Winter wonderland
Seasonal ESCAPES
With snow-capped hills, frosted fields, and icy lochs, Scotland is at its most magical when winter falls
Words by SALLY COFFEY
Up Helly Aa Lerwick
The foremost celebration, the Lerwick Up Helly Aa attracts thousands of visitors each year, and takes place over a 24-hour period on the last Tuesday of January (in 2025 this will be 28 January), sharing a date with the Lerwick Junior Up Helly Aa.
Lerwick was the first of the Shetland fire festivals, with origins in the 1820s, though the Viking theme emerged from 1889 onwards.
Each year, a new Guizer Jarl – a sort of Viking figurehead – leads a squad of Viking Jarls, all brandishing flaming torches, through the streets of Lerwick before a longship is ceremoniously set ablaze with the torches.
This signals the start of more lively celebrations that go on through the night as spectators and participants go to one of several
public (but ticketed) halls for parties.
It is a huge event that takes the best part of a year for a committee of members to organise, and incorporates a different Norse theme each year, which is shrouded in secrecy until the day.
Some locals claim its intricate planning is nothing more than a clever rouse to keep men out of the pub. Of course, today women like to take part too, though it was only in 2024 that women and girls were allowed to participate as squad members for the first time.
In our photos, taken during the 2023 event, the Guizer Jarl was Neil Moncrieff who represented his namesake Njal Thorgeirsson. Njal was the hero of the longest of the Icelandic sagas, the Njals saga. uphellyaa.org
BRAEMAR REBORN
We visit the Aberdeenshire castle that has been saved from dereliction by the determination of the local community
Words by SALLY COFFEY
As you approach the Cairngorms village of Braemar from Balmoral, a gleaming white castle appears through the trees to your right, almost daring you to pull into the car park just beyond and come and explore it.
Those that give in to the urge will discover a castle surrounded by the majestic hills of the Cairngorms and brimming with history, which has long been seen as a huge asset to the local community who live here, despite falling on hard times.
Owned by members of Clan Farquharson, and with close associations to the clan that reach back centuries, Braemar Castle is a ve-storey L-plan castle with a star-shaped curtain wall that stands on the site of an earlier hunting retreat built by the 2nd Earl of Mar in 1628.
The castle has taken on many guises throughout its near 400-year history – from hunting lodge to Jacobite base, and redcoat garrison to high-society retreat.
Queen Victoria visited on several occasions when attending the annual Braemar Gathering, which used to be held in the grounds, and Queen Elizabeth II and her mother are known to have been hosted too. A young Prince Charles and Princess Anne are even believed to have played in the castle as children.
Despite its royal connections, Braemar Castle doesn’t have the fame of nearby Balmoral Castle – the Royal Family’s Scottish hideaway less than nine miles away – but unlike its prestigious neighbour, Braemar’s custodians not only let
RIGHT: Picture-perfect Braemar Castle stands in the heart of the Cairngorms National Park, not far from Balmoral
© SARAH BROWN
Words by KATE YOUDE
Sea-sure DESIGNS
The marine environment provides endless inspiration to these skilled jewellery-makers, all living on the Scottish coast…
With more than 11,600 miles of coastline, Scotland isn’t short of stunning scenery. From pristine, sandy beaches to towering, rugged cliffs, its rich and varied landscape and ever-changing shoreline is hugely in uential for the many craftspeople lucky enough to live here.
Here, we meet ve jewellers who draw on the country’s coast –from the marks left by the sea to the weather that brings everything, from beautiful sunsets re ecting off tranquil waters to crashing waves and stormy seas – in their beautiful designs, so that you can take a little piece of Scotland home with you.
SARAH BROWN, ISLE OF ISLAY
It’s the seaweed, stones, shells, rock formations and pottery “softened by the sea” that she nds along the shore that inspire Isle of Islay-based jeweller Sarah Brown’s pieces. “I’ll always have a collection in front of me that I’m constantly looking at [as I work] and that helps inform the choices I make when it comes to selecting stones and materials to use,” she says.
She re ects the hues of the Inner Hebridean landscape in “subtle tones” of diamonds – olive-green, brown, cognac and champagne, reminiscent of sand – mounted in gold. Its “beautiful splashes of colour” that include pink seaweed, sea urchins and sea pink owers translate into reddish-pink sapphires, while blue and green sapphires represent the sea and sky.
Brown’s workshop, open to visitors by appointment, is in a converted farm building overlooking the coast at Port Charlotte. “There’s an endless supply of visual things to be drawn to,” she says. sarahbrownjewellery.com
LEFT TO RIGHT:
The natural beauty of Islay’s shores is endlessly inspiring for Sarah; a gold ring set with red and pink sapphires draws on local seaweed colours
STICKING TO IT
Our photojournalist meets the man who’s almost single-handedly keeping the tradition of shinty caman-making in Scotland alive
Words and photos by JEREMY FLINT