Scotland Magazine Issue 38

Beside the seaside

Sally Toms is getting ready for the summer.

It feels like spring has finally sprung here at Scotland Magazine, and what better time to plan your excursions for the coming year? Reading the pages of this issue, you can tell we’re already thinki...

By Sally Toms in the section From the Editor

A castle legacy

I have today just returned from a visit to Culross, in the Kingdom of Fife, the purpose of which was to inspect Dunimarle, a Victorian gothic mansion perched on a hill overlooking the estuary of the R...

By Roddy Martine in the section Roddy Martine's World

Bute's gothic palace

Of all of the early dynasties who dominated Scotland from the 12th century onwards, the Stewarts were the most successful and most resilient. Walter Fitz Alan was among the Norman noblemen who accomp...

By Charles Douglas in the section Scotland Houses

Religious wonders of the south west

John Hannavy explores historic churches, abbeys and cathedrals in Scotland's south west.

After exploring the north east of Scotland last issue, this group of churches, abbeys, priories and friaries are all to be found in the south west, in the lush countryside of Dumfries and Galloway, an...

By John Hannavy in the section Scotland Churches

All aboard the night train

Richard Ford climbs aboard the Caledonian Sleeper, a night-time train service that operates between London and Scotland.

We try not to tell people about it – they might come on here!” chortled Jeffrey, the jovial old gent in the lounge car. We were sharing a whisky (or two) aboard the 21:15 Caledonian Sleeper service fr...

By Sally Toms in the section Best of Scotland

Blazing a trail

Although Scotland is home to more castles than you can shake a haggis at, the country’s only ‘Castle Trail’ is in
Aberdeenshire. Gilly Pickup finds out more

KILDRUMMY CASTLE Tel: +44 (0)1975 571 331 www.historic-scotland.gov.uk Kildrummy Castle was once one of Scotland’s most imposing castles. It was captured by Edward I of England in 1296 and shelter...

By Gilly Pickup in the section Scottish Castles

Blazing a trail

CRAIGIEVAR CASTLE Tel: +44 (0)1339 883 635 www.nts.org.uk Almost Disney-esque in appearance, fairytale Craigievar Castle, all pink granite, multiple turrets, fanciful towers, gables, gargoyles and ...

By Gilly Pickup in the section Scottish Castles

They don't make 'em like they used to

Roddy Martine takes a walk down memory lane at The Museum of childhood, Edinburgh.

The Old Town of Edinburgh is not the obvious location for the first museum in the world to specialise in the history of childhood. Even more surprisingly, it was the inspiration of Patrick Murray, an ...

By Roddy Martine in the section Scottish Music

St. Andrews' ghosts

The ruins of St Andrews Cathedral in Fife are steeped in history. Gary Hayden reports.

In medieval times, St Andrews was the religious centre of Scotland. Its magnificent cathedral housed some of Christendom’s most precious relics (a tooth, an arm-bone, a kneecap and three fingers of St...

By Gary Hayden in the section Haunted Scotland

City rhythms

Edinburgh might claim to have the picture book history, but Glasgow is the pulsing heart not just of Scotland but arguably of Britain too. Dominic Roskrow reports

Do you remember the Sensational Alex Harvey Band? You can learn a lot about a place by looking at the musical groups that grew out of them. And The Sensational Alex Harvey Band were quintessentially ...

By Dominic Roskrow in the section Regional Focus

WHAT TO DO - MUSIC

Carling Academy Eglinton Street Features major national and international bands Tel: +44 (0)141 418 3000 www.glasgow-academy.co.uk Babbity Bowsters Blackfriars Street Glasgow institution with traditi...

By Dominic Roskrow in the section Regional Focus

A serious and thoughtful monarch

James, son of Mary, Queen of Scots was the first monarch to rule both Scotland and England. And he didn’t do a bad job. James Irvine Robertson reports.

The Queen was dead. Next in line as sovereign was a remote cousin, James, king of a nation with which she and her predecessors had been at war for centuries; conflicts still grumbled on either side of...

By James Irvine Robertson in the section Scottish History

JM Barrie

Scottish journalist, playwright and children’s book writer, JM Barrie became world famous with his story about a little boy who never grew up.

James Matthew Barrie was born on 9th May 1860 in the Lowland village of Kirriemuir, in Forfarshire (now Angus). His father, David Barrie was a handloom weaver, and mother, Margaret Ogilvy, the daught...

By JM Barrie in the section Scottish Legends

Walk this way

The West Island Way is a great way to explore the island of Bute on foot. Aileen Torrance reports

To most Scots, the island of Bute is synonymous with going ‘doon the watter’ to Rothesay. Building castles on the golden sands of Ettrick or Scalpsea bays; a game of putting at the Winter Gardens; ice...

By Aileen Torrance in the section Scotland Walks

Wherever I lay my hat

There are countless guesthouses around Scotland, offering bed and breakfast for weary travellers, but what are they like? Richard Goslan reports

Finding the right bed and breakfast (B&B), in the right place at just the right time, is guaranteed to give you a travelling memory which you’ll hold dear for the rest of your days. My own came in Fo...

By Richard Goslan in the section Scotland Accommodation

Great chieftan o'the puddin'-race

Sue Lawrence looks at the traditional Scottish haggis and provides some more of her delicious recipes.

One cold, frosty day in Scotland, I went down into the bowels of an Edinburgh butcher’s shop to see Jonathan Crombie plop some blood-red lamb lobes into bubbling water in a gargantuan boiler. It was ...

By Sue Lawrence in the section Scottish Food

The clan Graham

James Irvine Robertson turns his attention to another of Scotland's great families.

William I, Duke of Normandy, conquered England in 1066. The adventurers in his army, most of whom, like William himself, had been Vikings a few generations earlier, were granted lands throughout the c...

By James Irvine Robertson in the section Scotland Clans

10 of the best..beaches

Scotland has some of the most dramatic coastline to be found anywhere in the world. Liz Pickering highlights some beautiful beaches.

Achmelvich, Sutherland If you are willing to take your life in your hands on a single track coastal road, the beaches at Achmelvich will reward you. Achmelvich itself comprises a campsite, caravan pa...

By Liz Pickering in the section Scotland Beaches

A day in the life of a drover

Scotland’s cattle drovers were a hardy bunch of men. David Fleetwood discovers what life was like for them

The long sloping shoulder of moorland looks forbidding through the steamed-up glass of a small droving inn outside Creiff. The fire and the slowly settling pint are much more attractive than a long tr...

By David Fleetwood in the section Scotland Lives

Hollywood on holiday

Few are aware that Nairn was Charlie Chaplin’s favourite holiday destination. When Andrew Ross visited the picturesque Royal Burgh he found that it has hung on to some of its Victorian splendour and still boasts a touch of Hollywood glamour.

I had often driven past the Morayshire coastal town of Nairn en-route from Aberdeen to Inverness, but had never found a reason to stop. Achance dinner party conversation about the seaside town known a...

By Andrew Ross in the section Scotland Shopping

Annie Lennox

Annie Lennox has been a star for 30 years, the latest in a long line of fine Scottish singers. Dominic Roskrow reports

When Annie Lennox burst out of the punk rock scene with The Tourists there was little indication that she would join the elite group of fine singers from Scotland. But it’s well possible that had she ...

By Dominic Roskrow in the section Scotland Geneology

Scottish Hotels of the Year 2008

Inverlochy Castle by Fort William, Inverness-shire Tel: +44 (0)1397 702 953 The winner of Scotland’s ultimate hotel award, The Scottish National Hotel of the Year 2008, is this much-acclaimed Rel...

By Sally Toms in the section Best of Scotland

Jute City

Scotland's fourth city was built largely on the Jute industry, a natural fibre also known as hessian or burlap. Gavin D Smith reports.

Last year Dundee launched an initiative to become the first ‘plastic bag-free’ city in Scotland, with the council and local retailers handing out thousands of reusable carriers made from jute, importe...

By Gavin D. Smith in the section Scotland Heritage

Everything you need to know about... Scottish Clans

The word ‘clan’ originates from the Gaelic language and simply means ‘family.’ The population of the Lowlands, in particular the Scottish Borders, associated themselves with ‘families’ (Armstrong, Ker...

By Sally Toms in the section Scotland Life