Christmas Message from The Outdoor Guide

A note from Gina,

Hello everybody!
It’s hard to believe 2019 is nearly over. It seems like only a few weeks ago, I was celebrating New Year’s Eve! That’s mostly because we’ve been so busy throughout the year not only working on The Outdoor Guide but also playing our part in the wider outdoor community.

Then there was the filming – in Dorset, on the Isle of Man, in the Yorkshire Dales and London. Plus, our involvement in Julia’s new series, based in Greece, being shown in 2020.

Casting my mind back over the past few weeks only, we’ve really been ‘on the go’. Countryside Live was a great opportunity to meet people on our stand that we shared with partners Cottage in the Dales, Da Vinci, Ordnance Survey, Church Farm Barns, Dunlop boots and Marquis Leisure. We had great fun chatting to visitors and meeting animals ranging from piglets to alpacas!

I was delighted that TOG and our Partner Cotswold Outdoor got together to work with Cycle Surgery who stepped in to help Nadia, aka Trash Girl, and her family with the generous donation of three bicycles after the theft of the family bikes. We love her spirit and are so proud to know her.

Julia got her boots muddy when we headed off to our home county of Derbyshire to help on the Tree Planting Day for the Young People’s Forest. Dunlop came up trumps by providing boots for the dozens of volunteers. Our Partner Premier Paper Group has now raised over £1 million for the Woodland Trust. What an achievement!

It was also day for the unofficial launch of our very own tipple – The Outdoor Gin. Working with the Derbyshire Distillery, we now have a great excuse to take a break. But we won’t! We’ll let you know how you can get your hands on what we call ‘clear and uplifting as a rushing mountain stream’ shortly.

Last month, I was so proud of the TOG team as we turned out in force for Welcome to Yorkshire’s White Rose Awards. TOG sponsored the new Accessible & Inclusive Tourism Award category and we were delighted to share the success of our Partner Cottage in the Dales who won the Bronze Award.

On my birthday, I headed off to Cambridge to deliver dozens of sleeping bags to the Winter Comfort day centre who work with homeless people. The bags were donated by our Partner Oase Outdoors and will be appreciated by people sleeping rough this Christmas.

TOG is now going in to its sixth year and some of you have been with us from the beginning of this exciting adventure. However, regardless of length of time you have given us your support in whatever way, we cherish and appreciate everyone of you.