Wild Parsnip - Avoid contact with your skin.

When the sap of Wild Parsnip comes into contact with skin, and is exposed to sunlight it can cause a rash, blistering or discoloration of skin (phytophotodermatitis).

The rash is very painful and may last several months or longer. This rash can also lead to scarring. The highest risk for Wild Parsnip infection is at the time of flowering from the months of June through September.

Treating a parsnip burn
If you or a guest gets a parsnip burn, relieving the symptoms comes first. The affected area can be covered with a cool, wet cloth. If blisters are present, try to keep them from rupturing for as long as possible. The skin of a blister is "nature's bandage," as one doctor put it, and it keeps the skin below protected, moist and clean while healing occurs. When blisters pop, try to leave the skin "bandage" in place. To avoid infection, keep the area clean and apply an antibiotic cream, consult a Doctor.

If you do get the plant sap on your skin, the sooner you thoroughly wash the area, the less you will be affected.

Download September 2012 Events FREE now.

Ensure your guests know what events are on in September when they staying in Carmarthenshire by  downloading the County Council's new monthly "What's On" PDF which is available at the following link. (To print, open the link, right click, and select the print option)

The what's on and events pages on http://www.discovercarmarthenshire.com/ are among the top two most visited pages of the website and are updated daily with a comprehensive listing.
http://www.discovercarmarthenshire.com/whats-on/events/September_events_2012.pdf

Olive Magazine visit to Carmarthenshire

Thank you to Gareth Davies at the Castle Hotel in Llandovery for hosting food writer Danielle Theunissen from Olive Magazine three weeks ago who the County Council arranged to come down and do a feature on the Carmarthenshire Food Trail. Magazine sells 90,000 copies a month to a target market niche that is well educated with high disposable income.

As well as taking in a couple of meals at the excellently refurbished Castle Hotel itself, Danielle Theunissen also went to Llandovery Farmers Market and Penygawse Tea rooms in the high street and then onto Heavenly in Llandelio and then onto Wrights Food Emporium in Nantgerdig with a meal at the award winning Y Polyn restaurant. Thank you to all business listed for working with us on this visit. For further public relations plans, please email marketing & tourism officer Sarah Owen at marketing@carmarthenshire.gov.uk

Bristol Evening Post Newspaper visit to Carmarthenshire

Thank you to Fiona at Cwmcrwth Farm Cottages in Broad Oak for hosting the food editor of the Bristol Evening Post recently who the County Council arranged to visit in order to do a feature on the Carmarthenshire Food Trail. Newspaper sells 37,000 copies a day to a target audience that is attractive to us.

We planned a full schedule with visits to Carmarthen town (Castle House, Cowpots ice cream, Albert Rees in the market, Blasus Delicatessen in King Street), Wright’s Emporium in Nantgeredig, Heavenly in Llandeilo, Botanic Gardens, Carreg Cennen Castle, Philip Hughes and Eynons butchers in St Clears. For further public relations plans, please email marketing & tourism officer Sarah Owen at marketing@carmarthenshire.gov.uk

Footballer Robbie Savage waltzes into Llanelli on business

Robbie, now also well known as a Strictly Come Dancing competitor, is pursuing ventures in Carmarthenshire including a hotel development close to the Ffos Las Racecourse, which recently received outline planning permission. County Councillor for regeneration Cllr Meryl Gravell hosted Robbie and his business partner and former Wales nutritionist and equipment manager Tony Quaglia, on his visit to the town last week. Robbie said “The developments and plans for Llanelli look really good and we want to be a part of moving the local economy forward. “Ffos Las Racecourse will complement our plans for development. As well as the hotel we are looking at the idea of a care village on our land. We have 18 acres behind the hotel site so there is scope for a lot of things.”

2 ways to promote your special offers for FREE now

Special offers in the form of discounts or added value always catch the eye of possible punters so both the Welsh Government (Visit Wales) & Carmarthenshire County Council (Discover Carmarthenshire) have developed special offer web pages that are linked to other promotional activity

To promote your facility or service FREE, please email the offer through to Visit Wales marketing via productnews@wales.gsi.gov.uk – the website can been seen here http://www.businessevents.visitwales.com  

If you would like a second (& honest) opinion on the likely attractiveness of the special offer you are thinking of, please email Marketing & Tourism Manager Huw Parsons via marketing@carmarthenshire.gov.uk. The web link for Carmarthenshire Council special offers is http://www.discovercarmarthenshire.com/offers/index

Bike & Mountain Bike Hire - Delivered to your accommodation

Not all visitors to Carmarthenshire have room to bring their own bikes on their trip and could therefore possibly miss out on a great day out cycling along the coast or in the hills. Fear not as County Cycles, based in Cross Hands, can arrange bike hire for your guests & will deliver them directly to your accommodation. Your Guests book and pay for the bike hire directly through County Cycles providing a helmet, puncture repair kit and pump. For further details phone 01554 756603 / 07875 060815 or visit www.merlincycletours.co.uk

Last minute offers

We have found that nothing gets more attention in the press than a great special offer, everyone likes a bargain! With questionable weather leading to last minute bookings make sure that people know about you this August Bank Holiday and help fill those empty days in your cottage or B&B. We would love to hear from you about any fantastic special offers you may have over the August Bank Holiday as well as September. Let us know what the offer is and well add it to www.discovercarmarthenshire.com and pass it on to our PR company to try and maximise any press coverage.

In order to ensure you maximise this opportunity, contact Rhys Anthony by emailing marketing@carmarthenshire.gov.uk

Benefit from the new Visit Wales promotional campaign

The latest Visit Wales promotional campaign is due to commence in September 2012 and the Marketing & Tourism section of Carmarthenshire County Council wants to ensure as many Carmarthenshire businesses benefit from the Welsh Governments spend. From autumn 2012 to next spring, Visit Wales has identified a target of 160,000 responses & has numerous opportunities to generate leads for Carmarthenshire.

In order to generate the brochure & online requests for Wales and Carmarthenshire, 6 million inserts will go in newspapers & magazines (inc the Guardian, Observer, The Times, Sunday Times, The Telegraph, Stella, Mail on Sunday, Heritage Today, Caravan Club and the Lonely Planet) with online promotions with The Telegraph, Facebook, & Ebay, 350,000 people on the Visit Wales database will be contacted by post with a further 300,000 emailed.

Both the autumn & spring campaigns will focus on +45 couples, ABC1 'Personal Explorers' who are interested in heritage and culture (theatres, art galleries, museums) & walking. In order to ensure you maximise this opportunity, contact Sarah Owen by emailing marketing@carmarthenshire.gov.uk

New terrifying tour in Carmarthen Town

Visitors to Carmarthen town centre may get more than they bargained for if they pop along to one of the free Saturday tours at Castle House. Previously used as the place where prisoners were held captive and punished for their wrongs, Castle House located next to County Hall is now open to the public (gallows and all) and also hosts a large tourist information point. 

Lowri Jones said: “Absolutely anything could happen on one of our tours – after-all, there are those that believe that Castle House is haunted by the ghosts of prisoners who were punished here in the past. And we know of at least one captive who died here. “The tours will give people a real insight in to the lives of some of the prisoners and the harsh punishments they had to endure.” The tours will also give people an insight in to the 18th and 19th century history of Castle House. They will take place every Saturday throughout the school summer holidays, starting at 11am and approximately every hour through the day. Ffurther information call 01267 231557 and a video is available at www.discovercarmarthenshire.com