Making the winter special with great programming

You're barely open, it's cold and it's wet. How on earth to you deliver visitors a fantastic experience when you can't feel your fingers and toes?

If people are choosing to visit your place on a grey day, it's because they know you'll meet their needs. That could be the warm welcome they always get at the start of a frosty walk or perhaps it's the hot chocolate that awaits them at the end? There will be a number of reasons why those visitors return throughout the year.

So how do you take those and promote them as reasons to visit, driving high quality out-of-season visits?

Here's five pointers:

• Think about what makes winter special at your place. Is it the colours? The quiet? The space? The cosiness? You will have something special to talk about.

• Make winter part of your seasonal programming and plan simple, relevant activities that make it feel special and tempting - kicking up leaves, splashing in puddles, getting muddy, hunting for icicles.

• Use your website and social media to promote the unique winter features of your site and your activities; keep talking about them to the audience you want to attract

• Consider how you can enhance the visit. Post-Covid can you provide wellies, umbrellas or real fires in the fireplaces of your historic house; during Covid can you offer takeaway hot chocolate or an outside tour?

• Focus on your welcome. However you're doing it, ensure it's warm and friendly; give visitors simple tips on how to enjoy your place and always give them a reason to return

Focus on programming to drive visits if you want to be a year-round attraction. I've delivered successful engaging programmes that drive visits and income. Let's talk about how that experience could help you.