Hands On Consulting

We are hiring!

We are looking for a dynamic, motivated and hardworking person to join our small team to support with:

> The next stages of development of our Rainbow Enterprise Network (REN)
> Expanding our Somewhere: For Us magazine membership
> Increasing advertising revenue for the magazine and podcast

This will be achieved through relationship-building with businesses and organisations within the Cairngorms National Park area and beyond.

21 hours per week @ £21.50 per hour, for 11 weeks on a freelance basis.

Application deadline: 3rd January 2023

Discover more about our Sales and Development Co-ordinator role at https://somewhereedi.org/news

Leave no trace…

Delighted to be returning to the Galloway and Southern Ayrshire Unesco Biosphere !

Our Biosphere Guide Training Course is running for a second time in 2022 and application are open now. The course offers four days of free training aimed to equip and empower local people who aspire to run guiding or tour-based businesses in our UNESCO Biosphere. To make this training more accessible to residents in and the course in October will be based at .

To help prospective applicants decide whether to apply we asked Biosphere Guides who trained earlier this year to give some feedback on the course, this from Richard, owner of Disdow Cottage at Gatehouse of Fleet:

"The Biosphere Guide Training was a really productive and fun experience, forging links with both the Biosphere and other like-minded individuals. The advice has helped me formulate my rather vague plans into something that is far more concrete and viable and has given me all the tools I need to pursue this and make it successful.

But most importantly, it created a real community - not just the participants on the course but the representatives from the Biosphere and Stef, the trainer. These relationships are invaluable and help us share opportunities and experiences so that we are all successful. This collaboration is what makes the course such a positive experience."

Full details of the course via the link below - applications close on 22/09/22.

https://www.gsabiosphere.org.uk/biosphere-guide-training-course-to-run-again-in-october-2022/

I am delighted to be returning to the Galloway and Southern Ayrshire Unesco Biosphere again in October. Please spread the word.

We're very pleased to announce that our Biosphere Guide Training Course will be running for a second time in 2022. This is four days of free training aimed to equip and empower local people who aspire to run guiding or tour-based businesses in our UNESCO Biosphere. Stef Lauer from Hands On Consulting will be back to deliver the course having certified twelve new Biosphere Guides in March this year at Newton Stewart. To make this training more accessible to residents in and the course in October will be based at . Full details via the link below - applications are open now and will close on 22/09/22.

https://www.gsabiosphere.org.uk/biosphere-guide-training-course-to-run-again-in-october-2022/

It was great to be part of Jelena Farkić and Maria Gebbels book launch of their book The Adventure Tourist. It's great to have people from Japan, Nepal, India and Germany joining in on our chat. You can get a copy here:
https://books.emeraldinsight.com/book/detail/the-adventure-tourist/?k=9781800718500

Best of luck with Vol 2 :-)

Watch out for ticks!

Leave no Trace 🌳

A revival of the 'tradition' of hammering coins into trees is having a devastating impact on our woodlands 😢

More and more people are participating in this practice due to a growing ‘fashion’ to make votive offerings for wishes, and we're seeing much damage to trees (including living ones) at our places such as The Hermitage and Dollar Glen.

PLEASE don’t do this! It’s not only harmful to the trees themselves, but it can poison other wildlife as well.

Instead, make a positive difference by donating your coins to the Trust so we can use them to protect our precious woodlands and wildlife.

As a conservation charity, we rely on the generous support of visitors, members and donors to help us continue our vital work in protecting Scotland's rich heritage. From coastlines to castles, art to architecture, wildlife to wilderness, we encourage people to connect with the things that make Scotland unique while protecting them for future generations.

What a belter of a weekend for Part 2 of the Galloway and Southern Ayrshire Unesco Biosphere Guide Training Programme. Lots of learning, networking, trying out new things. A wonderful group of entrepreneurs. Thank you so much for having me facilitate the programme.

Foot Luce Walking Tours
Kirroughtree Forest
Anstey Harris
Walkfest - Newton Stewart
Freelance Ranger

Read about the mighty oak… in German 😃

Eichen in Schottland Schottland beherbergt einige wunderschöne Eichenwälder und etliche besonders schöne und alte Individuen. In Großbritannien gibt es zwei Hauptarten von Eichen - die englische oder Stieleiche (Common oak), die im Lateinischen als Quercus robur bekannt ist, und die Traubeneiche (sessile oak), die Q...

A fantastic site for some time travel. Such a shame not everyone Leaves No Trace :-(

I am delighted to be asked back to the Galloway and Southern Ayrshire Unesco Biosphere to deliver another set of guide training. If you're interested in joining, find out more here:

Become a Biosphere Guide! - Galloway and Southern Ayrshire Biosphere We are delighted to announce one of our most exciting projects for 2022: delivery of our Biosphere Guide Training Course, which will take place over two weekends in March. The four-day course is designed for aspiring tour guides: people who are passionate about our UNESCO Biosphere and want to share...

that was one awesome Outdoor First Aid course delivered to the team at Dynamic Earth for First Aid Training Cooperative - really enjoyed it!

Leave no trace!!!

Found this sandwich wrapper under a rock today on the estate. Use by 23.3.92. Twenty-nine years later it is still sitting there intact !! Plastic doesn't biodegrade it stays in the landscape for a very long time. Mar Lodge Estate is a very special and beautiful place. Please follow the Scottish Outdoor Access code when visiting Mar Lodge, act responsibly and take all litter home.

Daphne Du Maurier Daphne du Maurier (13. Mai 1907 - 19. April 1989) war in erster Linie eine wirklich hervorragende Geschichtenerzählerin, aber sie war auch Teil der bemerkenswerten du Maurier-Dynastie - eine Enkelin, Tochter, Schwester, Militärfrau, Mutter und Großmutter. Daphne wird oft als zurückgezogen angese...

Great to support Trees For Life through Anne Lister Tours - I think Anne would have liked it ❤🎩❤

Happy Birthday Anne Lister - 230 today!

As a very special present to mark Anne’s birthday and to commemorate the time she spent in Scotland, it gives us great pleasure to announce the creation of the ANNE LISTER GROVE in the Trees For Life Dundreggan Estate in the Scottish Highlands. This has been made possible through our partnership with Somewhere: For Us and is supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund Scotland

Anne was a keen horticulturist and had an affinity with the Scottish Highlands so we think she would have approved!

To make a donation and plant a tree in her memory visit our Trees for Life page: https://treesforlife.org.uk/groves/310214/

More about Trees for Life:
The Caledonian Forest once covered a large area of the Highlands of Scotland as extensive stands of majestic Scots pine, interspersed with birch, rowan, juniper and aspen trees, but is now reduced to about 2% of its former extent. Through planting native species of trees, removing non-native species and fencing seedlings to protect them from overgrazing by deer and sheep, Trees for Life aims to help the natural regeneration of the forest. Its long-term goal is to create a fully restored, healthy ecosystem, with the reintroduction of missing species of wildlife, such as the beaver, wild boar, lynx and wolf.

The vast majority of its work is carried out by volunteers. By engaging people from diverse backgrounds, it aims to achieve a powerful and educational experience that will promote the work of restoration to wider audiences and lead to increased support for the return of the forest and its species.

Trees for Life is a registered charity working to rewild the Scottish Highlands. We are proud to be supporting such an important cause.

Orkney im Neolthitikum | Wandern Schottland Auf Orkney sagt man, wenn man an seiner Oberfläche kratzt, blutet es Archäologie. Wohin man sieht, findet man Zeichen von unseren Vorfahren. Die Menschen des Neolithikums (Neolithic) - der Jungsteinzeit - waren die ersten Bauern in Großbritannien und kamen vor etwa 6.000 Jahren nach Orkney. Sie k...