viewing into my workspace, or bringing my artwork outdoors - into the greenhouse perhaps?

 

I may need to investigate different ways of doing this by visiting others craft makers and artists in the isles. There are several that do this who are part of a local 'craft trail', you can find details of this here (http://shetlandartsandcrafts.co.uk/craft-trail/ )

 

For 2018 I have been asked to consider allowing visitors from the cruise ships to come and visit my garden. This would be in busloads of 50 people at a time - there are 86 ships scheduled for 2018 with 95,000 people having booked to cruise! So I have some serious planning to do. Any advice regarding managing group visits would be extremely welcome!