Celebrity-branded attractions and holidays are nothing new. Dollywood, Tennessee has been entertaining visitors with its own brand of southern-themed rides and music since it opened in 1986, celebrity guests are commonplace on cruise holidays, and celebrity-owed properties such as Francis Ford Coppola's resorts in Belize, Guatemala, southern Italy and Buenos Aires are popular among wealthy travellers looking for a glamorous edge to their jungle experience. More recently chefs have been getting in on the act – new for this winter is a Finnish Lapland cookery tour with Valentine Warner who, it turns out, is a "Lapland fanatic" – who knew?
But there's a new breed of British celebrity muscling in on the holiday market. These household names aren't simply joining a trip as a guest speaker or tutor, they are setting up their own courses or holidays.
This week bookings opened for Rick Stein's new collection of self-catering cottages just outside Padstow. At the other end of the country, the Bear Grylls Survival Academy in Sutherland, Scotland kicks into action on 3 November. Here are four new celebrity ventures
Stay in Rick Stein's cottages, Cornwall
It was only a matter of time before Rick Stein's Padstow empire grew to cover holiday accommodation. In addition to eating in his restaurants, shopping at his delis, learning to cook at his school, you can now stay in one of four cottages. Each has pastel-coloured, seaside themed interiors designed by his ex-wife, Jill. The cottages on Trevone farm, in the village of the same name, are on a par, price-wise, with other luxury self-catering properties in the area, one of the most expensive areas of the country to stay.
• From £800 for a three-night break in a three-bed cottage to £2,250 for seven nights in a four-bedroom cottage. 01841 532700, rickstein.com
Join Monty Halls' days out, Devon
In May 2012 this year, Monty Halls opened Great Escapes in Dartmouth, a shop selling his books, DVDs, T-shirts and also Devon excursions, ranging from an hour-long shore walk to a day's surfing and foraging, and run throughout the year. Some, but by no means all, are led by the man himself. Underwater photography, videography and wildlife presenting courses are also on sale, though dates are yet to be announced.
• From £10 per adult (£5 per child) for the shore walk to £100pp per day for foraging and surfing, montyhalls.co.uk
Stay on Kate Humble's farm, Wye Valley, Monmouthshire
Earlier this year, Kate Humble launched the first of her new farm courses, how to lay a hedge, on her working farm just outside Monmouth in the Wye Valley, South Wales. Now, guests can stay in a renovated cottage attached to the main farmhouse and choose from a range of practical courses, from starting a smallholding, keeping sheep and sustainable bee-keeping to making charcuterie, or foraging and cooking an autumn feast.
The two-bedroom cottage, called the Piggery due to its former use, sleeps four and has views over the fields, a private garden and recently planted orchard. Guests can also collect their own eggs for breakfast from the farm's chickens.
Kate doesn't live there herself – her own smallholding is a few miles away. When the council planned to break up a local tenanted farm and sell it off in lots, the Humbles stepped in to save it. The farm is now the base for Humble by Nature and home to Sarah and Tim Stephens, who runs the introduction to sheep keeping and hedge-laying courses.
• The cottage is available from £400 per week. Visit humblebynature.com/accommodation
Learn to survive in the wild the Bear Grylls way, Highlands
Ray Mears has a bushcraft school (raymears.com) and now Bear Grylls has one too. The first six-day course is in the Scottish Highlands and includes building shelters, foraging for grubs, hunting and trapping and survival knife skills (none are taught by him, although "on occasion, Bear himself will make an appearance"). Participants then put their new skills to the test on a 36-hour expedition. Minimum fitness levels are required – this is not a holiday for couch potatoes. But jogging ability aside, we fear many would-be tough men and women may not survive the initial hurdle of the price tag, £2,999pp.
• £2,999pp, 3-9 November, including accommodation, meals and knife, beargryllssurvivalacademy.com. 2013 courses start on Saturdays from 9 March to 19 October
Meet the stars of opera and ballet on a Royal Opera House tour
Not quite household names – unless of course your household is incredibly highbrow - but opera and ballet buffs will soon be able to meet their heroes on behind the scenes tours run by the Royal Opera House. A partnership with The Ultimate Travel Company who launched Tate Travels earlier this year, the first Royal Opera House tour, to Salzburg & Vienna, runs next March. Starting with an overnight stay at One Aldywch and a backstage tour of the opera house, the group then travels to Austria for escorted city tours and daily evening talks and performances, including the opening night of Parsifal by Richard Wagner at Salzburg's Festival Hall. Tours to Saint Petersburg and San Francisco are also planned. Unsurprisingly, given that an opera ticket can cost £450, these tours are not cheap. As with Tate Travels, a percentage of the price goes back to the Tate and Royal Opera House.
• £3,995 for eight-day tour to Vienna and Salzburg, 18-25 March, including flights, five-star accommodation, all tours and tickets and some meals. For bookings visit theultimatetravelcompany.co.uk
