Cookies
Last updated 16 September 2026.
The short answer: we don't set tracking cookies.
What we use
Our hosting provider (Vercel) may set a small number of technical cookies so the site works correctly — for example, remembering whether your browser has already loaded a cached copy of a page. These are called “strictly necessary” cookies under UK law and don't require consent.
Our analytics (Vercel Analytics and Vercel Speed Insights) run in cookieless mode. They measure page views and performance in aggregate without setting any identifiers on your device.
Affiliate-attribution cookies
When you click through to one of our affiliate partners (for example, an accommodation provider via our embedded Stay22 map, or a self-catering cottage via our group-trip pages) the partner sets a cookie on their domain so we get credited for the referral if you go on to book. Those cookies live on the partner's site, not on birdiebrae.co.uk, and do not identify you personally. The partner's own privacy and cookie policy applies once you click through.
We use Stay22's “Allez” script sitewide to handle the accommodation-link side of this. It rewrites links to booking.com, expedia.com, airbnb.com, vrbo.com and a few similar sites into affiliate-tagged equivalents. The script itself does not set tracking cookies on our domain, but its outbound links do set the partner's normal session/booking cookie when you arrive on their site.
Gear links go to Amazon with our Associates tag on them, and the self-catering links on the group-trip pages go through Awin. Neither sets a cookie on birdiebrae.co.uk; the merchant sets its own normal session cookie once you arrive, and the merchant's own privacy policy then applies.
Advertising
Some pages carry display ads served by Journey by Mediavine. Journey and the ad partners it works with may set cookies or similar identifiers in your browser. Journey shows its own consent dialogue before any advertising cookie is set, and your choice is stored by them rather than by us. Pages that carry our own recommendations — the gear and accommodation guides — are kept ad-free. Full detail is on our Privacy Policy.
What we don't use
- No cross-site behavioural tracking by us.
- No third-party marketing pixels of our own.
- We do not sell or share your personal data.
Third-party embeds
The course finder map loads tile images from OpenStreetMap. That request sends OpenStreetMap your IP address in the normal course of an HTTP request but does not set any cookies. If you click through to a course's own website, that site's cookie rules apply — not ours.
Questions
See our full Privacy Policy for how we handle personal data more broadly.