Contents
p3
Dominic Roskrow champions Scotland's second city
Many months ago, in one of my first editorials for this magazine, I compared the relevant merits of Glasgow and Edinburgh, and concluded that while I loved them both, Edinburgh would get the edge if I...
By Dominic Roskrow in the section
From the Editor
p7
Roddy Marting talks...
There have been two exciting developments concerning the friendly face of Scotland. The first is that Scotland's First Minister Jack McConnell has personally appointed Edinburgh's former Lord Provost ...
By Roddy Martine in the section
Roddy Martine's World
p14
Charles Douglas visits the lavish Paxton House in Berwickshire
The latter part of the 18th century was a golden age for many people living in the south of Scotland.
Money for some was plentiful, and there were those prepared to spend it. This period saw the buil...
By Charles Douglas in the section
Historic Houses
p16
Many of Scotland's finest castles are still thriving. John Hannavy picks his favourites
While it is the romantic turreted ruin sitting on a high rock which typifies most people’s image of Scotland’s castles, many of the countries most impressive buildings have been maintained and lived i...
By John Hannavy in the section
Scottish Castles
p18
Top band Runrig bring their homeland to life through their music. Here are the places that have inspired them over the years. Text and pictures by Andy Hall
Runrig is Scotland’s premier Celtic rock band. The band has enjoyed immense popularity over the past 30 years at home in Scotland and overseas.
One of the undoubted highlights of Runrig’s career was ...
By Andy Hall in the section
Celebrity Scotland
p22
Graham Holliday explains where you can hear and perhaps see – the shy and elusive corncrake
The corncrake is one of Britain’s most vocal, yet most elusive birds. Its repetitive, rasping calls were once heard all over the Scottish countryside, but changes in farming methods and the destructio...
By Graham Holiday in the section
Scottish Wildlife
p24
James Irvine Robertson on the struggles of the Covenanters
The Covenanters are not in the conventional mould of Scottish heroes. There’s no romance here, just hard people willing to fight and die for a hard religion that eschewed symbolism – no Easter, no Chr...
By James Irvine Robertson in the section
Scottish History
p26
On the face of it Scotland would seem to provide the perfect backdrop for many Hollywood films. But as David Gordon discovers, it’s not that straight forward
For many people, the only sight or image they have of Scotland is that which is portrayed on the big screen. Normally, it has been a land of heather-clad glens and misty mountains.
Sadly, the stars o...
By David Gordon in the section
Scotland on film
p31
The release of a Ewan MacGregor film following the fortunes of a dysfunctional man travelling onthe canal between Edinburgh and Glasgow has prompted us to send our Ewan MacGregorlookalike, Maxwell MacLeod, on the same journey. This is his story
So, picture it if you will... It's mid-August, and you are sitting beside the Edinburgh to Glasgow canal, on the first leg, the 31 mile long Union canal. The sun beats down like a hammer, and many Sco...
By Maxwell MacLeod in the section
Scottish Journeys
p36
Sally Toms extolls the virtues of one of Scotland’s last true Gaelic outposts
At Scotland’s most north westerly point, separated from the Scottish mainland and from Skye by the stormy stretch of water known as the Minch and the Little Minch, there lies a 150 mile long Hebridean...
By Sally Toms in the section
Regional Focus
p42
The new Scottish parliament has been dogged by controversy. But it’s a stunning building set to draw hundreds of thousands of people. Nick Bibby reports
If you’ve heard anything about the new Scottish Parliament building in Edinburgh, it’s likely to be about how much it cost. Admittedly, it’s anywhere between three-and-a-half and 10 times over budget,...
By Nick Bibby in the section
Best of Scotland
p44
Clydebuilt is an astounding look at the shipbuilding at Glasgow’s Braehead shopping centre. Dominic Roskrow reports
It’s not everybody’s idea of historic Scotland. It’s not very bonny. It’s not likely to end up on a biscuit tin. Indeed, it’s very Glasgow.
But as an eye opener it takes some beating. And if you want...
By Dominic Roskrow in the section
Best of Scotland
p46
St. Andrews Golf Hotel sits high above the impressive West Sands – famed for the beach running sequence in the film Chariots of Fire.
St Andrews Golf Hotel 40 The Scores, St Andrews Tel: +44 (0)1334 472 611
St. Andrews Golf Hotel sits high above the impressive West Sands – famed for the beach running sequence in the film Chariots o...
By Dominic Roskrow in the section
Best of Scotland
p48
Sue Lawrence relishes in the seductive smells of scones and cakes and delights in the sense of comfort such baking creates
It is 9.55am and the church fair is due to open at 10am. Behind the piles of neatly labelled and priced fruit loaves, pies, victoria sponges and home-made bread, we – the stall holders – are trying no...
By Sue Lawrence in the section
Scottish Food
p52
It’s a cut above the weekly supermarket run. Shopping for food in Scotland is all about seeking out the best delicatessens, bakers, butchers, cheesemongers and ice cream shops. Kate Patrick takes stock (lots of it)
A British national newspaper once made the mistake of comparing Valvona & Crolla, Edinburgh’s Italian delicatessen and a destination in its own right, with ‘the best of anything in London’. It missed ...
By Kate Patrick in the section
Scottish Shopping
p56
The Scottish army regiments have a long and distinguished history. Mark Nicholls looks at the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders and the diverse attractions that lie in the regiment’s traditional recruiting heartland
It is hardly surprising that Stirling is home to one of Scotland’s most decorated army regiments.
The name signifies ‘land of strife’ and history shows that it has been thus at the critical moments i...
By Mark Nicholls in the section
Scottish Regiments
p58
Alistir Wood Tait talks about gemmology as if it’s the new rock’n’roll. Here he provides a guide to Scotland’s rarest stones
When the average High Street dealer mentions the setting of a precious stone he means how it is mounted on silver or gold. To Alistir, ‘setting’ is just as likely to refer to the precarious and windsw...
By Alistir Wood Tait in the section
Scottish Gems
p62
In the latest of his series, James Irvine Robertson looks at his own clan name – one of the oldest families in Scotland
THE Robertsons of Clan Donnachaidh are the oldest family in Scotland, said the Historiographer Royal W.F. Skene in the middle of the 19th century. Since every family is as old as every other one, this...
By James Irvine Robertson in the section
Scottish Clans
p66
While single malt whisky tends to get all the critical acclaim, the vast mass of sales are in the blended sector. Dominic Roskrow reports
Talk to a Scottish whisky lover and chances are he or she will be disparaging about blends. But with more than 90 per cent of all bottles sold in this sector, it can’t be dismissed lightly – and nor s...
By Dominic Roskrow in the section
Scottish Whisky