Ferne's United Kingdom Travel Blog

You may think that June is a long way off, but if you're thinking about attending Rock Ness, now is the time to snap up early bird tickets for next year.

Scotland's Highland rock festival, beside Loch Ness, bills itself as the world's only rock festival with its own monster. It regularly attracts 35,000 to 45,000 fans. Tickets as well as camping places go fast.

This year, the organizers have launched an early bird, buy now - pay later, fan-friendly plan to ensure that fans have a good chance of securing tickets and don't have to shell out a bundle all in one go. For a deposit of £30, plus a booking fee, fans can ensure that they will be able to secure tickets to this very cool music festival. But you have to act before the end of September, when the early bird special ends. If you've always wanted to visit Scotland, this £30 investment may be just the stimulus you need to start planning for next summer.

• Find out more about Rock Ness
• Get in on the Early Bird Special for Rock Ness Tickets

Althorp House, Princess Diana's birthplace and the site of her grave, closes for the season on August 30 this year. But if you miss the summer opening there's still a chance to visit and see a very special exhibition about Georgiana Spencer, the Duchess of Devonshire and the "Princess Diana" of her day.

Born in 1757, Georgiana grew up at Althorp and, at the young age of 17, married a much older man - the Duke of Devonshire who was an important figure at court. She was beautiful and charismatic with extravagant tastes. A fashion icon, doting mother, shrewd political operator and darling of the common people she never found happiness in love.

Sound familiar?

_{"Georgiana was a typical Spencer woman – strong-willed, stylish, and compassionate," Earl Spencer, Diana's brother commented. "She is certainly one of the more interesting of my ancestors – this year, when we put together an exhibition at Althorp to celebrate my family living here for 500 years, she was one of the key personalities that we built the exhibition around. She is pure Hollywood, so it's not surprising that her life has finally been made into a movie."}

That movie, The Duchess, based on a best-selling biography by Amanda Foreman, starring Keira Knightley and Ralph Fiennes, opens in September. In conjunction with the opening as well as the 500th anniversary of the house, Althorp will be open for a special "Georgiana" weekend on September 27 and 28.

Meanwhile, tickets for this summer's opening of Althorp are still available.

• Find out more about visiting Althorp
• Watch a trailer for The Duchess
• Buy Amanda Foreman's best-selling biography, Georgiana:Duchess of Devonshire direct

_{Keira Knightley in "The Duchess", Pathe/BBC Films}

Consider coming with only carry-on luggage if you are arriving in the UK Bank Holiday Monday, August 25, through Gatwick or Stansted airports. Unions representing more than 300 baggage handlers and check-in employees have threatened a 24-hour strike at those airports over a pay dispute. A second strike is planned for August 29. Workers at Manchester Airport are scheduled to vote on the dispute on Monday and votes could take place at Birmingham and Newcastle airports later.

Before you go into panic mode, just keep in mind that Bank Holiday Monday is still nine days away and a lot can happen between now and then. Best advice - keep checking with your airline and look at the airport websites regularly to monitor developments.

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Dust off the family heirlooms - BBC One's Antiques Road Show is coming to town. Dundee, in Scotland, will host the popular television program on September 4, at Caird Hall. Bring along treasures for inspection by the experts - or just come along to watch, between 9:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m.

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You can't get far without finding that the credit crunch is having an impact and nobody is terribly surprised that the credit crunch is squeezing ticket sales at this year's Edinburgh Fringe Festival. But, it seems that ticket sales are only one element in a four-part perfect storm of woes hitting the fringe:

1. As reported in the Scotsman today, Charlie Wood, director of Underbelly, one of the larger venues, says that "riskier" performances are not selling out and - at least on the comedy front - audiences are choosing to spend their limited funds on big name acts and safer shows. He also noted that people seem to be booking three shows a day rather than five as they might have done in the past.
2. Centralized and online ticketing was hit by serious problems caused by the new computer system, at the start of the Fringe, which has had a big impact on advance ticket sales.
3. The weather has been abyssmal, with wind and rain keeping festival goers home.
4. The Olympics being televised throughout key early weeks of the Fringe can't be helping either.

It's too early to tell what the ultimate effect on the Fringe will be. But, Fringe organizers should take a look at the trend for bigger and bigger stars coming to the Fringe, filling up bigger and more expensive venues and taking away potential audience from the smaller, risker and, some would say, more exciting Fringe ventures. What is happening to the Fringe spirit? And is it time for the Edinburgh Festival to get back to its colorful and anarchic roots?

Did you know that About.com, our information network, has more than 70 other travel sites, focusing on everything from specific destinations - Mexico, The Southeast USA, New England, Eastern Europe, France - to different kinds of vacation experiences - Student Travel, Spas, Honeymoons, Camping. You can check out the Travel home page for a complete list. But, if you'd like to do a bit of armchair travel right now, why not visit our first Travel Blog Carnival, a round-up of "Eye Popping" photos - to see what some About.com Travel Guides (including me) have been up to lately.

September is Scottish Archaeology Month. Throughout September, and throughout Scotland, an exciting range of free archaeology related events is scheduled. Take part in a dig, try your hand at ancient skills, take a guided walk or hear a fascinating talk at a historic excavation. Among the highlights:

• The Newbarns Project, an excavation of prehistoric burial cairns from the Neolithic, Bronze Age and Iron Age periods. The site will be open for tours, recording of finds and you can try your hand at some digging.
• John Paul Jones Cottage Open days, with tours and talks, at the latest excavations of the 18th century birthplace of John Paul Jones, father of the US Navy.
• Iron Giants A hands on challenge to find out whether you could have survived in the Iron Age, carrying out every day activities with Iron Age tools. Saturday, September 13, at the Village Hall in Strachur, Argyll & Bute, within the Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park.

For the full schedule of Scottish Archaeology Month activities, visit the Scottish Archaeology website.

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Liverpool, home of the International Slavery Museum , will mark Slavery Remembrance Day on August 23 with a series of events, including church services, lectures a Remembrance Day Rap, cultural food, activities under a marquee and a traditional African Libation on the waterfront.

The history of the slave trade, in which Liverpool played an important part, as well as the fight for freedom, are explored at the International Slavery Museum. Both the historical and contemporary aspects of slavery, the legacies of the slave trade and largely untold stories of bravery and rebellion among the enslaved people are examined at the museum.

August 23, designated by UNESCO as Slavery Remembrance Day, commemorates an uprising of African slaves on Saint Domingue (modern Haiti) in 1791.

Among the highlights of the Liverpool observations will be the participation of Chief Angus Chukuemeka and community leaders in the traditional African Libation ceremony, calling on ancestors to bless the event. Black culture and heritage will be celebrated on Otterspool Promenade, South Liverpool, with music and drama, African and Caribbean foods and family events.

Visit the website for a full schedule as well a map and free shuttle bus details

If you are fond of chilli, head over to the Waddesdon Plant Centre at Waddesdon Manor in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire on Saturday or Sunday, August 30 and 31 for the second annual Chilli Festival. There'll be chilli growers with plants to buy and lots of chillies to taste - in everything from chocolate and chutney to ice cream - plus , recipes, cooking hints tips. Waddesdon's catering team will be cooking up hot chilli and rice, chili chocolate lollies and crepes. And the live music is a real Mexican mariachi band! Sounds like fun and admission is free.

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Tutankhamum and the Golden Age of the Pharoahs, the knock out exhibition of Egyptian treasures at London's O₂ Bubble has a few more weeks to run and tickets are still available for selected, time-specific admissions. The show which puts in the Boy King in a family context features many very human and touchingly domestic objects, like this unguent spoon handle, shaped like a naked swimmer, for use on a queen's dressing table. It closes on August 31.

• See more pictures of King Tut's treasures
• Find out how to buy tickets for the Tutankhamum exhibition in London

_{©Ferne Arfin}