Scotland Magazine Issue 31

Digging into the past

Sally Toms has started researching her family tree

In this issue we begin the first part of our guide to researching your family tree, a hobby that has experienced a huge rise in popularity in recent years. Thanks to the internet and amount of inform...

By Sally Toms in the section From the Editor

Thriving abroad

It was the combination of a book launch, and meeting up with Eddie Tait, who runs the website www.scotsinlondon.com, that got me thinking about just how well the Scottish diaspora (I dislike that word...

By Roddy Martine in the section Roddy Martine's World

A private palace

Charles Douglas visits Falkland Palace in Fife, former home to the Stuart kings as well as a peculiar form of tennis

The Royal House of Stuart took possession of the estate of Falkland and its earldom in 1371, when the last Countess of Fife made it over to her brother-in-law Robert Stuart, Duke of Albany, brother of...

By Charles Douglas in the section Historic Houses

Now who be ye, would cross Loch Gyle? (Ulva)

John Hannavy visits Ulva, a tiny island off the west coast of Mull

My title this time comes from a line in a traditional Scottish poem by Thomas Campbell entitled Lord Ullin’s Daughter, a story of forbidden love, and the tragic efforts of the girl’s father to part th...

By John Hannavy in the section Scottish Islands

A slice of luxury (Myres Castle)

Sally Toms finds out what's cooking at Myres Castle

For most of us, a stay in a five-star hotel is the absolute height of luxury. But we’ve discovered something even more so... imagine having complete run of your own five-star hotel. Such extravagance...

By Sally Toms in the section Best of Scotland

Spooky Edinburgh

Gary Hayden looks at a few places where you can experience the ghoulish history of Edinburgh’s Royal Mile

Edinburgh is one of the world’s most haunted cities. During its 1,000-year history it has seen more than its share of horror: witch-burning, plague, body-snatching, torture and murder. Tour-operators...

By Gary Hayden in the section Haunted Scotland

Carol Smillie

Christopher Fisher meets the celebrity television personality best known for presenting BBC series Changing Rooms and more recently as a contestant on Strictly Come Dancing

Tell us about your five favourite places in Scotland. “First, Culzean National Park. There’s a castle, beach, swan lake, an adventure playground. It’s just beautiful. “Second, Glasgow School of Art...

By Christopher Fisher in the section Celebrity Scotland

Two fat ladies

Rob Allanson checks out a Glasgow restaurant renowned for its fish cuisine

One thing Glasgow does best is small, intimate restaurant settings. When you scratch the surface of the city there are a myriad to choose from, offering great food and relaxing surroundings. Two Fat ...

By Rob Allanson in the section Best of Scotland

The best of three worlds (Argyll)

Argyll has something for everyone, offering visitors a taste of the very best of Scotland. Dominic Roskrow reports

If you’re of the view that Scotland is actually three countries in one – The Lowlands, The Highlands and The Islands – then Argyll should hold a special place in your affections because it offers a ta...

By Dominic Roskrow in the section Regional Focus

Argyll and Bute

Where to eat The Anchorage Restaurant Harbour Street, Tarbert Small, intimate restaurant producing fresh, colourful food with the accent on seafood, beef and lamb cooked in a simple, classic style. T...

By Dominic Roskrow in the section Regional Focus

The life of King James IV

This issue, James Irvine Robertson looks at the history of James IV, the man responsible for the creation of the Kingdom of Scotland

When one considers Scottish institutions, the Conservative Party does not immediately spring to mind. Today it fields but a single minister of parliament from a Scots constituency in the House of Com...

By James Irvine Robertson in the section Scottish History

The Young Pretender (Bonnie Prince Charlie)

In the latest part of our series looking at Scottish characters, Mark Nicholls sets off to find out more about Bonnie Prince Charlie

Charles Edward Stuart, aka Bonnie Prince Charlie, is one of the most famous figures in Scottish history.c Yet out of the 67 years he lived, only a mere 14 months of that time was spent in Scotland and...

By Mark Nicholls in the section Scottish Legends

The Broughton Gallery

In the latest of our series on Scotland’s galleries and museums, Charles Douglas visits a very special art gallery in the Borders

Visitors to Scotland have a habit of by-passing some of the great treasures of the Lowlands, such as the small and picturesque village of Broughton, close to the source of the great River Tweed in the...

By Charles Douglas in the section Scotland Museums

Finding your roots

Genealogy has grown into big business, but how easy is it to track your ancestry and find out about your relatives? Dominic Roskrow reports in part one of our guide

Have you ever noticed that the more globalised and homogenised our world becomes the more we seek out the small and local? Or that the easier it is to communicate across the planet and dig in to its f...

By Dominic Roskrow in the section Scotland Genealogy

Fields of Gold

Sue Lawrence provides a few recipes using that most traditional of Scottish ingredients, barley

I can think of few places in the world where there is evidence of a similarity of diet spanning 5,000 years. But in Orkney, I was lucky enough to visit the fascinating Skara Brae, a Neolithic village...

By Sue Lawrence in the section Scottish Food

Hunting grounds

Paul Kirkwood sets out on two wheels to explore the villages on Scotland’s east coast

Arbroath and Montrose. I must have heard the names hundreds of times in that Saturday tea-time litany of the football results. But what are these towns like? When I spotted that they were linked by th...

By Paul Kirkwood in the section Scottish Cycling

With a strong hand (Clan MacKay)

James Irvine Robertson reveals the history of the once powerful Clan MacKay

You were a Clan Chief who owed money. So what? The traditional way to deal with a dun was to welcome him, show him a gibbet, and say that the strawstuffed effigy swinging there was the last debt colle...

By James Irvine Robertson in the section Scottish Clans

On the war path

Sally Toms picks out a few places to visit in connection with World War II

The most famous period of Scottish history is arguably the era of the Stuart Kings and the ‘45 Jacobite Uprising. Less romantic but as important, of course, was World War II (1939-45). Widely believe...

By Sally Toms in the section Scotland battles

Highland training

In the final part of our series looking at how you can get around Scotland by train, Mark Nicholls makes Inverness his departure point

Inverness has for centuries been an historic and strategic meeting point, the place where the Highlands converge with the Lowlands. The modern Inverness, created Scotland’s fifth city at the Millenni...

By Mark Nicholls in the section Scotland by Train

Festival fever

With so much happening in Scotland throughout the year, it’s hard to know what’s going on where. Our handy guide will make things clearer

Think of Scotland’s festivals and you’re bound to think of Edinburgh and the summer. But with more and more happening around the country, the festival season has been extended all year. Scotland now b...

By in the section Scottish Events