Guests at our cottages during the October 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 Wednesday, 25 October.

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.

Assuming  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. The last time we ran this event, we were lucky enough to see the International Space Station whizzing past us when Britain’s favourite astronaut, Major Tim Peake, was on board.

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 hosted three brilliant outdoor events with countryside ranger, Elizabeth Tindal – den and bug hotel building, mud faces and weaving, in addition to a star gazing evening one February night in 2016, which was a massive success and a big hit with all our guests.  Whatever the weather, this is going to be a fun-filled and hopefully star-studded evening.

Although, we are fully booked from 21-28 October, we have good availability for other weeks in October in all of our luxury 4-star self catering cottages in Dumfries and Galloway from 2-21 October including High Clachan Farmhouse – sleeps 8; Stables Cottage – sleeps 4; Garden Cottage – sleeps 6 and Cedar Lodge in Portpatrick – sleeps 8, with prices from £357.50 for a 3 night stay – visit www.corsewallestate.com

Star Gazing Evening with Dark Skies Park Ranger Elizabeth Tindal