Explore Scotland – Differently
For the first 2 weeks in May, our Scottish language hub is offering the chance to share 2 festivals with us during a unique holiday fortnight.
The first is an Edinburgh-based festival of Celtic music.
The second is a walking festival which celebrates local history.
This is a bespoke holiday, with only 3 places
This blog is an invitation to join us for the best of both these festivals.
If you want to explore wild Scotland AND see our capital, Edinburgh, filled with glorious music, read on.
Celebrate Scottish Culture with Us!
This holiday fortnight is the perfect opportunity to give your spoken English a boost – as you will be sharing BOTH these festivals with an English coach.
This holiday is not English ‘lessons,’ rather, it is a walking/hiking HOLIDAY for culture-loving L2 English users seeking opportunities to PRACTICE and REFINE their spoken English.
Discover Scotland Outdoors
Our English coaching is for people sick of classroom learning – but seeking progress in their spoken English.
Admittedly, we’re taking this to the extreme with this holiday – and heading into the hills.
But we have two amazing festivals to share with you – and in combination, we can’t think of a better way to discover Scotland!!
If you TRULY care about discovering Scotland (and not just see the touristic cliches), this walking, festival-filled holiday is for you.
Festival #01 | TradFest
Tales of a Traveling Scotland
Photo credit: VisitScotland / Rob McDougall – used with permission.
TradFest Takes Over Edinburgh
TradFest is a vibrant celebration of Celtic music across venues of Scotland’s capital city Edinburgh.
Held annually, the festival attracts musicians, artists, and enthusiasts from around the globe, to celebrate Celtic culture.
The festival is not only formal concerts but intimate sessions in pubs, street performances artist talks and workshops.
Tradfest is a fantastic moment for any internationals to visit Edinburgh.
Explore how the modern of Edinburgh celebrates its cultural roots.
Enjoy top-quality Celtic music performances – and the spectacle of Edinburgh in spring.
King Creosote playing the Futtle Festival
Tradfest 2024 | The Line Up
Tradfest 2024 performers include Altan (renowned for their evocative renditions of Irish traditional music), Breabach (a Scottish folk band with a reputation for unusual composition) – and the one I’m most curious to hear live – The Outside Track, who blend Celtic and contemporary sounds.
During your holiday, we’ll take you to Edinburgh 3 times to see the shows/experience the buzz of this festival city.
The ‘Bard of Scotland‘ Michale Marra playing Perth in 2022
What’s Tradfest Got to Do with a Language School?
That’s a whole other blog post, but in brief, we believe that feeling like you belong in our culture unlocks a lifetime love of English.
We use culture as a tool to unlock this feeling of belonging, so we support local artists & musicians, by sharing music events with you – including by hosting live events in our space!
Learn more on our Social Action Policy.
Concerts our language school has loved:
King Creosote‘s From Scotland with Love and Yorkston, Thorne & Khan.
Festival #02 | Drover’s Tryst Walking Festival
In contrast, the Drover’s Tryst Walking Festival is distinctly local in flavour.
Held annually, this festival takes place in the landscapes of Perthshire.
This walking festival looks at this landscape through the lens of social history, commemorating the drovers – herdsmen who moved cattle from the Scottish hills to markets in both Scotland and England.
If you don’t know, Crieff was once a market town for the cattle, which meant the drovers converged onto the town from numerous hillside paths.
My previous blog post, Walking in the Shadow of Cattle explains how the festival celebrates the town’s history.
Crieff celebrates its history as a Market Town with art. Top: Public sculpture in Burrell Square. Bottom: Perthshire artist Katy Galbraith.
Love Scotland by Walking
The Drovers’ Tryst Festival invites visitors to explore the Scottish landscape in a series of walks of different experience/fitness levels – Easy, Medium and Hard.
The festival is particularly good for anyone wanting to walk Scotland in a group for company and for safety.
This festival refinds old drovers routes – which is a remarkable way to discover both Scottish landscape and history.
It’s an opportunity to discover Scottish wildlife, nature and ecosystems as each walk is well-researched, sharing some of the best-hidden gems of Scotland.
We’ll book you onto 3 of these organised walks*, according you your fitness level/preferences.
*Book early to ensure you get the activities you want.
Explore Scotland Walking and Talking (and Listening)
This Scottish walking holiday is an opportunity to experience Edinburgh through a festival celebrating traditional Scottish music, crafts and culture, and the landscapes as they were in the music and song.
What’s more, we fill the time around these events with lots of other ways to explore Scotland – and your English.
Why Choose This Blue Noun Holiday?
This holiday shares Scotland in ways that:
✅ benefit LOCAL communities.
✅ preserve craft skills, historic machinery, monuments etc.
❌ feature craft workshops
✅ get you talking with a rich and diverse selection of people.
❌ are suitable for English beginners
✅ support arts & artists
✅ unite people with nature in non-invasive ways.
✅ financially contribute to preserving culture.
You’ll always get LOADS of English
About Time
2 weeks of English practice is way more than 1 hour per week for a year!
You will get loads of conversation coaching (learn why you don’t need to worry about the time factor in an immersion week).
