Guests at our cottages during the February half term will be able to enjoy an evening of star gazing and moon watching around the camp fire with Dark Skies Park ranger, Elizabeth Tindal, on Monday, 15 February.
We’re going to set up a camp fire in the woods close to Garden and Stables Cottages, so I know there will be marshmallows involved and Elizabeth is going to show us how to make damper bread.
Star gazing
Assuming that the sky is relatively clear, hot chocolate in hand, we’ll do some star-gazing and moon watching through Elizabeth’s powerful binoculars, hopefully picking out the Sea of Tranquillity where the Apollo 11 landed and Neil Armstrong took his first steps on the moon. Who knows, maybe we might even catch a glimpse of our man in the moon, Major Tim Peake!
Hoping to see Major Tim Peake!
She’ll point out some obvious stars and constellations such as the plough, north star, summer triangle, Cygnus, Cassiopeia, Orion and we’ll learn a few of the stories about the stars, how far away they are, why they sparkle and why they are different colours. I should also add that Elizabeth is also devising a wet weather plan, just in case!
Corsewall Estate Holiday Cottages are near the UK’s first Dark Skies Park – so we benefit from having very little light pollution, which means we’re a great location to enjoy the starry skies to their maximum.
To date, we’ve done one event with Elizabeth – den and bug hotel building – during the autumn half term last year with all the guests and it was a huge success, so this is going to be one of a number of ranger-led activities that we are offering during the school holidays throughout the year.
Our children have recently done ‘space’ as their term topic – so I know this is one evening they are really looking forward to. Whatever the weather, this is going to be a fun-filled and hopefully star-studded evening.
We still have availability at two of our cottages if you would like to join in the star gazing: High Clachan Farmhouse on Corsewall Estate and Cedar Lodge in Portpatrick, both of which have 4 Stars from VisitScotland and sleep 8, for the February half term with rates from £695 for 6 people or £795 for 8.