Langholm Tourism information volunteers become visitors in their own backyard putting ideas into action.
In the last few weeks the Welcome to Langholm volunteers, who provide information for visitors to Langholm from a town centre shop, have been finding out for themselves what it’s like to be a visitor in Eskdale.
They have now visited Gilnockie Tower, Westerkirk Parish Library which has strong associations with Thomas Telford, and the Buccleuch Centre so that they experience these for themselves. They in turn will be able to provide more information about these sites for visitors. It is hoped that they can tell people who pop into the Welcome to Langholm shop what they might see on a visit to sites in Eskdale. More visits are to come.
In the coming week they will visit the Old School and Community Hub at Eskdalemuir and later will have a tour of part of the Armstrong trail with a member of the Langholm Alliance board acting as a guide. Unfortunately, Hermitage Castle is closed at the moment but they will be able to see it from the road.
The visits are funded through a Scottish Government project using the ‘Ideas into Action’ grant secured for the Langholm Alliance.
The hosts on these visits have spent time with the volunteers and given them a guided tour of their centre.
It has been possible to use the Annandale Transport Initiative community minibus to take people on these visits, with a volunteer driver, to keep costs down. The volunteer drivers have also enjoyed their visits.
Volunteers from the Eskdalemuir Old School and Community Hub have also taken part in the visits and will be the hosts on Friday 25th February. The visits have proved a good networking opportunity and the volunteers seem to have learned quite a lot from them and the hosts have been very welcoming.
The Welcome to Langholm shop opens up to visitors again at the end of February and the volunteers will be ready to meet them armed with new knowledge and enthusiasm about what is on their doorstep.
