Bring your clan home to Scotland
Who this is for
Most of the groups we look after are clan societies in the United States and Canada, with others coming from Australia, New Zealand and mainland Europe. Some are a full society gathering with an AGM attached. Some are a single extended family of twenty who have traced the name back and want to stand in the glen it came from.
Either way the problem is the same. Committee members are volunteers, they are several time zones away from the suppliers, and the places that matter most to a clan are rarely the places that appear in a tour brochure. That is the part we do.
Clan societies we have looked after
Cashel Travel has arranged clan gatherings and heritage tours across Scotland and Ireland since the 1990s, including full gatherings for:
If your name is not on that list it does not mean we have not been there. Start with the clan and family name A to Z and we will build the week around whatever the records say.
How a gathering comes together
We start with the family, not the map
Tell us the name and any branch or line you know. We work back to the heartland, the seats, the burial grounds and the sites that are still standing, and come back with what is realistically visitable.
You get an outline and a per-person price
A day-by-day outline with hotels, coaches, guides, meals and entrances priced at a per-person rate your committee can put in front of members. No obligation and no charge to get to that point.
We open the doors you cannot open from abroad
Private access to houses and castles outside public hours, a piper at the door, a local historian who knows the ground, a room for the AGM, and the introductions that only get made by someone who lives here.
We run it while you enjoy it
A Cashel Travel manager is with the group throughout. Your committee members get to be guests at their own gathering, which after two years of organising it is usually the point.
What we arrange
Hotels and country houses
Group rates held on option while your members confirm, including exclusive-use houses where the numbers suit it.
Coaches and transfers
Airport meets, luggage, and drivers who know the single-track roads that the itinerary usually ends up on.
Guides and historians
Blue Badge guides, plus clan historians and genealogists where the society wants the detail done properly.
Private access
Castles, chapels, kirkyards and private estates opened outside normal hours, subject to the owner.
Dinners, ceilidhs and pipers
Gala dinner, ceilidh band, pipers, whisky tastings, and a room for the AGM or the society business.
The admin nobody wants
Rooming lists, dietaries, accessibility, payment schedules and the one member who books their own flights late.
Book 20 places, get 2 free
On group tours, every 20 confirmed places carry 2 free places. Most societies put those against the committee members who did the organising, or use them to bring the price per member down.
When to travel
May, June and September are the best combination of daylight, weather and availability, and they sit either side of the July and August peak when Edinburgh prices are at their highest. Highland games and clan gatherings run through the summer, so if you want your week to land on your clan’s own games we need to work backwards from that date.
Realistically, a full society gathering wants 12 to 18 months’ lead time. Country house hotels of the right size are few and they go early. A smaller family group of 15 to 25 can be turned around in a few months.
Clan tour questions
We are a clan society committee, not travel agents. Where do we start?
Send us the clan name, the rough number of travelling members and the year you have in mind. We come back with an outline itinerary and a per-person price your committee can circulate. There is no charge and no commitment to get to that stage.
Can you get us into places that are closed to the public?
Often, yes. Private access to castles, chapels and estates outside public hours is one of the main reasons societies use a destination management company rather than booking it themselves. It always depends on the owner and on the date, so the earlier we ask the better the answer tends to be.
How far ahead should a society book?
For a full gathering, 12 to 18 months. Country house hotels that can take a whole society are limited in number and are booked a long way out. A smaller family group of 15 to 25 people can usually be arranged within a few months.
Do you handle flights?
We handle everything from arrival. Members generally book their own flights, and we meet them at the airport and take it from there. If it helps we will set arrival and departure windows so the transfers work for everybody.
Can you help us trace the family first?
We work with genealogists and clan historians and can bring one in before the itinerary is set. It is worth doing in that order, because what the records turn up usually changes where the week goes.
What if our clan does not have a castle or a chief?
Most do not, and it makes no difference to the week. The heartland, the kirkyard, the battlefield, the glen the name came out of and the local historian who knows it are the things that matter to people once they are standing there.
Bringing your clan to Scotland?
Tell us the name and the rough numbers. We will come back with an outline of the week and a per-person price, at no charge.