Scottish food for thought

VisitScotland has launched its first Kitchen Garden Trail, encouraging Irish visitors to stay in establishments that serve produce direct from their own gardens.

Created as part of VisitScotland’s ‘Perfect Day’ campaign and available on www.visitscotland.com/perfectfood, the trail showcases home-grown hotspots for every budget, ranging from luxury hotels and prestigious castles to cafes, B&Bs and youth hostels.

* bmi has extended its complimentary Chauffeur Drive service to include Dublin. Irish Business Class customers travelling on selected Business Class fares to Almaty, Amman, Azerbaijan, Beirut, Cairo, Damascus, Kyrgyzstan, Moscow, Saudi Arabia, Tel Aviv and Yerevan (via Heathrow) can now take advantage of this service. www.flybmi.com

* The Statue of Liberty, has reopened for public tours to the crown for the first time since September 11.

Hotels.com has a sale for Manhattan hotels running up to August 17 offering discounts of up to 50%. All offers must be booked by August 17 for travel to be completed by September 30.

The Park Central nightly price is down to €126 for stays between July 28 and 31.

Even cheaper is the Pod Hotel, a three star that is offering rooms currently at €69 for the same time period.

In Times Squad, the Paramount has cut prices by 45% and is now down to €112 per night per room; the newly renovated hotel is on the verge of Broadway, within striking distance of Restaurant Row and Fifth Avenue is on the doorstep.

* AS Passion Plays go, Oberammergau is the biggest of them all, with a history and tradition which goes back to 1634. Topflight have just launched their 2010 brochure for the event. This year over 500,000 people are expected to attend.

www.topflight.ie, call 00353-1-2401700.