March 16th-20th 2006 (4 nights):
· Start/Finish: Cologne/Bonn Airport
· Stay in Central Cologne
· Large Doll/Teddy/Miniatures Fair in Bad Hennef just south of Cologne
· Doll museums in Cologne and Ratingen (Matthias Wanke collection)
· Visit to Hildegard Gunzel's studio and museum
· Shopping/sightseeing in Cologne
· Max. cost: £400
May 23rd - 31st 2006 (8 nights):
· Start/Finish: Frankfurt Main airport
· Stay in or near Coburg
· Neustadt/Sonneburg Doll Festival (lots of special displays, events, etc.
· Large flea market and fair in Neustadt
· Sonneburg Toy and Doll Museum
· Coburg Doll Museum
· Visit to Hermann Teddy Bears factory
· Option to make a pair of real leather shoes with Uwe and Heike Wagner
· Max cost: £700
June 30th - July 4th 2006 (4 nights):
· Stay in Moselle valley in or near Trier
· Large antiques (all sorts) street market in Arlon (Belgium)
· Toy/doll museums in Trier and Luxembourg
· Visit to Mettlach - home of china makers Villeroy & Boch - factory visit, museum & seconds shops
· Shopping/sightseeing in Trier and Bernkastel and river trip along the Moselle
· Max. cost: £400
August 3rd - 6th 2006 (3 nights):
· Long weekend in Bruges and Ghent with main attraction the two day Bruges doll/teddy/antiques/miniatures fair. Also early morning flea market in Ghent. Plenty of time to take in the other sights of both cities.
· This is really only feasible as a coach trip so would need a minimum of 25-30 people to make it viable. Starting point would be Birmingham International airport/station as this is fairly accessible from most of the country outside the South East. Would aim to leave at 1 pm. Would also pick up from Ashford International station for anyone from the South East.
· We would stay at the Van der Valk Hotel Nazareth just to the south of Ghent. As we found this year, the hotel is extremely comfortable and well appointed (like all the hotels in the chain).
· Max. cost: £250 - the more people the less it will be!
August 17th - 23rd 2006 (6 nights):
· Start/Finish: Lubeck airport
· Staying 3 nights in Lubeck and 3 nights in Soltau (south of Hamburg)
· Shopping/sightseeing in Lubeck (especially wonderful puppet museum and doll/toy gallery in city museum)
· Malente in lake district north of Lubeck - interesting museum of paper dolls and boat trip around the lakes
· North German Toy Museum in Soltau - very large and well displayed collection; of especial interest the "Dingley Dell" dolls house purchased from the Bethnal Green Museum of Childhood
· Two small but rewarding doll museums near Soltau and a trip over the Luneburg Heath where the heather season should be at its height
· Trip to Hamburg or Bremen for shopping/sightseeing
· Max. cost: £450
Mid-September 2006 (4 nights):
· Start/Finish: Ipswich with sea crossing on fast ferry from Harwich to Hook of Holland and return. Could also pick up at Amsterdam Schipol airport (which is probably easier to reach for most people!).
· Staying at Van der Valk Hotel in Akersloot (to the north of Amsterdam).
· Doll Fair in the hotel at Akersloot
· Kathe Kruse museum in Den Helder and trip over to Texel island just off the coast
· Day in Hoorn - very pretty town centre and harbour with several interesting toy and doll collections
· Shopping/sightseeing in Alkmaar and Amsterdam
· Max. cost: £350
May: The usual week long visit to the Coburg/Sonneburg Doll Festival as there are always new things to see and do in that area.
Summer: We are hoping to put together a trip which takes in Leipzig, Dresden/Meissen (for porcelain) and Plauen (for Lace).
November: A repeat of our very successful long weekend trip last year to the Eschwege Doll Fair which is now one of the largest in Germany. It would now have to be one night longer as Ryanair have withdrawn their Erfurt service so we would have to fly to Altenburg near Leipzig. This would however give us a chance to visit the wonderful Kathe Kruse exhibition in the museum at Bad Koesen.