Blog Posts

Dandie Dinmont 250

1/8/2019

A SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT:

Dandie Dinmont – 250 Years
A Celebration

The third and absolutely final Dandie Dinmont event to be organised by:
Mike Macbeth and Paul Keevil.

This will be another action-packed three-day event to be held in the Scottish Borders in July 2020 – and we are giving you a full 18 months of notice!!!

DATES:
Thursday July 16th, 2020 (Pre event get-together)
Friday July 17th, 2020
Saturday July 18th, 2020
Sunday July 19th, 2020

For those of you who have supported previous events, you will know that our innovative ideas and attention to detail are apparently” legendary”.

Previous events celebrated:
The 200th anniversary of the publication of Sir Walter Scott’s “Guy Mannering”
And
The 175th Anniversary of the birth of Old Ginger, the breeds "modern day" founding father.

2020 will be the 250th anniversary of the creation of the earliest known image of a "Dandie Dinmont" painted by Thomas Gainsborough in 1770, which hangs at Bowhill.

But we need to ask you to trust us – trust us to arrange another wonderfully successful event – because with 18 months to go – quite naturally Mike and I are still working on many of the finer details for the event.

But we can tell you the weekend will include a particularly memorable day in Edinburgh, naturally a visit to Bowhill (where we hope to be greeted once again by His Grace, Duke Richard of Buccleuch), plus an event in Selkirk town and special visits to The Haining, one of which will include a “word’s first” for a dog event.

There will also be an informal "Meet & Greet" and event briefing late Thursday afternoon, (July 16th) followed by a BBQ at the Dryburgh, so everyone can get to know each other before the event proper.

But what has made previous events so successful – is you and your wonderful love for the breed - once again this will be another chance to enjoy the unique atmosphere and spirit of goodwill which these non-competitive gatherings have generated.

Our “base” hotel, the wonderful Dryburgh Abbey Hotel (DAH), only has a limited number of rooms available

DAH has confirmed that they will hold their 2018 rates for our event in 2020. But you will have to let them know when you book that you are attending the Dandie Dinmont event. The booking code is “Dandie 2020”. Please note that the hotel will require a £50.00 per night deposit at the time of booking with the balance due 30 days prior to arrival.

The “Dandie Derby” is now a firm fixture of the Dandie social calendar with its traditional date being over the first weekend in June, to tie in with “Old Ginger’s” birthday. Kenny and Shona have really worked hard to build up the DD Derby and it is important that there is continuity of date for this event.
In 2020 the Dandie Derby will be a separate event in early June - so please do not confuse it with this event in July (DD-250).

Due to the many events held in June at The Haining in connection with the “Common Riding” Festival – the first clear date available to us when we could get full and exclusive access to the estate was not until Mid-July and this does tie in nicely with our planned events in Edinburgh and Bowhill – so July 2020 it is!

The new management at DAH has made a change to its dog friendly policy and the split now is almost 50/50 between the hotel’s 38 rooms which allow dogs. Do please make it clear when making your reservation if you require a dog-friendly room or not.

As in previous years, whilst the DAH will be the base for accommodation, host events, and provide fine dining you are free to stay where you choose and should you prefer to see an accommodation list for the area, just ask.

As we are providing plenty of notice for this final event, perhaps you might think about making our event just part of a longer stay in Scotland and make it an extra special holiday in this remarkable and beautiful country. Please do consider it.

A Note About Costs:
Each visitor will be responsible for their own food, accommodation and transportation costs.

We have negotiated with the DAH to hold their 2018 rates for 2020 bookings for our event To book at these special rates, you will need an event code, (which is “Dandie 2020”).

Once again we will be asking for a voluntary donation of £25- per person, to cover the organisational costs for this event. Any surplus will be donated to The Haining

DAH ACCOMMODATION AVAILABILITY AND COST

7 x Standard Room @ £125.00per night B&B
25 x Abbey Double/Twin Rooms @ £145.00 per night B&B
4 x Deluxe Doubles/Twins @ £180.00 per room per night B&B
The above rates include accommodation each evening, breakfast each morning, wifi, parking, leisure facilities and VAT

At the time of booking, guests are required to pay £50.00 per room per night deposit (which is non-refundable in the event of cancellation) with the balance for accommodation due 30 days prior to arrival (which is also non-refundable)>

Please contact the hotel direct for all inquiries, prices and to reserve a room.
NOTE: You will not be able to book on any accommodation booking website as the hotel has allocated all rooms to us exclusively for this event.

Dryburgh Abbey Hotel
St Boswells, Melrose
Scottish Borders
Scotland
TD6 0RQ
Tel: (+44) 01835 822261
Fax: (+44) 01835 823945
e-mail: [email protected]

SPECIAL NOTE:

If you plan to attend – do please let us know (P.M. me on FB or email me please) - so that we can put you on our guest list and send you regular and detailed updates as the event develops over the next 18 months.

DD-200 in February 2015 seems a long time ago now, but that and the Old Ginger event in 2017, not only generated unprecedented amounts of media coverage for our breed, but really united and inspired the international Dandie community as never before.

Do please join us for DD-250 in July 2020 for our third and very final event,
We guarantee you will not be disappointed.

Nearest international Airport – Edinburgh – less than 50 miles from Selkirk

We both look forward to meeting you again in Dandie Dinmont Country in the heart of the Scottish Borders in 2020

For more information please contact one of the coordinators below:

UK Coordinator
Paul Keevil
[email protected]
Tel:0044 (0) 1342 836240

International Coordinator
Mike Macbeth
[email protected]
Tel: 001 905 473 2817