Scotland Magazine Issue 1

A New Beginning

Editor Marcin Miller welcomes you.

What does Scotland mean to you? Countryside and castles? History and heritage? Golf and fishing? Or even whisky and haggis? Of course, Scotland is all these things. But it is also a country which, thr...

By Marcin Miller in the section From the Editor

Ancestral home

There is a saying in Scotland that it costs you nothing to find out who your ancestors are, but it costs a fortune to keep it quiet. That may be true, but Scotland is a small country with under five m...

By Roddy Martine in the section Roddy Martine's World

Birds of a feather

Elizabeth Walton experiences the soaring highs and swooping lows of the most noble of highland sports - grouse hawking. Pictures by Glyn Satterley

The grouse is king of the game birds, and for Highland guns it is the most demanding quarry. Yet how much more sporting and dramatic it is to match the quarry with another bird – a peregrine falcon. W...

By Elizabeth Walton in the section Outdoor Scotland

Bonnie Prince Charlie's chair goes into auction battle!

This historic chair bears an inscription on a silver plate: "From President's Room Culloden House Where Prince Charlie Slept for the Three Nights Previous to The Battle". 'The Battle' is none other ...

By Brigid James in the section Art and Antiques

Pride of Scotland: Charles Rennie Mackintosh

Perhaps the greatest Scottish artist, architect and designer, Rennie Mackintosh (see feature, pages 22 to 25) was born one of 11 children in Glasgow. Influenced by Scottish traditions and Japanese sim...

By Brigid James in the section Art and Antiques

Still life bursts through world auction record

The Black Bottle, a still life by Scottish colourist Samuel John Peploe (1871-1935), was sold in Christie's Scottish Sale for well above the estimated £350,000-£450,000, fetching £520,750, a record-br...

By Brigid James in the section Art and Antiques

Charles Rennie Mackintosh: A design for life

Arguably Glasgow's most celebrated designer and architect, Mackintosh was respected around the World yet, for a time, seemed a forgotten man in his native Scotland. Gavin Smith rediscovers one of Scotland's favourite sons

For the great and the good of Scottish tourism it must be a relief to have found something tasteful and distinctive, apart from whisky, to sell as ‘Scottish’ instead of ‘Nessies’ wearing Tartan and Gr...

By Gavin D. Smith in the section Scottish People

Dunvegan Castle, Isle of Skye

Charles Douglas takes a trip to picturesque Skye to take in 800 years of history at the MacLeod ancestral home - Dunvegan.

Skye is perhaps best known for the fleeting visit of Prince Charles Edward Stuart in 1746, but it is also an island of contrasts with a busy infrastructure and a thriving tourist industry. And foremos...

By Charles Douglas in the section Historic Houses

Scotland's finest city hotels

Smoe of Britain's finest hotels can be found in Scotland - and not just golf resorts. We round up the best in Scotland's city centre hotels

Edinburgh It was Thomas Jefferson, America’s third president, who said of Scotland’s capital it was a city "that no place in the world can pretend to compete with." Not a great deal has changed since...

By in the section Scottish Hotels

Roman holiday

James Irvine Robertson asks the searching question: 'What have the Romans ever done for us?'

The Romans are unique. In the history of mankind no other people have ever been so in advance of their contemporaries that they were able to conquer the known world. From their Mediterranean isthmus, ...

By James Irvine Robertson in the section Scottish History

A free spirit (Glasgow)

Tom Bruce-Gardyne takes a swift trip back in time on contemporary Glasgow's streets

For a brief historical tour round Glasgow one place to start and possibly finish would be the St Enoch Centre on Argyle St. Despite her somewhat curious name, St Enoch was the ‘Mother of All Glasgow’ ...

By Tom Bruce-Gardyne in the section Regional Focus

Glasgow - Bonny & Clyde

Architecture, resturants, pubs, clubs, parks, meseums, galleries... Glasgow has it all, and plenty more besides.

Glasgow is a city of surprises, a place that has shed its traditional image of the classic industrial centre with surprising ease and grace. Few other cities have accomplished such a complete transiti...

By Jon Bruford in the section Regional Focus

Glasgow at a glance

Happening Glaswegians include actors Robert Carlyle (Trainspotting) and John Hannah (The Mummy Returns), Sharleen Spiteri (singer with band Texas), Daniela Nardini (actress), Howie B (musician), write...

By Jon Bruford in the section Regional Focus

Gordon Ramsay: My Glasgow

The famous chef takes a few minutes to talk about the city he loves

Famed for his outbursts in the kitchen in the quest for culinary brilliance, the perfectionist chef has returned to the city of his birth, Glasgow, to open a new restaurant, Amaryllis. The restaurant ...

By in the section Questions and Answers

Nick Nairn's Glasgow

Gordon Ramsay is not the only famous chef working in Glasgow - Nick's resturant, Nairns, has been open since 1997. We caught up with Nick to find out about his Glasgow

Nick became a chef after leaving the Merchant Navy in 1983 – and learned his trade quickly. In 1991 he earned his first Michelin Star, and in 1996 was the focus of a BBC series and book, Wild Harvest....

By Marcin Miller in the section Questions and Answers

Simply soup-er

Sue Lawrence takes you to her traditional kitchen to enjoy three old-style Scottish broths

There is a charming paragraph in the legendary Elizabeth David’s French Provincial Cooking where she describes her first soup-making experience. She had been advised by the gastronomic authority among...

By Sue Lawrence in the section Scottish Food

Divine Water

Bob McColl takes us on a journey through hills and heather to find the perfect day's fishing

After many years of talking, I finally took a long standing business friend from Gloucester on his first Highland fishing foray recently. Much planning and discussion went into the trip, and as D-day ...

By Bob McColl in the section Scottish Fishing

Inch by Inch

Tradition plays a key part in one of Edinburgh's finest jewellers, but it hasn't stopped Hamilton and Inches moving from strenth to strength. Kate Patrick goes shopping

In the year Alfred Nobel invented dynamite, Degas first painted ballet scenes and the Civil Rights Act was passed by US Congress, James Hamilton and his nephew Robert Kirk Inches formed a partnership ...

By Kate Patrick in the section Scottish Shopping

Missing Links

The game of Kings has its roots firmly established in Scotland, which is home to some of the World's finest courses. Hugh Dodd takes us a round...

It is impossible to play golf in Scotland without becoming quickly aware of the history of the game. There is hardly a Scottish links course that is not at least a century old with an established past...

By Hugh Dodd in the section Scottish Golf

Poor Man's Feast

Edinburgh based haggis makes Macsween's have a burgeoning reputation as the best in the business. Tom Brude-Gardyne discovers just what makesa Macsween's haggis so different from the rest...

Anyone seeking to break into Macsween’s, the only custombuilt haggis factory in the world, first has to wrestle with Robbie Burns. By day this life-size papier mâché model of the great poet appears fr...

By Tom Bruce-Gardyne in the section Made in Scotland

A different kettle of fish

Scotland Magazine editor Marcin Miller and a panel of tasters assess a selection of 10 smoked salmon

Received wisdom has it that the very finest smoked salmon is Scottish. But how do you know which to buy from the enormous selection available? Generally speaking, salmon is presented in hermetically s...

By Marcin Miller in the section Scottish Tastings

Invented by...Janet Keiller

This regular look at a famous Scots invention or innovation begins with a contentious issue - Janet Keiller and the 'invention' of marmalade. We explore the myth with a little help.

Perhaps it’s a little cheeky to start the series this way, but it was too tempting to resist when preliminary research indicated that, despite Keiller company history suggesting otherwise, Janet Keill...

By Janet Keiller in the section Scottish Innovators