Scottish Field September 2023

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WELCOME

This is the issue each year where we focus in on Autumn Breaks around the country. We invariably pick a theme to enliven our annual tour, and this year’s thread has been the film and television of Scotland.

It has been quite the educational experience. It’s only when you sit down and tot them up that you realise just how many films and television series have been shot in Scotland. is is partly because such an incredible number of books have been set here, but it’s also a testament to a rich history, and the remarkable breadth and diversity of scenery and potential film locations that exist in this small nation.

From the so rolling hills of southern Scotland, to the ru ed beauty of the West Coast, the unique ways of life of the islands, and the historical he of cities like Auld Reekie and e Dear Green Place, there is a wondrous array of potential film sets waiting to be

found. We hope you enjoy the journey of discovery as much as we did.

It’s also time to say hello and goodbye to two columnists. e first is our septuagenarian motoring correspondent Neil Lyndon, whose entertainingly no-holds-barred reviews will no longer be a feature of these pages a er he has decided that the time has come to retire. His pithy verdicts will be much missed.

On the plus side, it’s great to welcome back our old colleague Louise Gray. She will be writing a monthly column for us about the trials and tribulations of being a modern young woman, wife and mother who is also trying to run a Highland estate along ethical lines. If her opening column is any guide, it promises to be quite the ride.

Richard Bath, Editor

MARISA HAETZMAN

The medical history expert and former anaesthetist talks about the process of co-writing with her husband, Chris Brookmyre.

ALLAN MASSIE

The proli c novelist and historian uncovers the story of General Patrick Gordon, without whom there would be no Russian empire.

LOUISE GRAY

Our new columnist embarks upon a series of articles about the highs and lows of running a Highland estate in the 21st century.

COVER STORIES

34 A DAY FOR LONG DOGS We showcase the highlights from Scottish Dachshund Club's Fun Day at Thirlestane Castle

46 GORDON THE GREAT Without Scottish General Patrick Gordon, there would be no Peter the Great and no Russian empire

64 HOUSE OF CRAFTS Contemporary artist Shân Monteith-Mann has created a family home that shows off her unique artistic air

115 AUTUMN BREAKS Planning a getaway this autumn? Check out our lm and TV trails around Scotland for inspiration

HERE & NOW

14 MONTHLY MUSINGS A gallery of your best snaps from around Scotland

28 UP FRONT Keeping you up-to-date with the latest goings on

30 CAN'T SEE THE WOOD FOR THE TREES

Is planting unproductive native trees instead of those that produce timber illogical?

33 IN CANADA A trip to Ontario reminds Alexander McCall Smith to appreciate nature

42 CREDO History of medicine expert Marisa Haetzman on her double life as an author

50 INTO THE WILDE Guy Grieve meets with forager and ethnobotanist Monica Wilde who opens his eyes to another world

52 THE ACCIDENTAL GARDENER Michael Findlay was a reluctant gardener, but Carnell House and Estate in Ayrshire won him over

63 READERS' GARDENS Fiona Leith solves all of your horticultural conundrums in her monthly Q&A column

80 CONNECTING WITH THE ANCIENTS

Richard Hoare's paintings of Western Scotland and Ireland show his deep fascination with pre-Bronze Age Atlantic culture

88 WILD HEIR Andy Dobson speaks with nature writer James Macdonald Lockhart

97 WALKING ON EGGSHELLS Claire Taylor on the lack of eggs on supermarket shelves

194 WINDS OF CHANGE Louise Gray begins her new column, relating the ups and downs of running a Highland estate in the 21st century

PROPERTY

16 PROPERTY MARKET A Baronial-style home in the capital; a home in Aberdeen's illustrious Rubislaw Den; a 1780 A-listed estate property; and a cottage on the Isle of Coll

FIELD SPORTS

93 DEER, OH DEER Allowing stags to be culled year-round will not reduce our deer population – it may actually have the opposite effect

FOOD & DRINK

98 A MUSHROOMING BUSINESS Alisha FullerArmah is on a mission to produce an ingredient using chemical-free, low-tech methods

102 DOWN TO THE RIVER TO PRAY The Mystery Diner was champing at the bit to try Dunkeld's Scandi-chic Taybank restaurant

103 THE CEILIDH PLACES A list of the best restaurants, bars and hotels that regularly have live traditional music

109 EARNING YOUR KEEP Blair Bowman nds that there is a more altruistic way of getting your hands on luxury goods

IN THIS ISSUE

Cover Whisky Galore! poster, 1948, Ealing Studios Sam Kovak/Alamy stock photo

LIFE & STYLE

111 ONE FOR THE ROAD In Neil Lyndon's nal column, he concludes that one car stands head and shoulders above the rest

TRAVEL & LEISURE

112 WHAT DO PEOPLE FORGET WHEN WRITING A WILL? Peter Ranscombe focuses on the ner points of leaving a will

182 HAPPY GLAMPERS Reader reviewers try out four glamping retreats that will be perfect for your next back-to-basics adventure

NEWS, VIEWS & EVENTS

10 Letters 59 Garden News 75 Antiques News 84 Field Culture 94 Country News 106 Food & Drink News 186 Social Scene

192 Cover to cover

OFFERS & COMPETITIONS

185 COMPETITIONS Win an Oysterfest mini break for two; tickets to The Country & Food Festival at Philiphaugh Estate; or a copy of Darwent's The Things We Do To Our Friends

190 PUZZLE PAGES The crossword, spot the difference, sudoku and all the usual puzzles Save

See page 44.

SCOTTISH FIELD

VOLUME 125 NUMBER 9 ESTABLISHED IN 1903

INCORPORATING SCOTTISH WORLD SCOTTISH FIELD

EDITORIAL AND DESIGN

Editor: Richard Bath

Creative Editor: Heddy Forrest

Chief Sub-Editor: Rosie Morton

Staff Writer: Morag Bootland

Web Editor: Ellie Forbes

Editorial Interns: Felix Petit, Scarlett Donald, Sammi Min

Designer: Grant Dickie

Artworker: Andrew Balahura

Production Controller: Megan Amato

Email: editor@scottish eld.co.uk

SALES AND MARKETING

Advertising Team Leader: Tracey Faulds

Senior Sales: Stacey Richardson

Advertising Sales: Grant Philbin, Carol Greenshields

Head of Drinks Division: John Boyle

Senior Marketing Executive: Heather Smith

Email: adverts@scottish eld.co.uk

PUBLISHING

Tel: 0131 551 1000 Fax: 0131 551 7901

Publisher: Alister Bennett, Scottish Field, The North Quarter, 496 Ferry Road, Edinburgh EH5 2DL

London O ce: 1 Gunpowder Square, Fleet Street, London EC4A 3EP

OVERSEAS

(Send USA Address corrections to Warners Group Publications as per below details).

US Postmaster: Periodicals postage paid at Emigsville, PA. US Mailing agent: Scottish Field (ISSN No: 0036-9309) is published monthly by Wyvex Media Ltd, PO Box 1, Oban PA34 4HB and is distributed in the USA by SPP, 95 Aberdeen Road, Emigsville PA 17318.

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We at Scottish Field endeavour to ensure that all our reports are fair and accurate and comply with the Editors’ Code of Practice set by the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO). We realise, however, that mistakes happen from time to time. If you think we have made a signi cant mistake and you wish to discuss this with us, please let us know as soon as possible by either of the following two methods: emailing editor@scottish eld.co.uk; or writing to the Editor at Scottish Field, 496 Ferry Rd, Edinburgh EH5 2DL. We will attempt to resolve your issue in a timeous, reasonable and amicable manner. However, if you are unsatis ed with our response, you can contact IPSO, which will investigate the matter. You can either telephone IPSO on 0300 123 2220 or email inquiries@ipso.co.uk. IPSO is an independent body which deals with complaints from the public about the editorial content of newspapers and magazines. We will abide by the decision of IPSO.

NL PURE 32 ONE WITH NATURE

SEE THE UNSEEN

Letters

Your letters is sponsored by Silversea in partnership with Indulgent Cruises. Tel: 01698 425 444, www.indulgentcruises.com

The writer of the Star Letter will receive a bottle of Laurent-Perrier Cuvée Rosé

CHEESE, GROMIT!

Nestled at the foot of the Scottish Highlands, we do home deliveries to much of the central belt of Scotland, we sell at farmers’ markets and we supply wholesale to shops, restaurants, cafes and caterers.

Nestled at the foot of the Scottish Highlands, we do home deliveries to much of the central belt of Scotland, we sell at farmers’ markets and we supply wholesale to shops, restaurants, cafes and caterers.

Nestled at the foot of the Scottish Highlands, we do home deliveries to much of the central belt of Scotland, we sell at farmers’ markets and we supply wholesale to shops, restaurants, cafes and caterers.

Nestled at the foot of the Scottish Highlands, we do home deliveries to much of the central belt of Scotland, we sell at farmers’ markets and we supply wholesale to shops, restaurants, cafes and caterers.

I enjoyed the piece on the Loch Arthur Creamery [July 2023 edition]. I'm always looking for good new makers for my website, 'Made Scotland' and I love a good bit of cheddar - so it was a win-win.

Star Letter

I also liked the piece on Raeburn. I've become a bit blasé about the ubiquitous Skating Minister (hard to love an artwork once it makes it onto a thousand keyrings) so it was good to see him in a new light.

CHECK OUT OUR WEB SHOP OR GET IN TOUCH TO TALK TO US ABOUT SUPPLYING YOUR BUSINESS.

CHECK OUT OUR WEB SHOP OR GET IN TOUCH TO TALK TO US ABOUT SUPPLYING YOUR BUSINESS.

CHECK OUT OUR WEB SHOP OR GET IN TOUCH TO TALK TO US ABOUT SUPPLYING YOUR BUSINESS.

CHECK OUT OUR WEB SHOP OR GET IN TOUCH TO TALK TO US ABOUT SUPPLYING YOUR BUSINESS.

T. 03330 151304

T. 03330 151304

T. 03330 151304

T. 03330 151304

E. info@wildhearthbakery.com www.wildhearthbakery.com

E. info@wildhearthbakery.com www.wildhearthbakery.com

E. info@wildhearthbakery.com www.wildhearthbakery.com

E. info@wildhearthbakery.com www.wildhearthbakery.com

It was interesting to read how the creamery has grown out of the Camphill Community, a great charity doing good work. Scotland is full of amazing small producers like this. Well done for bringing them to our attention, keep 'em coming. Oh, and I loved the map of Scottish cheese makers, all fantastic locations, I feel a cheese tour coming on!

TREASURE ISLANDS

The piece states that there are no exhibitions to mark the 200th anniversary of the artist's death but there is one, Raeburn's Edinburgh, at the National Trust for Scotland's Georgian House, Edinburgh. It's free and runs until November. De nitely one to visit. Alexandra Borthwick, Heriot, Scottish Borders

I'm a relatively new reader to Scottish Field, but I have to say I absolutely love the new design you have introduced. The whisky map that you drew up [August 2023 issue, p.59] for the Hebridean distilleries article is stunning!

I showed it to my better half who is whisky-obsessed and he has now started planning our autumn trip round the top whisky producers. Well done, Scottish Field! Isla Higgins, Ayrshire

GET SET, BAKE!

The June 2023 issue of Scottish Field [‘Grow, cook, inspire’ Food Feature, pp.118124] provided the perfect recipe for our NHS Big Tea!

The blackberry brownie was a great success raising funds also for our local hospital charity on such a special day. The ‘brambles’ were picked last year and this is just the perfect recipe. Thank you.

Eileen Henderson Hessle Yorkshire

Putting the FREE in freedom

If you’re 60 or over, you can travel for FREE on all local bus and coach services anywhere in Scotland.

Apply for your concession pass from your local council.

Plan your journey

The new Grecale Modena.

Everyday Exceptional

DISCOVER THE NEW MASERATI GRECALE MODENA. SPORTY AND THRILLING FOR THOSE ALWAYS ON THE MOVE.

GRAYPAUL MASERATI EDINBURGH

Fort Kinnaird, Edinburgh, EH15 3HR 0131 475 4500

.sytner.co.uk/maserati/graypaul-edinburgh

Fuel economy and CO2 results for the Maserati Grecale Modena in mpg (l/100km) combined: 30.4 (9.3) - 32.1 (8.8). CO2 emissions: 210 - 199 g/km. Figures shown are for comparability purposes; only compare fuel consumption and CO2 gures with other cars tested to the same technical procedures. These gures may not re ect real life driving results, which will depend upon a number of factors including the accessories ed (post-registration), variations in weather, driving styles and vehicle load.

GRAYPAUL MASERATI EDINBURGH

Letters

A WORLD OF ITS OWN

I have always loved wildlife and especially bird life. For most of my life I have strived to visit as many different places and experience wildlife, but one place I have always admired and yet to visit is the Scottish Hebrides during a machair bloom.

Andy Dobson's [August

A HAPPY ENDING

2023] article transported me right there. It was lovely to learn more about the machair and something I never considered being the lack of mammal predators giving ground nesting birds a safe environment. I really must visit during the bloom.

Pat Smith, Dundee

SEPTEMBER 15 – 24

[In response to his column in the August 2023 issue, p.39] Alexander McCall Smith might be interested to know that a sequel to Casablanca already exists – it’s As Time Goes By by Michael Walsh.

Rick and Sam, the piano player, get involved in the war in Europe. It all ends well.

Margaret Jeary, Kelso

WEDDING BELLS?

I recently discovered an old copy of Scottish Field from April 1957. The reason I kept it was because it had our wedding photograph in the wedding pages.

On a re-read it was apparent how the current publication has improved with the high gloss presentation.

The 1967 edition cost one shilling and sixpence in the old money, compared to the present price of £4.95 with 162 pages – the old edition had 100 pages printed on plain white paper.

The old issue’s ads were mainly artist line drawings of models with only a few touches of colour. Several full page ads were for some Glasgow and Edinburgh stores now no longer in existence.

The car ads were of interest – names like Austin, Morris, with the average price of the family car under £1,000.

I think that to reintroduce a wedding page in the new format would be of interest to most readers like myself.

Frederick Swanson, Broughty Ferry

THE RETURN OF THE MIDGE...

Tessa Cumming asks what are the best solutions for keeping Monty Midge and his mighty millions at bay [July 2023 issue]. Here on the mild and damp west coast we lather our arms with brown sugar. It doesn’t kill them but it helps to rot their teeth a bit quicker!

Iain Thornber, Morvern, Argyll

ra urney disc ery t ic nic g ba destinati ns created by Edinburgh’s ta ented rists isit the ya tanic arden Edinburgh r ne a ind ra insta ati ns a tern n teas ra c c tai s r sh s and re

BOOK NOW: rbge.org.uk

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Readers’ photos

ABOVE: Eva enjoying the view of Neist Point and Lighthouse taken by Jon Perkins. FAR RIGHT: Commando memorial, Spean Bridge taken by Janice Rooke. RIGHT: A warm summer’s evening at Portmahomack taken by Hazel Thomson.

LEF T: The Flying Scotsman marks its 100th anniversary taken by Tony Marsh.

ABOVE: Oystercatcher taken by Axel Hellwig.

PICTURE PERFECT

No one loves a good photograph showing the variety of life in Scotland more than us. We love seeing your photographs too, so lovely readers, upload your photos today and you might find your work appearing here.

LEF T: Chihuahua called Millie having great fun on East Sands, St Andrews taken by Anne Boyle.

ABOVE: A Highland Cow taking a moment of re ection taken by Ian Barnes.

We love seeing your photographs of Scotland and picking our favourites each month. For your chance to appear on our Picture Perfect pages send your photographs to the team via gdickie@scottish eld.co.uk. Remember to include your full name and a title for your photograph.

FAR

LEF T: The Whale and the Wheel taken by MarionMcM.

LEF T: Feeding time taken by PaulMacleod14.

Property of the month

Woodhall House Edinburgh

Selling Agent: Knight Frank

Tel: 0131 222 9600

Offers over: £6 million

Dating back to 1600, this impressive Baronial-style capital home has undergone a full renovation led by renowned archited Lorn Macneal. The house has an impressive eight bedrooms (six ensuite), three further bathrooms and an array of public rooms. There are many period features which have been retained including original plasterwork that dates back to 1630 and six working replaces. The kitchen is a bespoke design handmade by Michael Hart and the ceiling in the hallway was handpainted by Rachel and Cornelius Bell. The house has a private driveway and the Water of Leith runs through the 7.8 acres of grounds, which include beautiful gardens, woodland, outdoor dining spaces, a triple garage, astro-turf tennis court, hot tub, kennel and adventure playground.

CLOCKWISE

FROM TOP: Sandstone mansion; beautiful replaces; outdoor seating; manicured grounds; light and airy spaces.

Period property of the month

Cramond House, Rubislaw Den North,

Aberdeen

Selling Agent: Savills

Tel: 01224 971111

Offers over: £2.5 million

A horseshoe-shaped driveway leads to this ne granite mansion in a desirable area of Aberdeen. The selfcontained west wing adds exibility to the accommodation, which includes eight bedrooms (all ensuite and three with dressing rooms). Living accommodation includes a library, drawing room, sitting room, conservatory, dining room and garage/gym. A recreation room, garden store, wine cellar, meeting room and laundry rooms are at garden level. Outside the substantial and mature gardens include sh ponds, a decked patio area and formal lawns.

Estate property of the month

Straloch House Estate, Newmachar, Aberdeenshire

Selling Agent: Galbraith

Tel: 01224 860710

Offers over: £2.7 million

Built in 1780 Straloch House

is A-listed and has 15 bedrooms, three public rooms, a billiards room and gym in a private setting near the pretty village of Newmachar and just ve miles from Aberdeen airport. The current owners bought the house in 2009 and have refurbished it to an impressively high standard. The east and west wings can each have self-contained access if required making this a exible family home. The estate stretches to 240 acres which includes a garage, glorious gardens around the house, parkland, a lochan, a private chapel and a gate lodge.

Island property of the month

Arinthluic, Isle of Coll, Ar ll and Bute

Selling Agent: Knight Frank

Tel: 0131 222 9600

Offers over: £525,000

This little chunk of paradise includes a charming three-bedroom cottage overlooking a sandy bay on the south of the island of Coll, as well as a kilometre of foreshore with its own mooring and 49 acres of decrofted land. Views over the beach reach as far as the Treshnish Isles and Ben More on the Isle of Mull. The house is accessed from the main road via a half-mile-long hardcore track which is suitable for 4x4s. Arinthluic has been extensively refurbished by its current owners and has a new porch, re-roo ng, new multifuel stoves and a water treatment plant.

Home for sale in the Highlands

Nethy Bridge, Inverness-shire

Highlights

• One and a half storey three-bedroom farmhouse ripe for renovation

• Range of modern and traditional farm buildings with potential for reconfiguration subject to planning

• Grade 3.2 arable land

• Approximately 71.68 Acres (29 Ha) in all

Offers Over £775,000

Video and brochure available to view at: www.bidwells.co.uk

Enquiries Ross Low 01738 630666 scotlandagency@bidwells.co.uk

The Old Manse at Farleyer & Farleyer Steading by Aberfeldy, Perthshire

Beautiful Georgian former manse, with converted steading, situated in picturesque highland Perthshire. Perth 35 miles | About 2 acres (0.81 ha).

n The Old Manse at Farleyer: 3 reception rooms. 5 bedrooms (3 en-suite). Family bathroom.

n Farleyer Steading: Great hall with open plan kitchen/dining/sitting room. 2 bedrooms. 2 bathrooms.

n Detached stone built triple garage. Delightful and well-tended garden with terrace, lawns, well stocked borders, mature trees and pond. Enjoying an elevated, south facing position commanding outstanding views. EPC=D&E.

O ers Over £1,400,000

Emma Chalmers | 01738 456062 | emma.chalmers@galbraithgroup.com

MIXED SIGNALS IN THE MARKET

Scottish property finders Garrington share market insights and advice for those looking for a property to buy

Navigating the property market can be a daunting task, especially for those who are not engaged with it every day and might be unaware of the pockets of exclusivity that can command different prices and levels of activity to neighbouring locations.

The Scottish property market is complex and constantly changing, impacted by factors such as wider economic conditions, government policies, and global events. Despite this backdrop, there continues to be excellent opportunities for buyers and sellers alike. Buyers might be surprised at just how much micro-market climates can contrast between postcode areas and even, in some more extreme scenarios, road to road.

Understanding the state of play

There is currently no one theme true of the UK property market in its entirety; conditions are varied and in many cases data from mainstream media simply won’t apply to the local market.

Across Scotland, the most soughtafter and superior properties in the most exclusive areas are still generating a hive

of buyer activity, whilst more conventional properties, that might have an inflated price tag or are in a less desirable location, are taking longer to sell.

How to secure a property

If you’re searching for a home in one of Scotland’s more prestigious and soughtafter locations where the supply of homes for sale is limited, Garrington can offer some suggestions to help in the finding and securing of the perfect property.

Unless you are in the enviable position of eing chain free and have an infinite amount of time to find the perfect property, in markets where there continues to be a lack of homes for sale, it may be necessary to broaden your search criteria. Understanding what your absolute requirements are versus what you might be willing to compromise on is a useful first step.

Garrington recommend all their clients searching for prime properties in undersupplied locations ensure they are ready to act swiftly. In highly soughtafter locations it is likely buyers will face competition. It is so often the case that the

buyer who is ultimately successful is not the highest bidder, but the one in the strongest position, who is ready to move forward with the transaction, and can show fle i ility in accommodating the vendor’s needs.

Professional guidance and assurance

Overall, navigating the Scottish property market as a buyer requires research and an understanding of the complex and constantly changing market. Keeping a close eye on property prices, understanding local markets, and enlisting the guidance of professionals will ensure buyers make wellinformed decisions.

If you are considering your propertybuying options and would like more information about how to better navigate your local property market, contact Garrington to arrange a no-obligation discussion.

Tel: 0131 564 1156

E-mail: info@garrington.co.uk

www.garringtonscotland.co.uk

MARIE WOOD

The Highlands & West Coast

DAVINA RASELLI Perthshire & Central

MEET THE TEAM

PETER STRANG STEEL Edinburgh, Lothians & Scottish Borders

Lot 1 – Attractive farmhouse, cottage and land. 34.36 Hectares/85.90 Acres

Offers Over £1,195,000

Lot 2 – Grass farmland with afforestation or livestock farming potential 128.34 Hectares/317.12 Acres

Offers Over £1,800,000

Two excellent quality conifer forests located in a productive part of Aberdeenshire.

Lot 1 – The Den – 185 ha – Offers over £2,200,000

Lot 2 – Brownhill – 33.81 ha – Offers over £500,000

As a Whole Offers Over £2,700,000

Satchels Farm illiesleaf co sh orders otal area . ectares . cres

The Den Brownhill Forest F ie berdeenshire otal rea . ectares . cres

Torboll Farm Dornoch, Sutherland

Total area: 214.30 Hectares

A wonderful opportunity to own a charming residential, amenity farm with fear reaching views over Loch Fleet, rich in Natural Capital. Including farmhouse, cottage, outbuildings and steading.

Offers Over £1,400,000

Cleish Craigencat Forests

Kelty, Perth Kinross

Toral area: 230.10 Hectares

568.57 Acres

Two well located commercial conifer forests offering long term investment security.

Lot 1 – Cleish – 160.9 ha – Offers Over £2,500,000

Lot 2 – Craigencat – 69.22 ha – Offers Over £1,000,000 As a Whole Offers Over £3,500,000 18 Great Stuart Street, Edinburgh, EH3 7TN 0131 3786 122 | www.goldcrestlfg.com

MAINS OF TAYMOUTH VILLAGE, THE HOME OF LUXURY LODGES

Reserve a luxury Cairn Lodge now, a new development and part of the exclusive Mains of Taymouth Village, the stunning Cairn Lodge development which overlooks the picturesque nine-hole golf course on the Estate, beautiful Kenmore Hill and beyond.

The Cairn Lodges come fully furnished and decorated with three edrooms and finished to a high specification, including en suite athrooms, dressing rooms, spacious fi tted kitchens with uilt in appliances, utility rooms, home offices, and generous, light filled living spaces, space for all the family.

A beautiful Cairn Lodge can be secured by those looking to have a private holiday bolt-hole in Highland Perthshire to enjoy yearround. On the already established Mains of Taymouth Village several opportunities await for immediate ownership, each with a 12-month licence, and depending on your choice of lodge style, either a 25- or 50-year tenure.

Recently acquired by the exclusive Pure Leisure Group, Mains of Taymouth Village is continuing to grow with other holiday home

options and finance now availa le. t s a multiple rated, dog-friendly holiday estate located right in the very heart of Scotland which is easily accessi le from many of cotland s ma or cities. Just across the bridge is the charming conservation village of Kenmore. With Loch Tay on your doorstep, this is one of cotland s finest landscapes.

n oy the security of eing part of the e clusive fi ve star ains of Taymouth Country Estate & Golf Course with its many amenities, holiday here in an idyllic environment! Prices from just £190,900.

Real Freedom, Real Luxury, Real Scotland. On-site facilities include: golf course, bar & brasserie, and a deli and gift shop. Explore our two amazing opportunities to own a bespoke lodge on the exclusive Mains of Taymouth Country Estate & Golf Course.

UP FRONT

A round-up of what’s going on across Scotland

TITBITS

40 UNDER 40

Actors, writers, singers and musicians have all been named in a new ‘40 Under 40’ list honouring Scottish creative talent. Rising stars have been recognised in the Saltire Society’s new initiative in a bid to raise awareness of creatives in the ‘early-mid stages’ of their careers. The society’s membership put forward nominations across ve separate categories, with an expert panel deciding the nal list. www. saltiresociety.org.uk

THE FU T URE IS BRIGH T

A former student of Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC) said he was ‘overwhelmed and honoured’ to e the rst re ipient of the ordy e ax ell ard for ri ultural ommuni ations. rainee au tioneer ohn ullo h raduated ith an in ri ulture at s din ur h ampus in . he year old from ir ud ri ht umfries and allo ay on for his dedi ation and fo us in promotin ottish a ri ulture throu h ritten and video ommuni ation . www.sruc.ac.uk

MBE DELIGHT

Former chairman of the Royal Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland, Bill Gray, was awarded an MBE by King Charles. The 63-year-old joined the board in 2006 as a director for the Lothian region and was elected as chairman in 2019. He served for three years. rhass.org.uk

istori steamship ir alter ott returns to the ater follo in ma or renovations. he steamship hi h as uilt y enny s of um arton resumed sailin on o h atrine after a restoration pro e t. ts t o steam oilers and de in ere repla ed as part of the pro e t. he year old steamship as painsta in ly restored over an month period hi h as made possi le than s to the su ess of a ave our teamship fundraisin appeal. www.lochkatrine.com

1899

The year the steamship was built.

£750k

The cost of the restoration project.

33.5m

The length of the Sir Walter Scott steamship.

FULL STEAM AHEAD FOR HISTORIC SHIP THE FACTS & FIGURES

GREEN LIGHT FOR EXPANSION AT SCULPTURE PARK

Planning permission for a new cra distillery and visitor centre at sculpture park and art gallery Jupiter Artland has been approved. e new addition to the 100-acre sculpture park, located in west Edinburgh, will help to secure its long-term future. Construction is expected to start later this year, with an anticipated completion date in 2025. e developments, including the micro distillery, will allow Jupiter Artland to be open year round for the first time. www.jupiterartland.org

TOP SHOT

A Deeside youngster has been crowned Scotland’s best young gamekeeper. Finlay Shand, who is 22, received the prestigious Young Gamekeeper of the Year Award 2023. Finlay, who works at Invermark Estate in Angus, impressed judges with his passion, management experience and his willingness to help educate others. www.scottishgamekeepers.co.uk

Abbey open to visit s

Visitors can once again explore the internal areas of Sir Walter Scott’s nal resting place. Dryburgh Abbey has reopened with visitors once again able to explore the Gothic church. Scott was buried in the north transept of the abbey. Access restrictions were put in place last year as a safety precaution. www.historicenvironment.scot

KITUP FOR OUTDOOR ADVENTURE

A former soldier has created an Airbnb for outdoor equipment. e brainchild of Bruce Leishman and his childhood best friend Ewan Black, KitUp gives people the chance to hire outdoor equipment, from surfing and skiing to biking and camping. Users on KitUp can list equipment they own on the platform with a price and location for other people to rent for their own adventures. It also su ests locations and activities. Bruce hopes it will help encourage people to get active without having to buy expensive equipment. www.kitupadventures.com

TITBITS

A much needed makeover of Skye’s Fairy Pools has been completed as tourist numbers continue to increase on the island. The growing number of visitors has taken a toll on the natural environment, with the project, including the creation of a car park, to accommodate as many as 180,000 visitors annually. www.outdoor accesstrust forscotland.org.uk

ALL ABOARD

Edinburgh’s Royal Yacht Britannia and oating hotel Fingal have become the rst corporate member of Leith Community Croft. The pioneering urban croft, on Edinburgh’s Leith Links, is run by the charity Earth in Common and enables locals to grow food while providing wildlife habitats. More than 200 staff from both ships will offer their time, resources and skills to the charity, helping with everything from weeding to marketing. www.earth-incommon.org

RIGHT: SGA ME DIA

CA N’T SEE T HE WOOD FOR T HE TR EES

Productive forests are e ective carbon sinks, produce timber on a sustainable basis, and provide a wide range of social, environmental and economic benefits. However, there has been growing hostility towards commercial forestry in Scotland from environmental organisations increasingly influenced by ‘re-wilding’

and ‘nativeness’. e presumption of the environmentalists is that there will be limited if any timber production. ey argue that the long-term benefits to society of forests dominated by native trees such as birch, hazel, oak and alder outweigh the future benefits of commercially productive species such as spruce and firs.

Yet the debate around expanding environmental forests never consider the source of 50 million tonnes of wood products that we use in Britain each year. With only 13% of land occupied by trees (19% in Scotland), Britain has the second smallest area of forest in Europe and is the world’s second bi est importer of wood products.

Ironically, the growing demand for timber is influenced by environmental pressures to replace polluting or non-sustainable materials with ‘environmentally sustainable’ wood. Arguments around carbon and ‘embedded energy’ are also increasingly used to support the greater use of wood in construction (carbon emissions are reduced by 20% and 60% respectively by substituting timber for masonry

BOTTOM LEFT: Woodland creation with UK native trees.

TOP RIGHT: Logs in the forest after felling in Dollar Glen.

Covering Scotland with unproductive native trees rather than trees which produce the timber we need is illogical, environmentally ruinous and economically harmful, says Dr Andrew Cameron

and concrete in building construction). Scotland is well ahead of the rest of Britain in timber frame construction with over 80% of new houses built using this method. But the use of wood products has increased by almost 25% over the last decade which has meant a subsequent rise in imports.

Much of the wood we import comes from Northern and Central Europe at a time when many European countries are reducing production due to climate induced damage (particularly drought stress) raising concerns over the source of future imports. With the worldwide demand for timber increasing at 4% a year, the projected global lack of wood by the middle of this century will precipitate a rise of lo ing (o en illegal) in natural/semi-natural forests.

Growing more of our own timber would reduce the need to import wood and help preserve the world’s natural forests (whose loss is a significant contributor to greenhouse gas emissions).

Productive ‘plantation’ forests use land e ciently. ey only cover 3% of the total global forest area yet produce a third of the world’s industrial timber. In addition, productive forests support up to 269% more greenhouse gas mitigation potential than planted broadleaf conservation forests. At harvesting, soil carbon stocks are replenished from the woody material retained on site.

We are increasingly using our land for non-productive conservation tree planting while importing huge quantities of wood, itself creating a significant carbon footprint through shipping. Growing more of our own timber would improve domestic balance of payments (imports of wood to the UK cost £11 billion in 2022) and create a sustainable resource that generates wealth and employment, particularly in rural areas.

Despite having had a policy for more than 100 years to decrease the country’s dependence on imported wood by increasing the forest area, in Scotland this has only increased by 15% in that time. For the last 40 years much of that increase has been non-commerciallyproductive native woodland. e extensive areas of treeless hill land in Scotland o er the greatest potential for increasing the productive forest resource. Our Forestry Strategy provides for increasing Scotland’s forestry by 200,000 hectares by 2032, but in 2022, 65% (4,100 hectares) of the 6,300 hectares of bare land planted in Scotland, were planted with native

broadleaved tree species. Based on these figures, in the next nine years 130,000 hectares will be planted with native tree species that will produce little if any usable timber. Even worse, thanks to pressure from environmentalists, 20% of the 8,300 hectares of productive conifers felled in 2022 was replanted with predominantly unproductive native broadleaved trees, further reducing our ability to produce the timber we need in the future.

It is also interesting to reflect on the illogicality of conservationists who criticise non-native tree species growing in Scottish forests that cover less than one fi h of the land area when almost the entire agricultural sector – covering 70% of the land area – is based on farming non-native plants and animals.

Every hectare of land that could support productive conifers but is instead planted with native broadleaved species represents a future loss to the economy of 440 tonnes (20 lorry-loads) of usable wood. Every tonne of wood that is imported represents a drain on our economy, a risk to biodiversity somewhere else in the world, and adds more carbon to the atmosphere. is is not a reason to stop the restoration and expansion of endangered native forests in Scotland. But it must be recognised that dealing with the imminent environmental crisis associated with climate change and a future world shortage of industrial timber will require new thinking regarding a orestation.

Dr Andrew Cameron is a senior lecturer in Forest Ecolo and Management at the University of Aberdeen’s Institute of Biological and Environmental Sciences

‘Growing more of our own wood is vital to reduce imports and consequential pressures from lo ing’

WRITER’S NOTES

In Canada

Living in the present is challenging in modern day times, but a recent trip to Ontario serves as a welcome reminder to appreciate each moment of beauty in nature

Our plane descends – in an ordered fashion, fortunately. Any landing is e ectively a controlled crash, in which a sinking object meets the solid ground below. Understanding that helps us to comprehend flight, especially if we have a nodding acquaintance with Bernoulli’s Principle.

In our case, below us lay Toronto, and the welcoming asphalt of Lester B. Pearson International Airport. ey’ve fiddled about with the name of that airport – there are always those who can’t leave a good name alone. ink of the Caledonian Hotel and the NB. ink of that financial institution and the strange vowel-eating condition that a icted it. What if Edinburgh became Edbrgh, or Glasgow became Glsw? ese things can strike at any time.

hosts’ house, the winding road takes us from one geology to another:

e transition from limestone to granite / Occurs suddenly here, within a mile or two, no more, / When the unambitious local road / Dips down into a di erent world; // Now, the horizon becomes immediate, / Not at the end of a long meadow / Or fields of barley brushed by wind, / But formed by an entirely local treeline. // Here, because granite discourages / e careless seepage of water, / ere are lakes, ponds, and uncertain / Bodies of fallen rain that may be either.

e trees grow close together, and are unimaginable in their number: black spruce, poplar, sugar maple. Forests can easily become forbidding, but that is not the case here.

At night, a landscape that is never unfriendly / Even in darkness, entertains / Fireflies as they o er, in generosity / eir otherwise private messages.

Lester B. Pearson was a great Canadian public servant and Prime Minister who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1957. His was a wonderful name that sounded just right, as do the names of a number of other Canadian politicians, Pierre and Justin Trudeau being examples. en there is the splendidly-named William Lyon Mackenzie King, whose name had a striking poetical quality and who served three terms as Prime Minister. King was very peculiar, being a dedicated spiritualist who held regular séances during which he consulted his late mother, and his late dog, on many matters of state.

ere was smoke in the air. Not far away, in the forests of Quebec, hundreds of out-ofcontrol fires raged, sending smoke south and west, darkening the skies of New York State to the extent that the lights needed switching on during the day. We were headed, though, to an una ected part of eastern Ontario, north of Kingston. is is a landscape of small farms, of lakes, of the summer cottages that link Canadian urbanites with the quiet soul of their well-behaved country. A few miles from our

Our host, the poet Ian Burgham, promised to do something he had shown me before. On that earlier visit, in mid-winter, we le the house to go out in the darkness. Cupping his hands, he gave a realistic imitation of a wolf’s howl. ere was a brief silence, and then, under that starlit sky, there came a reply from a nearby pack.

On this occasion, we went, all four of us, to a place where he thought there were wolves. We stood on a small track while Ian howled his message. Its content was unintelligible, but its tone was one of unmistakeable loneliness. e regret of the wolf.

But it did not matter that his call evoked no response. e presence of fireflies was the prevailing impression of that moment. ey were there in profusion, flashes of light in the dark shapes of the trees, a delicate and fluid light show. Later that night, as I lay in the darkness awaiting sleep, I saw through the window fireflies moving outside, and felt a sudden, intense happiness at the privilege of being alive. I was surrounded by old friends, and reflected on the fact that:

Friends should understand one another / Because they all have the same sense / Of what is worth thinking about, / And don’t care too much for the city.

e quiet, the courtesy, this vast and beautiful land. Canada.

ALEXANDER MCCALL SMITH

The presence o fire ies as the pre ailin impression

A day for long dogs

From fabulous fancy dress to racing and agility courses, Phil Wilkinson captured the highlights from Scottish Dachshund Club’s Fun Day at irlestane Castle

STRIKE A PAWS: Emily Maitland-Carew with Twinkle the puppy (l), Blossom (centre), and Blossom’s dad Hector (r).

ABOVE: Susy Finkle with Mouse, Munchie and Midge.

RIGHT:The ‘Most Original Out t’ competition saw some spectacular entries.

FAR RIGHT: Arthur and Steve enjoyed the event which supported IVDD (Intervertebral Disc Disease) and Dachshund Rescue in Scotland charities.

CLOCKWISE

FROM TOP LEFT: Top dogs; plenty of owners got into the spirit of things with their out ts; Willow Cowan with puppy Lincoln; Primrose and Beatrice, mother and daughter, owned by Nakita Wilson.

OPPOSITE: Looking sharp for playtime. ABOVE: Bruno and Jackson enjoying the views of Thirlestane. BELOW LEFT: Jeanette Kay with her gorgeous Irn Bru dog, Slinky. BELOW RIGHT: Michelle Jackson with her ray of sunshine, Al e.

TO SEE MORE OF PHIL’S WORK GO TO

www.philspix.com @philwilkinsonphoto

Credo...

e history of medicine expert and former anaesthetist talks about co-writing with her husband, Chris Brookmyre

I’m originally from Glasgow. I was born in Stobhill Hospital, but we moved around a bit because my dad was a salesman. He ended up as an area sales manager for Rowntree Mackintosh. He used to get samples of new confectionery, so we got to taste new things before anyone else which seemed like a bit of a boon!

I was always the kid that was picked last on sports teams. I just wasn’t particularly athletic and I don’t think it occurred to me at that age that you would get better with training. I thought it was an inherent talent that I just didn’t have.

My mum and dad bought a caravan and we used to go on caravan holidays around Scotland. We had brilliant fun. My sister and I, as soon as we had parked up, would go o and explore on our bikes. I remember a holiday in Dornoch. I do remember looking in rock-pools a lot and carrying a wee fishing net. Mum was a biology teacher so she would talk to us about the sea urchins. It was all fascinating. I have really fond memories of that.

HAETZMAN

Chris is a very experienced writer and I am a novice. So, I was happy to be guided by him, but at the same time he realised that he didn’t have the depth of knowledge on the history of medicine that I did. So he didn’t argue with me about that, and I didn’t argue with him about plot or character development.

I don’t believe in ghosts or angels but I do think the human mind is a fascinating thing. I think the more we understand about neuroscience and how the brain works, the more these kinds of phenomenon will be explained.

My job as an anaesthetist really suited me because personality-wise I’m a bit of a control freak. With anaesthetics it’s very much about controlling everything with drugs and monitors. I’m also quite impatient. I did general medicine for a couple of years but anaesthetics is very di erent because you give a drug and you see the response to it straight away, whereas in general medicine you give a drug and you see the patient in six weeks.

Voices of the Dead [co-authored by Marisa’s husband Chris Brookmyre under the pseudonym Ambrose Parry], is our fourth book. So, we’re getting a bit better at the planning process. I think the reason that the collaboration works so well for us is that

I would absolutely love to go back to 1850s Edinburgh to see James Young Simpson’s dinner parties which were absolutely legendary. James [who discovered the anaesthetic properties of chloroform] invited anyone who was anyone to his house for dinner. So, you could be with artists, writers, scientists, and other doctors. Hans Christian Andersen went to his house when he was in town. James was a big fan of sni ng chloroform recreationally for entertainment purposes a er dinner. I think it would have been absolutely wild.

I’m reading a Kate Atkinson novel, Shrines of Gaiety

It’s set just a er WWI in the late 1920s in London. It’s absolutely brilliant. I like a bit of non-fiction as well. I read a great book called e Doctors Blackwell which is about Elizabeth and Emily Blackwell who were very early medical pioneers. Elizabeth was the first woman to achieve a medical degree.

Chris and I are a good collaboration for dinner parties. Chris does really good dinners and I do really good puddings. At the moment I do a good chocolate fudge cake, and I’m very good at crumbles. My essential writing snack? Tunnock’s Caramel Wafers.

Latin. (n) ‘I believe’. A set of beliefs which influences the way you live.

‘James Young Simpson’s dinner parties were absolutely legendary’

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GORDON THE GREAT

Without Scottish General Patrick Gordon, there would be no Peter the Great and no Russian empire, says Allan Massie

The Scottish role in the creation of the British Empire in India, the Americas, Australia and New Zealand is well known, but we are less aware of the part played by seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Scots in Eastern and Northern Europe.

If you go to Peterhead, for instance, you will come upon a fine statue of Field-Marshal James Keith, given to the town by the first German Kaiser. Keith, a Jacobite who was exiled from Scotland, was Frederick the Great of Prussia’s favourite commander, having previously served in the Russian army.

Russia was home to many of Scotland’s most talented men of war. A few miles south of Peterhead, there should be a comparable memorial to Patrick Gordon of Auchleuchries. Born in 1634 at a time when Europe was being redrawn, Gordon was arguably the most influential general of the Russian Army during a period when the expansionist Tsardom of Russia morphed into an empire under Peter the Great.

Gordon is partly responsible

Europe

for the rise of Tsar Peter the Great, and played a leading role in the expansion of the Russian Empire, especially in wars against the Ottoman Empire, including the annexation of Crimea. I’m mildly surprised that in his early days when he seemed rational Vladimir Putin didn’t think to emulate the Kaiser by having a statue of Gordon erected in Ellon where he attended the village school.

Patrick Gordon’s family were Roman Catholic and there was no future for the boy in the Scotland of the Covenant. In the years before the 1707 Treaty of Union opened the Empire to Scots, needy or ambitious Scots still

LEFT: Peter the Great owed his Tsardom to his Scottish General, Patrick Gordon.

ABOVE: Gordon served Sweden and Poland before becoming a loyal Russian soldier.

looked to careers in Europe rather than in America or India. Gordon was however intended for the priesthood and aged 15 was sent from his village school in Buchan to be educated at a Jesuit seminary in Germany. It didn’t suit him though and, like many Scots of the time, he became a soldier of fortune, first in the Swedish Army and then the Polish army, being taken prisoner by both within the next five years. He was injured in 1660 at the Battle of Chudnov, when the forces of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, allied with the Crimean Tatars, defeated the Tsardom of Russia, allied with the Ukrainian Cossacks, a loss which ended with the entire Russian army taken into slavery by the Tatars.

Hearing of the Stuart restoration, Gordon headed back to Scotland but was unable to find military employment in Scotland or England, so the by now experienced soldier of fortune found himself joining the Russian army. He was still not thirty and would serve there for the rest of his life, though his superbly detailed diaries make it clear that he was frequently ‘almost at wits end with vexation’ at the ine ciency, venality and corruption of his Russian subordinates.

But if Gordon was not always impressed by Russia, the young Russian Tsar Peter was impressed by him, especially when he put down a revolt by the regent, his sister Sophia, while Peter was in Vienna. Sophia aimed to depose her brother with the support of the Streltsy, an elite corps of musketeers, but Gordon smashed their march on Moscow, thus preserving Peter on the throne. Almost 1,200 Streltsy

were hung around Red Square, and many more were exiled. Gordon was at the modernising Tsar’s right hand for Russia’s emergence as a European power. Gordon fought against the Ottoman Empire and overcame the Tatars of the Crimea during a campaign in which he seized Azov to secure a Russian stronghold on the Black Sea.

ough the expansion of the Empire in the south and east was to be Gordon’s first achievement, Peter’s ambitions in the north and west, where the great rival powers were Sweden and Poland, saw him found a new capital at St Petersburg and seek to develop a navy. As ever with a matter of the utmost importance, Peter entrusted the creation of a navy to Gordon, who now became an Admiral as well as a General.

Gordon, ever the proud Scot, provided this first Russian Navy with its flag: a reversed Saltire.

Such was Gordon’s position at the court of Peter the Great that when the Scot fell ill in 1699, Peter made his debt to the General evident by repeatedly visiting him on his deathbed, being present at his death and personally closing his eyes a er he passed away.

Gordon himself had remained loyal to his Jacobite roots, persuading Peter not to recognise William of Orange

RED SQUARE:

The morning of the Streltsy executions in Red Square, painted in 1881 by Vasily Surikov.

‘Gordon’s superbly detailed diaries show that he was almost at his wits end with the Russians’

as king of England and Scotland a er the Revolution of 1688 and the exile of James VII & II. He also remained loyal to his religion, persuading Peter to allow the building of the first Roman Catholic church in Russia, in the face of opposition from the Orthodox clergy.

Numerous Scots had served under Gordon – such as the distinguished pair of Alexander Livingstone and Paul Menzies – and he was joined by other Gordons (his cousin, Alexander Gordon of Auchintoul, married his daughter).

So venerated was Gordon that Scottish influence on Holy Russia would survive long past his demise.

Many came from Jacobite families: James Keith, who fought in the failed 1715 and the 1719 uprisings, served prominently in the Russian army before transferring his loyalty to Prussia.

Later, Catherine the Great, herself originally a German princess, had a Scottish physician while one of her favourite architects – Charles Cameron, creator of the Summer Palace outside St Petersburg – claimed to be a kinsman of Cameron of Lochiel. As late as the Napoleonic Wars the Russian FieldMarshal, Barclay de Tolly was a Kincardineshire Barclay.

In nothing was Scottish influence more evident than in the first flowering of Russian Literature. Pushkin and Lermontov, regarded as the first two great Russian writers, were both greatly influenced by Byron, who was raised in Aberdeenshire and whose mother was a Gordon of Gight. Lermontov also claimed descent from the Border family of Learmonth. Robert Burns became a favourite poet in Russia, even in Soviet times. But no Scot had greater influence than Walter Scott. War and Peace, the great Russian novel – arguably the greatest of all novels – is deeply indebted to the Waverley novels. Arguably, Russia owes as much to Scotland and Scottish culture as the United States of America does – and that’s a lot.

Exiled Scots were everywhere in eighteenth century Europe, many of them Jacobites. A favourite (possiblyapocryphal) story comes from one of the many eighteenth century wars between Russia and the Turks. e two generals met to discuss terms of a truce. As the Russian one entered the tent, his Ottoman counterpart looked him in the eye and said, ‘aye, aye, Sandy, we’ve come a lang way frae the Back o’ Bennachie’ where as boys the two had played war games together.

HERE HE LIES: Patrick Gordon’s grave at Wedenskoye Cemetery in Moscow where his remains were reinterred in 1877. FALL FROM GRACE: Ilya Repin’s portrait of Peter the Great’s sister Sophia; THE TSAR: Peter the Great.

THE COUNTRYMAN

Into the Wilde

Life is a never-ending journey of discovery, and meeting forager, herbalist and ethnobotanist Monica Wilde is always an eye-opening experience

Monica Wilde recently wrote a book entitled e Wilderness Cure. It documents a year she spent living o the wild margins of Scotland that surround her small holding in West Lothian. Beneath the fog of Covid she quietly stepped out into the ancient. Each page and paragraph of her book took me deeper into meaning and knowledge.

Monica has been teaching foraging since 2005, has a Masters degree in herbal medicine and for years ran the famous herbalist beacon, ‘Napiers e Herbalists’ in Edinburgh. And it is this bedrock of serious knowledge which gives her e ortless prose even more impact. Her book arrived in my pandemic-sealed house, and I tore through it in two days.

Recently I decided I had to make contact with Monica and like a nervous schoolboy I sent her a message asking if I might visit. In a matter of hours, she replied. I drove into the lush country of a corner of Scotland that is rarely visited. It’s not destination Scotland. However, her selfbuilt wooden home, set in ancient acres, has now become a beacon of hope and learning to me. e beating heart of her home is the kitchen. And it is, without question, the lair of a true wilderness gourmet. Every square foot of the woody interior is lined with shelves which are loaded with bottled, labelled and preserved wild harvests. ere was no dust I noted – everything immaculate and everything used.

With a sense of deep relief that my hero was real, I sat at the well worn wooden table and we talked as she prepared a lunch for friends and family with the same lack of e ort that I had enjoyed in her writing. And then with the oven purring we walked out into the fecund acres of her small holding and with each pause beside a plant she took me back in time.

I have walked with the San in their wilderness and gatherers in the jungle and Arctic and every time the experience has been the same. Firstly, there is a childlike joy in it all. A love of the ground and everything growing from it. Stories, tastes, textures and knowledge that have their origins in the dawn of our time

become guiding currents. Forces of nature which we so o en cannot hear above the din of everyday ‘busy’ lives are given a chance, at last, to enrich us.

I walked behind her, watching how she handled each plant with a true forager’s dexterity. We stopped at a broad leaved dock plant and I asked if there was any truth behind the common held belief that rubbing a leaf on nettle stings o ered a cure. She smiled and I watched as her hand de ly plucked a young furled leaf. She peeled it to reveal a gel reminiscent of aloe vera. ‘ is, not the leaves, is where the cure is,’ she said simply. e gel contains phyto chemicals called anthraquinones. Specifically, emodin and aloe-emodin which control pain as they combine to create salicylic acid. It’s a kind of natural aspirin. Additionally there are anti-inflammatory chemicals such as physcion and chrysophanol.

Next we passed a tangle of cleavers which hung vivid and green over an old fence. ‘Later I’ll just drag an old T-shirt over them for the seeds when they’re ready. en toast them in a frying pan and crush for co ee. e plant is actually in the same family as co ee,’ she said. I stared in amazement. We walked on and I learnt with every step. Later, back in the kitchen Monica set about preparing a summer tea from earlier harvests. Watermint, rose petals, rosebay willow herb, ground ivy, pineappleweed, pot marigold, red clover, mullein leaf and ground elder all went into a mix which soon resembled something akin to the sight of a wildflower meadow.

I drove home slowly that day, lost in thought. Overriding it all was a simple sense of gratitude too. at we have people here amongst us who are all such willing and gi ed teachers. And there’s more to come from her as she narrates her trail through the wild forgotten places of Scotland. Archives of past knowledge that are forever open to those who will listen and learn. As long as there are great teachers like Monica

GUY GRIEVE

‘Her self-built wooden home has now become a beacon of hope’

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Blair Atholl, Perthshire,

e accidental

Michael Findlay was a reluctant gardener, but when Ayrshire’s Carnell House and Estate was passed to him, it turned him into an unlikely enthusiast, discovers Antoinette Galbraith

BEST IN SHOW: Bright swathes of Lythrum and alstroemeria set the tone for the dramatic planting scheme at Carnell.

Images Ray Cox

gardener

TOP: Oversized, repeat planting of tried and tested plants in the main border lead into the Walled Garden. TOP

RIGHT: Pink roses combine well with tall, wavy Veronicastrum in the main border.

RIGHT: Bright Lysimachia punctata, alstroemeria, hostas and box cones are the perfect foil for the sandstone house.

Twenty-two years ago when Michael Findlay took over Carnell House in Ayrshire from his father John, he admits he was an unenthusiastic gardener.

‘I had no interest,’ he says. ‘My father looked on me as a free gardener.’ School holidays spent weeding and clearing the 900 yards of borders, just one of the highlights of this spectacular garden, had taken their toll. Boredom set in and Michael became disenchanted.

It was an inauspicious start. Carnell and its surrounding estate has been in the ownership of the Findlay family via descent from the Wallace and later Hamilton-Findlay family for over 700 years. Architects including William Burn in 1843 (who also designed the Walled Garden) and David Bryce transformed the original 14th-century tower house into the present neo-Jacobean sandstone mansion.

e garden was shaped by successive generations. Family input is clearly visible in the 300-year-old designed landscape and surrounding polices. On arrival the scene is set by Lime Tree Avenue, which is made up of two raised squares planted to commemorate the Scottish regiments who fought in the Battle of Dettingen in 1743. An allied victory in the Austrian War of succession, this was the last battle fought in the presence of a British King.

ere was also the ten-acre garden laid out by Georgina Hamilton-Findlay, Michael’s great grandmother, added to by her son and grandson, home to the renowned Edwardian herbaceous borders. Another fine Edwardian feature is the yew allee which links the castellated elements at the front

of the house to the main garden. e stakes were high and following in historic footsteps with little help at a time of labour shortages and tight budgets presented challenges. In the years before John Findlay handed over, the borders had become neglected and bindweed had started to creep in. Nonetheless Michael and his partner Adrienne, who are ‘both pretty hands on’, refused to be daunted.

‘We live in the main house and have tenants in the Garden House which was built by his grandmother in the Walled Garden and is a copy of the middle floor of Carnell,’ explains Adrienne.

‘Family input is clearly visible in the 300-year-old designed landscape and surrounding policies’

Top Tips

FOR AN EASY-TO-MAINTAIN GARDEN

• arnell, ichaelsays, offersa masterclassinmanagingalarge garden.’ ithonlypart timehelp onhandandthehouseregularly let prioritisingis key.

• heimportantthingis to dowhat you like. on’t worryaboutwhatother peoplewillthink,’ says ichael.

• on’t hesitate to save timeandlabour. akelifeaseasyaspossible. or e ample,if you don’t have thefundsor thelabour to makecompostthenbuyit.

• ot intoweeding Investinbark. I have investedina lotof bark,whichshould last ve years.It’sagoodinvestment asitcutsdownonweeds. It’se pensive butcheaperthanlabour,’ says ichael. ollowingatipfromaformergardener, ichaelinvestedinsi eablechips of elcourtbark.

• nnuals are not grown at arnellas they are too timeconsumingand glasshouses too e pensive to run. hile ohn indlayused to e tendthe plantingseasonwithbeddingplants suchasbegonias, ichealand drienne prefer to selecte istingherbaceous plantswithalongfloweringseason. oorperformers are avoided.

• Usewhatever youhave onsite. Generations of thefamily have taken advantage of the yrshirerain to create pondsand water features.

A sense of humour combined with a refusal to worry about the garden remains key. ‘We don’t have any gardeners,’ Adrienne says. ‘We finish our day job running the house and in the evening we take a Pimms and go and do some gardening. I’ve always enjoyed gardening and have done since I was a little girl when I was encouraged to have a small part of the garden to look a er.’

Michael, who su ered from a bout of cancer four years ago, admits he is limited in how much physical labour he can manage and now speeds around the garden in a golf cart.

‘I like to keep moving,’ he says. ‘I am easily bored. My father, John, liked quantity rather than quality. I am the reverse. I like quality rather than quantity. My grandfather was meticulous.’

Formal plans were strictly adhered to and a keen eye was kept on new introductions. His passion for colour, combined with a practical outlook, are important themes. Sheets of snowdrops are followed by dri s of da odils, bluebells, rhododendrons and azaleas. e da odils in particular are a showstopping sight spreading from under the lime trees and the house down the banks to the pond. ‘I am trying to make the garden interesting at all times of the year. I want colour in the winter. To always have something happening.’

Michael confesses to ‘non-existent gardening skills’, but that is well suited to managing striking borders. ‘I don’t know the names of any of the plants, but I do know what I like: tall architectural plants and lots of colour,’ he says.

First is the show-stopping 100-metre long border tucked into a former quarry outside the Walled Garden, which is a glorious riot of height, colour and texture. Pink and red roses, as well as honeysuckle, scramble up the walls and billow out of the Walled Garden’s iron railings.

‘A sense of humour combined with a refusal to worry about the garden remains key’

Old-fashioned plants, some in place for 120 years, repeated throughout the garden, include tall delphiniums, dri s of purple Campanula, Aconitum and pale yellow Cephalaria gigantea. Bright yellow swathes of Lysimachia punctata, pink lupins and Sidalcea ‘Elsie Heugh’ contrast with orange lilies at the front of the border. Cottage gardening on a grand scale with few, if any, plants requiring staking. ‘It is beautiful, absolutely fantastic,’ Adrienne says.

‘ e light, the colours, the fragrances.’ Opposite, separated by a grass path,

a rectangular pond is broken up with islands of white astilbe, ferns, iris and hostas reflecting in the still waters. e pond is filled and kept crystal clear by water harnessed down a small waterfall and through stands of bamboo. e Japanese lantern is a reminder of the family’s historic trading association with Burma and Japan.

e feeling of intimacy created by the height of the plants intensifies as you walk along. ‘It’s magical because it has got all the history, its over 100 years old and some of the plants have been here all this time,’ says Adrienne.

e border rises towards the slate roofed wooden pagoda, home to a pair of Buddahs, which is reached via winding stone steps running through clouds of Filipendula introduced by Michael’s grandfather, stands out against a backdrop of Gunnera, rodgersia and iris foliage.

With quality rather than quantity in mind, Michael knew he would need to simplify the borders, and this one has just been reduced in width by six feet. Such is the abundance of the planting that this reduction is far from obvious.

Ten years ago he put his own stamp on the garden by creating a large pond west of the house in a disused quarry. Close enough to reflect the house it doubles as a swimming pond enjoyed by the family including Michael’s two grown-up children, Harry and Rosina. Reed control is done by Adrienne in a wet suit.

e ongoing success of this garden, despite the challenges, is due to Michael’s strong drive to maintain its beauty. ‘I may not know the plant names but I like to keep the garden looking nice. Running this place is not for everybody, but I want it to look tidy. It’s important to trust your instincts and not to worry too much.’

‘We can’t take it too seriously,’ agrees Adrienne. ‘We don’t have the help. But each month has a huge amount of colour from the azaleas in spring until the leaves turn in autumn.’

The house sits at the heart of a 2,000-acre estate, just 40 minutes from Glasgow, 15 minutes from Prestwick Airport and a short distance from the coast. The house is available for exclusive use throughout the year.

Email: info@carn ellestates.com

www.carnell estates.com

Tel: 07730 713771

/ 01563 884236

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: A crescendo of astilbe, lipendula and campanula rise up towards the Buddha house; Michael Findlay gardening in the evening; water lilies add to the Japanese feel in the water garden.

Carnell House, Hurlford, Ayrshire, KA1 5JS

Winner of Best of Houzz Awards for Client Satisfaction 2015

GARDEN NEWS

e latest green-fingered news from around Scotland

commixta, is a small tree that closely resembles our native rowan. With a neat domed crown and silvery bark, this medium-sized tree is attractive all year round with white owers in spring to late summer followed by bright orange red pome fruits. Native to Japan and Korea at higher altitudes, this specimen tree is reasonably hardy in the UK.

However, it’s in the autumn that the Japanese rowan comes into its own with its particularly spectacular seasonal colour. This is its pièce de résistance and the reason it has become such a popular garden tree.

The berries are attractive to birds too. In gardens, this tree species is generally represented by one of a few selected named cultivars. ‘Embley’, or Chinese scarlet rowan is the cultivar most renowned for autumn colour and in a good year, the display can last a couple of weeks.

A true all-rounder, this tree grows in generally moist but well-drained soil and tolerates full sun. With its small stature but huge presence it stands out as a classy choice of specimen tree for the discerning gardener.

GRAHAM STEWART Curator at Dawyck Botanic Garden, Stobo, Peebles.

HEDGE H OG H IG H WAYS TO HELP VULNERABLE SPECIES

A campaign for hedgehog friendly fencing has been launched. Hedgehogs can travel 2km in a single night, and fences prevent them from accessing different gardens looking for food. But 13cm square gaps in fences, known as Hedgehog Highways, could help to combat this prickly problem. The campaign, by Hedgehog Street, hopes to give the vulnerable species better access to neighbouring gardens, which is vital for their long-term survival. www.hedgehogstreet.org

In fu bloom

is year’s design on the world’s oldest floral clock has been completed, with more than 50,000 flowers and plants. e landmark in Edinburgh’s West Princes Street Gardens will celebrate 100 years of Flying Scotsman. It took three gardeners just four weeks to plant the clock. ere are 20 di erent plants included in this year’s design such as antennaria and crassula. It will bloom until October. www.edinburgh.gov.uk

AUTUMN WREATHS

Floors Castle in the Borders is hosting an autumn wreath workshop on 23 September.

Led by Caroline Millar, a renowned florist and stylist, it will guide you using traditional methods, seasonal foliage and trims to create a beautiful wreath during the two-hour workshop. www.floorscastle.com

A new community garden has opened on Glasgow’s High Street. Council-owned Greyfriars Biophilic Garden, near Barony Hall, has 56 spaces which have all been snapped up by growers ranging in age from mid-20s to over 80 years old. e former Greyfriars Garden was set up as part of the council’s Stalled Spaces initiative in 2012 and was always intended to be temporary. With plans now afoot for the area, a new council site has been found for the growers. www.greyfriarsgardenglasgow.co.uk

FIT FOR THE NATIONAL BARDIT’S A BUG’S LIFE

e National Trust for Scotland has revealed plans to update the Burns Monument garden for its 200th anniversary. Etchings by artists David Octavius Hill and James Mitchell in the early 1800s, alongside photography and postcards of the garden from the 20th century, are being used to develop future improvements to the Alloway visitor attraction. www.nts.org.uk

Conservation charity Buglife is calling on people to help reduce light pollution in their gardens. Light pollution has detrimental e ects on nocturnal bugs, disrupting natural rhythms and altering their navigation. Changes such as shutting the curtains when the lights are on, using motion sensors and planting nocturnal flowering plants can help. www.buglife.org.uk

Historical drawings from the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh’s collection of Indian botanical art is being showcased for the rst time. ross t o rooms in the ohn ope ate ay allery Connecting Histories includes botanical art from RBGE’s collection of works gifted by Indian-born Scots botanist Hugh le horn. t ill feature allpaper sho in ndian otani al artists at or and lass ases ontainin her arium spe imens. he exhi ition ill run until pril next year. www.rbge.org.uk

TITBITS

An elusive ‘Polar Bear’ Rhododendron was discovered in the grounds of Drum Castle, in Aberdeenshire. The white owering specimen was rst spotted in July 2022 and the team were delighted to have captured the stunning images of it in full ower this year. The lily-like, pure white, fragrant owers are 11cm in width, and are borne in late summer.

www.nts.org.uk

THE FACTS & FIGURES

3,000

The number of works gifted by Hugh Cleghorn.

1850

COMMUNITY SPIRIT

13,500

The year the botanical illustrations date back to. The number of species in RBGE’s collection.

A garden bursting with fresh fruit, veg and owers has opened in Edinburgh thanks to thousands of pounds in funding. Linked to one of the busiest community centres in the city, the Gilmerton community garden has been designed to bring local people together. More than £66,000 has been invested creating planters and new paths at the garden. Little helpers from Blossom Tree Nursery helped celebrate the garden opening.

www.edinburgh.gov.uk

INDIAN BOTANICAL ART ON SHOW

OUTDOOR LIFE

Helping you make the most of your garden

1. GRAHAM SANDALS: Huts, bothies, open shelters and garages that are made to last using home-grown larch. Tel: 07773 809345 , grahamsandals.co.uk

2 GARDENS GALORE: Specialising in creating beautiful outdoor spaces to suit your lifestyle. Pictured: a sloping garden, transformed by wooden terracing to provide a variety of planting areas, raised deck for entertaining and a play area Tel: 01738 553014, gardensgalorescotland.co.uk

3. JML GARDEN ROOMS: Modern, traditional and espoke lu ury garden rooms uilt using the finest materials. Quick to erect with minimal running costs and perfect for year-round use. Tel: 01764 663 668 , jmlgardenrooms.co.uk

4. FORTH GRASS MACHINERY: The EGO Power+ system delivers petrol-matching power without any of the downsides. It’s simpler, cleaner and with less vibration is more comfortable to use. Switching to EGO Power+ will lead to long-term savings. Tel: 01383 841603, forthgrassmachinery.co.uk

5. NEW HOPETOUN GARDENS: the home of garden ornaments. Treat your garden and yourself this summer with a decorative delight! What will you choose? Tel: 01506 834433, newhopetoungardens.co.uk

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HORTICULTURE

Readers’ gardens

Whether it’s buttercup woes, fruitless fig trees or troubleshooting issues in a shady urban garden, our resident expert is here to help

Is there any way of reducing or getting rid of creeping buttercup in a lawn without resorting to poison? Karen Petrie, Ban

Alice Cooper may be proud of your thoughts of poison, but creeping buttercup removal tends to require the gardening gra of hoeing and weeding to root it out of a lawn successfully. It can be a rampant plant, which spreads rapidly through its stolons in wet and heavy soil. Autumn o ers a great opportunity to aerate the lawn and get at these roots and runners. oroughness wins the day on this one.

One side of our ‘Forest Flame’ evergreen has started to wither and die off. It started small but seems to be spreading. Some of the green leaves have a black soot on them, which you can wash off. Is there any way to stop this from spreading, and will it regrow when it has recovered? Kevin McCubbin, Oban e Pieris ‘Forest Flame’ is popular in Scottish gardens, as it is a great year-round performer, pretty relaxed about its growing conditions and a pollinator-friendly shrub. However, it sounds as though yours has had some unwelcome visitors, potentially in the form of aphids. e soot you mention is a mould created by the honeydew the sap-suckers secrete on leaves.

I’d su est carefully sponge-washing the whole plant with lukewarm water, pruning any part which is dead and diseased and disposing of the waste in the bin (not the compost). Consider creating more space for ventilation, if necessary. Also, ladybirds love an aphid, so plant opencentred flowers nearby to welcome them as an organic control.

My five-year-old fig tree looks very healthy but provides minimal fruit. It’s in a sunny sheltered spot. Is it true that figs like tough soil and constrained roots? What can I do to get it to provide more fruit?

Henry Blower, Balmaclellan

Young fig trees are busy producing leaves and it’s in their later years that their energies shi towards fruit production, so you may just be playing a game of patience. However, always reevaluate your plant’s growing conditions if you feel there is a problem. Does it grow against the

heat of a south-facing wall? Is it frost-protected in winter? Fruit production can be encouraged further by restricting a fig tree’s root system, either in a container or by building a brick pit around the roots – the equivalent of a big yellow tra c diversion sign to its energy supply.

ere is a corner of our city garden overshadowed by trees and alongside a stone wall. It’s well drained and the soil is decent, but even weeds stru le to grow there. Can you recommend some plants for low-maintenance ground cover for a very shady patch of ground? Robert Outram, Edinburgh Gardens are personal patches of nature, and nature always knows best. I have a Scots Pine which casts shade and I’ve let a Vinca minor take over the patch of dyke underneath it to great e ect. Ground cover plants which also seem happy there are heucheras and, of course, ivy. For flowers, think of replicating a beautiful woodland shade setting – we’re talking about cyclamens, snowdrops, forget-me-nots, bluebells, hellebores, primulas and ferns.

What would be a good, walkable, ground cover for a small orchard? Not grass, as we don’t want to mow it! Penny Cox, Perth is is the kind of garden quandary which occupies so many contemporary growers – ‘how can I have something traditional but not in a formal style?’ You could come over all Cornish coastline and opt for a classic camomile lawn, which would benefit from the well-drained soil an orchard demands.

Or how about underplanting the area entirely with a wildflower meadow interspersed with clover paths for that non-mowing means of access? Early spring bulbs could o er a riot of colour within the meadow, until the blossom and fruit of the orchard take over. How romantic.

Fiona Leith is a qualified horticulturalist, writer and communications officer at NatureScot. Please email your gardening-related questions, including your name and the area where you live, to editor@scottishfield.co.uk

FIONA LEITH

House of cra s

‘An Arts and Cra s house in every sense’ is how contemporary artist Shân Monteith-Mann describes her family home, and her description is perfectly apt, says Nichola Hunter

Images Robert Perry

CRAFTY BUSINESS: Recon guring the downstairs layout has made the living spaces ow better and take advantage of the natural light.

‘Upstairs, opposite the drawing room, was a tiny study entered by a secret door’

A BOOKWORM’S HAVEN: This cosy library neuk at the top of the stairs is the perfect spot in which to relax with a good book. SHALL WE ADJOURN?: The property’s Arts and Crafts features take centre stage in the upstairs drawing room.

Shân, her husbandCraig and their twin boys moved to the Arts and Cra s property in June 2012. ey had been living in a detached property in Edinburgh’s Morningside but were looking for ‘more sky,’ as Shân explains. ‘We didn’t know this area well, but when we saw the house, it was love at first sight.’

e five-bedroom property situated at the foot of the Pentland hills was part of the original Ravelrig Estate. When it was built in the late-1800s it was surrounded by fields, woods and that aforementioned sky.It was exactly what the Monteith-Manns were looking for although it was in need of some work.‘ e original features such as the panelling and stained glass were here but they needed restored and renovated ,’ Shân recalls. ‘We lived here for five years before we did anything major, but I think you need to do that, so you see how you use the space.’

In 2017 the couple embarked on a nine-month building project. Fortunately, they had the foresight to renovate the gatehouse adjacent to the front of the house first and when they packed their suitcases and moved out, it was into a stylish and comfortable new pad where they took up residence. ‘It was very good to be on site during the work; old houses have a tendency to throw up some issues when you start pulling things apart and living in the gatehouse we were on hand for the builders when there were any questions.’

As artists and designers (both Shân and Craig have exhibited at the Royal Scottish Academy and Craig runs an award-winning design company), the couple were able to draw up their own plans for the property’s next phase and it was a design that altered the entire flow of the house.‘In the original layout there were two doors accessing the kitchen but no back door,’ explains Shân. ‘ ere was a separate dining

COOK’S CORNER:

A stylish and contemporary double height extension has replaced the old conservatory.

ARTISTIC INSPIRATION:

Shân in her studio.

room, French doors to the garden but no terrace to speak of and a timber conservatory. Upstairs, opposite the drawing room, was a tiny study entered by a secret door.’

e Monteith-Manns planned to remove the conservatory and in its footprint build a double height kitchen/diner extension which would incorporate a larger study on the first floor that could be used as Shân’s art studio or as an additional bedroom.

e extension is clad in Siberian Larch to show the separation of old and new but the enlarged section of roof which covers the study extension is covered in slate in order to match the existing roofline.

A utility room was created where the original kitchen was located, and this now leads through to a Jack and Jill cloakroom WC so that muddy boots aren’t trailed through the house. e secret door upstairs was also retained, and where it once led to the study it now leads to Shân’s studio.

Along with the new extension the property was rewired, the plumbing and heating upgraded, the original windows were replaced with heritage timber, double-glazed versions and the bathrooms and ensuites refurbished.

‘ e building isn’t listed which is

quite surprising but even though we didn’t have to we’ve kept all the original details. Even when we rewired the lights, we replaced the surrounds with square versions as that was what was there before.

‘We also replaced the French doors with a bay window because again that was what was there originally. It’s always been our intention to keep the integrity of the house and take care of it for the next owners.’

A Farrow & Ball paint palette has been used throughout and the result is calming and surprisingly contemporary given the age of the property. Shân’s mixed media art complements the colour scheme adding to the sense of

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A well-loved TV presenter and personality, Jay Blades has teamed up with G Plan; offering a collaboration that rethinks the way classic furniture design can be crafted. Presenting a diverse range of pieces from a furniture company with a rich design heritage, Jay Blades X G Plan will alter your perception of how staple furniture pieces should look and feel.

21/07/2023 16:28:04

calm and tranquillity. e furniture is an eclectic mix of modern and antique and one gets the impression that nothing is allowed in here unless it has a story to tell.

Externally, the mature walled garden has been allowed to flourish albeit with a few landscaping additions. Stone terraces have been introduced along the back of the house with one even being measured out as a chess board

which was a big hit during lockdown.

‘Our sons are grown up now, but everyone was home during lockdown and having the outdoor space and the gatehouse really helped when everyone was working from home.’

Today, Shân is the only one working from home but what a space to work from. ‘My studio is a fantastic place in which to work, and it’s flooded with natural light from two sides.As a professional artist, there’s inspiration at every turn.Health and wellbeing are very important to me as well and the garden and the location in general is such a blessing.

‘It’s lovely when the house is peaceful, and I can get on with my work but equally it’s a marvellous house for entertaining and celebrating.It suits both and everything in between. It’s an Arts and Cra s house in every sense, inside and out and it’s fitting that an artist and designer live here.’

Top Tips

CRAFTING THE IDEAL HOME

• Unlessit’sabsolutelyessential for modern day comfort,tryandput off doing any majorrenovations untilafter you’ve livedinthe property for awhile.

• Get professionaladvice,whether it’saninteriordesigneroran architect;theiradvicecanbe helpfuland save moneyespecially whenrenovatingaperiodproperty.

• Ifyou’retakingonamaturegarden let itrunawholeyearso you see whatdoesordoesn’tcomeup.

• Renovations are not necessarily aboutmakingthehousebigger; thinkabout how you canmakethe spacesworkbetterandimprove the flow.

Stay up to date

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: The stained glass windows are original to the property; a view of the front elevation. The gatehouse is on the right of the drive; collectibles and family treasures have been carefully curated throughout the house.

Shân will be exhibiting in Eastbourne in the autumn. To view Shân’s work visit www.shanmonteithart.com or Instagram @shan_monteith_art

LAVISH LIVING

Darling, it’s fabulous

1. JANE PERFECT INTERIORS: Award-winning interior design studio based in Edinburgh. Passionate about creating beautiful, timeless interiors. espoke designs that reflect your style and personality, creating interiors that stand the test of time. Tel: 07718 916 553, www.janeperfectinteriors.com

2 BLACKHOUSE: A range of seventeen luxurious hand woven Harris Tweeds ensure your choice and com inations are endless. ach espoke piece is lovingly crafted in cotland and designed with your comfort in mind. Tel: 01577 898 010, www.blackhouse.co.uk

3. MOZOLOWSKI & MURRAY: Transform everyday living with a uni uely lu urious space designed to enhance your lifestyle, while adding significant value to your home. Tel: 0345 050 5440, www.mozmurray.co.uk

4. LARCH COTTAGE NURSERIES: Dr. ran es iren e is synonymous with lifestyle fragrances and is a sym ol of talian e cellence. The ed arn gallery at arch Cottage Nurseries in Meikinthorpe, Penrith is one of the few UK stockists. Tel: 01931 712767, www.larchcottage.co.uk

5 THE ORIGINAL CHAIR COMPANY: Relax in a uality corner sofa from the new helsea Sofa range. This beautiful sofa has a coilsprung seat, featherlux seat cushions and sumptuous feather & down back cushions. The sofa sits on a polished plinth. Tel: 01738 551 600, www.theoriginalchaircompany.co.uk

6. THE EDINBURGH TABLE COMPANY: Mossilee Oak Table and Parlour Chairs. andmade in cotland using only locally sourced wood. Tel: 01750 725 870, www.edinburghtablecompany.co.uk

7. THE BATHROOM COMPANY: Venetian oak ca inets with a uni ue and e traordinary appearance from the natural embellishments produced y shipworm. Tel 0131 337 3355, www.thebathroomcompany.co.uk

8. SPECTRAGLASS: Frameless glass alustrade with colour changing D for that ama ing finishing touch. Tel , www.spectraglass.com

9. GRACE & FAVOURS: The best of gifting is availa le all year around in one of Perthshire’s leading gift and interior shops. 119 High Street, Auchterarder. Find them on social media. Tel: 01764 663369

(£270,000|)

ANTIQUES

Scottish Field’s round-up of the salerooms, interesting lots and prices

Auctioneer Spotlight

Jewellery Department

Most Expensive: I would consider this piece one of the most valuable I’ve come across. It was the single pearl pendant that belonged to Marie Antoinette. It was part of The Bourbon-Parma auction sold in Geneva in 2018. The auction was a white glove sale, which means that all lots sold and the pearl made $36 million (£28m). The announcement of the pearl appearing at auction for the rst time in generations caused an electrifying atmosphere in the auction room.

Most Unusual: There are many unusual pieces being created in the jewellery industry, sometimes as a result of a private commission from a collector with an idiosyncratic vision, which means unexpected surprises often come up. One that sticks in my mind is a unique pig made by Chopard. It was made in 2010 along with 149 other animals to celebrate their 150th anniversary. It was set with around 26 carats of pink diamonds. Luckily for me, this sale – which I was on the rostrum for – happened to take place in the year of the pig in the Chinese zodiac and we sold the pig for over 300,000 Swiss francs (£270,000).

www.sothebys.com

September sale dates

DUMFRIES

Thomson Roddick:

5: Home Furnishings & Interiors.

PERTH

Lindsay Burns & Co:

5,6: Antique & Fine Art.

EDINBURGH

ROYAL ARCHIVE

An

Dress to impress

e dress of a woman who was a pioneer of Glasgow's tearooms in the 19th century has sold for £4,613 at auction. Catherine 'Kate' Cranston commissioned Charles Rennie Mackintosh for the iconic Willow Tearooms. e red dress was a well-documented costume worn by Kate and was brought to Great Western Auction by textile specialist Liz Mackinlay, whose grandmother was a cousin of Cranston. www.greatwesternauctions.com

Lyon & Turnbull:

6: Five Centuries.

20: Jewellery.

21: Rare Books, Manuscripts, Maps & Photographs.

GLASGOW

McTear's:

7, 21: Antiques & Interiors.

20: Coins & Banknotes, Jewellery, Watches.

27: Whisky.

28: The Scottish Contemporary Art Auction.

Wham! Bam! Kapow!

One of the bi est single collections of DC Comics has sold for £27,000 at McTear's auction. e lot included thousands of comic books covering the 1960s Silver Age through to modern day, with full runs of famous heroes and villains. Rare books featuring Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, and e Flash were included in the sale. www.mctears.co.uk

archive belonging to the bodyguard of King Edward VIII fetched £14,804 at Lyon & Turnbull auction. David Storrier, from Kirriemuir, spent 18 years with the Duke. His archive included letters, photographs, medals and gifts. www.lyonandturnbull.com

SCOTTISH FIELD COLLECTION

Our monthly arts round-up

TIN SHED GALLERY

Fiona MacRae is a well loved artist in Argyll and beyond and Tin Shed Gallery in the Isle of Mull is excited to show her new print work and found objects in the exhibition called FOUND. The show runs from 16 August-22 October. Showing alongside MacRae is the corrugated ceramic work of Charlotte Mellis. Tin Shed Gallery is open Wed-Sun, 12-5pm. Tel: 01688 500 103, mellisceramics.co.uk

ARTERIES GALLERY

ARTeries Gallery Summer exhibition featuring some of cotland s finest contemporary artists including Wilson, King, Gardner, Mutter, Cardiff, Barr, Kennedy, Brander, Foyle and more. Image: The Damson by Gordon Wilson. reat estern oad, lasgow, G4 9JA

Tel: 0141 333 0999, arteriesgalleryglasgow.co.uk

EION STEWART

Situated in Stonehaven, Aberdeenshire, Eion Stewart is a delightful destination contemporary art gallery, bringing both established and emerging artists to the area through a curated programme of exhibitions. They also have 30+ years of frame-making experience.

Image: One Day Last Summer, 1.2m x 0.6m, oil on board. Tel: 01569 785606, eionstewartfineart.com

FRAMES GALLERY

Frames Gallery is delighted to be hosting the only Scottish venue for the Society of Wood Engravers 85th Annual Exhibition. With over 120 amazing works from all over the world this is an outstanding exhibition. Many of these prints are small, so visiting the gallery is well worth the effort. 18 Aug-15 Sept. 10 Victoria Street, Perth PH2 8LW Tel: 01738 631085, framesgallery.co.uk

TORRANCE GALLERY

The Torrance Gallery presents its highly anticipated Festival Show this August. Always a riot of colour, with a lovely array of artists, both regular and new to the gallery, and with featured artist Nicola McBride. New artists for this exhibition include Angelo Murphy (pictured), June Bell, Sophie Botsford and Fiona Longley

Tel: 0131 556 6366, torrancegallery.co.uk

THE GLASGOW GALLERY

The Glasgow Gallery is delighted to announce new artists and fresh, new work over the coming months. They welcome ceramicist Moni Krajewska, painter Julie Smith, mixed-media artist Emma S Davis and painter Katy Sawrey. Drop by and see their wonderful range of artworks. No appointment needed. Tel: 0141 333 1991, glasgowgallery.co.uk

THE HARBOUR GALLERY

TARBERT, ULLAPOOL & INVERARAY

The ‘Home Galleries’ of the artist Stuart Herd. Showing original paintings and a large collection of prints.

Image: Clachtoll Boardwalk Colours, 100cm sq, ULL4648, £1,200 All galleries are open daily.

Tel: (T) 01880 821170, (U) 01854 612282, (INV) 01499 302999, theharbourgallery.com, rugbyartworks.com

MOY MACKAY GALLERY

Nestled in the Northgate in Peebles you will find this delightful ewel of a gallery run by artist/owner Moy Mackay. Renowned for her pioneering art form worldwide, this gallery is not only a showcase for her work but also for many other contemporary UK artists and makers.

Tel: 01721 722 116, moymackaygallery.com

BALLATER GALLERY

The popular Meet the Artist series of videos produced by the Ballater Gallery will feature David Smith in September. Fans of the artist will get the inside track on David and his much soughtafter work in the minute video filmed in the artist’s studio. This will be the seventh in the series, which has been a big hit with followers on social media, and all can be viewed by clicking the video section on the gallery website

Tel: 01339 755444, ballatergallery.co.uk

THE GLENTURRET

In 1927, René Lalique’s boundless imagination led to the creation of the Bacchantes vase. The iconic design features the young priestesses of Bacchus with their voluptuous beauty and curves. Visit the Lalique Boutique to discover more. Open 7 days, 10am-6pm.

Tel: 01764 656565, theglenturret.com

GREENS & BLUES

Independent Fine Art Gallery in the seaside town of North Berwick. Their Summer Exhibition is now on. Full of original oil paintings, ceramics and glassware from Scotland and beyond. A stunning and varied collection with something for everyone. Bespoke framing, gift vouchers and mailing service. Image: Profusion of Pink by Gillian Henshaw. Open 7 days.

Tel: 01620 890666, greensandblues.co.uk

MILTON ART GALLERY

Lindores Abbey Distillery by Deborah Phillips. The Milton Art Gallery is situated in a steading complex on the banks of the River Dee. Offering a wide range of contemporary paintings, ceramics, ewellery and much more, from some of Scotland’s leading makers. See their website for details of their 2023 Exhibition programme and online shopping. Member of Own Art.

Tel: 01330 844664, miltonart.com

HOLROYD GALLERY

Featuring new work Stuart Herd alongside other gallery artists. Holroyd Gallery exhibits a large section of original paintings with a Scottish theme, whether it be landscape of wildlife. The art gallery in North Ballachulish has a large selection of oils, watercolours and pastels.

Image: Cottage Rays, Glencoe by Stuart Herd Tel: 01855 821277, holroydgallery.co.uk

RESIPOLE STUDIOS

ou ll find a super selection of contemporary fine art at esipole Studios; a unique gallery located in a setting of scenic splendour on the edge of Loch Sunart in the West Highlands.

Image: Knockvologan, Mull by Charles Simpson, oil on canvas, 80 x 100 cm. Tel: 01967 431506, www.resipolestudios.co.uk

HATTON HOUSE ART & DESIGN

An e citing contemporary fine art gallery in the heart of Dunkeld. The gallery is home to an array of exceptional artistry, proudly supporting established and emerging artists from all over the UK and worldwide. Exhibitions and collections are based on the intricacy and beauty of the human form and natural world.

Image by Salva Ginard.

Tel: 07513 648442, hattonhouseart.com

GALLERYIA SCOTLAND

Whisky Festival Exhibition featuring paintings by Lynda Luck, unique woodturning by Adrian Cammack and whisky stave vintage oak furniture by Sandy’s Cask Crafts. Gifts, jewellery, tweed hand ags, fly fishing accessories and hire.

79 High Street, Aberlour, AB389QB. Tel: 07766704910 / 01340 871457, thegalleryinaberlour.com

LEMOND GALLERY

This month they are delighted to bring you three power shows featuring a two-person show with Simon Laurie RSW RGI and Cecilia Cardiff, a solo show with Georgina McMaster and a solo show with Scott Naismith. These shows are spread over September and October 2023. The timings are listed on their new website. Any questions, please give them a call

Tel: 0141 942 4683, lemondgallery.com

ARRAN ART GALLERY

Situated on the beautiful Isle of Arran, with two artists in residence and a wide collection of established and up-and-coming artists, the gallery offers something for every taste and budget, capturing the very essence of Arran and the west coast. For opening hours, please visit their website.

Tel: 01770 700250 arranartgallery.com

SCOTLAND’S WEST COAST PAINTINGS

In Glasgow’s City Centre, the Stag Gallery in Buchanan Galleries features original ‘statement pieces’ from Charles Randak capturing iconic images with giclee prints framed to suit. New large format work from his kyscape eries as featured - Sound of Mull, oil on deep edge canvas, cms Tel: , charles randak-art.com

THE HOUSE OF BRUAR

Autumn y an ac illivray. an ac illivray is est known for his depictions of Red deer in the Scottish ighlands, and has an innate a ility to capture the eauty of our natural environment with fresh vitality and an e ceptional clarity of colour. clusively availa le in The ouse of ruar s ural Art allery. Tel , www.houseofbruar.com

POWDERHALL BRONZE

eaturing cast ron e sculpture from owderhall ron e fine art foundry in din urgh, contemporary handcrafted furniture y local craftspeople and selected artwork y cottish artists.

Image: Haymarket Square I, Edinburgh, ucy aster, giclee print, dition of Tel: ,

info@powderhallbronzeeditions.co.uk

HERIOT GALLERY

Heriot Gallery is holding their second solo show with new work from highly popular and talented young artist, ory acdonald on eptem er. acdonald s work com ines the contemporary with the classical; detailed old master figures ased on works y elas ue and iordano with u taposing imagery to alter perception. estival how on until August . Tel: , heriotgallery.com

RAMSAY CORNISH AUCTIONEERS

Featuring a handsome pair of rosewood illiam sofas purchased from the din urgh ew lu . ow collecting for The Decorative ouse Anti ues nteriors. eptem er . Please contact them for a free valuation. Tel: , Email: info@ramsaycornish.com, ramsaycornish.com

SPROSON GALLERY

Image: Fiona Sturrock, Corrie Fee, cm, acrylic on canvas. At the proson allery they would like to e tend the summer season with a selection of vi rant works that will warm its viewers in the chillier months. evel in the lush greens, joyful yellows and ecstatic pinks of cotland s luscious flora and fauna, as well as its distinct landscape. The e hi ition will feature works y nota le cottish artists. , sprosongallery.com

Connecting with the ancients

Richard Hoare’s atmospheric paintings of Western Scotland and Ireland are inspired by his deep interest in pre-Bronze Age

Atlantic culture, discovers Mary Miers

Like many artists drawn to wild landscapes, Richard Hoare paints mountains, islands viewed across water and storm-battered headlands under big skies. Made on the spot, his bold, semi-abstract paintings depict the changing e ects of light and shadow in di erent weathers and seasons and convey a powerful sense of place. But he’s interested not

so much in documenting the forms and topography of the landscape as exploring the field of space-energy that exists between the real and the imaginary – hence reshold, the title of his current exhibition.

ere’s a transcendental quality to these works that he attributes to his experience of the metaphysical dimension of ‘vertical time’. He describes sudden, piercing moments of deep connection to the ancient cultural and cosmic forces that resonate with him when he’s embedded in the wilds.

‘I go into a trance-like state and leave any sense of linear time, although I’m absolutely in the present,’ he tells me. ‘It’s impossible to describe in words, but I can do it in paint. Something happens in the material itself and the image becomes fractured by the light’.

Richard’s latest body of work has been inspired by his expeditions in Argyll, Inverness-shire and County

LEFT: Corryvreckan Rising Storm – a monotype drawing made from memory after days of looking west from Craignish in Argyll. RIGHT: 090/23 Jura rain Light – the veils of a passing storm seen from a spine of rock to the west of Craignish Castle in Argyll.

Mayo, where he’s found himself ‘gravitating to places o the beaten track’. From Achill Island to Craignish, Mull, Skye – and northwards to Torridon, where he’ll continue the journey this autumn – ‘prehistoric traces of a sophisticated pre Bronze Age culture have become an accompanying presence.’ He cites as a key source the ‘sta ering findings’ of Sir Barry Cunli e, whose book Facing the Ocean ‘makes the case for this Neolithic culture with a common belief system stretching all along

the Atlantic littoral from Portugal to Orkney.’

Another book, which he describes as ‘a landmark work that has tapped into my growing interest in the interface of archaeology, landscape and ecology’, is the recent Aerial Atlas of Ancient Britain by his friend David Abram. ‘We’ve had this wonderful dialogue and discovered many overlapping interests and experiences.’

Significant among these is Kilmartin Glen in Argyll, ‘the Avebury of Scotland with its

‘It’s impossible to describe in words, but I can do it in paint’

concentration of ancient stones,’ where Richard has spent time camping in a place he found ‘by intuition’ and revisits o en to paint and ‘plug in’. His favoured spot is at the end of the glen where the Crinan Canal meets the sea. e proximity of the Kilmartin megaliths was central to his experience, although generally he doesn’t depict prehistoric structures in his work.

‘My focus is the culture they represent, the way they animate the landscape and orientate my journeys. Usually, I’m standing looking out at the features the sacred sites bear witness to. I’ll discover that a barrow or standing stone is directly aligned with a distant island or mountain peak along the line of sight of an Equinox or Solstice. Suddenly, everything clicks and I’ll o en find myself working very immersively and at a great pace for

several hours, as happened with Blà Bheinn opening to Winter Light and my Linne Rosach series,’ he explains. Richard was inspired to visit Argyll a er spending time around Clew Bay, on the west coast of Ireland. ‘Achill Island looked like an interesting shape on the map and on the margins of the world we identify culturally with, a recurring theme in places I am drawn to,’ he wrote, recalling his first visit in 2013, when he arrived in the dark one February night.

e next morning, ‘I fell over with the impact as I le the door of my lodgings and stayed to paint the beauty of this flank of Sliabh Mór that was in front of me... I spent the next six hours in an inspired state and at dusk watched the last light from a Neolithic dolmen on the east flank of this mountainside’. He has been returning ever since,

ABOVE: 072/23 Blà Bheinn opening to Winter Light – having often painted the Cuillin from the far side of Loch Slapin, here the artist walks right into the heart of the mountain landscape. RIGHT: 059/22 Cliara Winter Sun – painted during a storm from the foot of An Corrán hill on Achill in County Mayo, Ireland.

standing on the same rocks, painting the same views. He uses the old place names and has included a lexicon in his latest catalogue – so Clare Island, which he has painted in ‘stillness’, behind a ‘rain veil’ and ‘washed in storm light’, is Cliara, meaning clear.

Later, when he sought out the cairns and megalithic tombs of the west coast, he noticed how they are ‘o en clearly orientated in the same south-westerly direction as those on Achill... towards the setting sun and also the rising moon – like some giant observatory or clock.’

Testament to his preoccupation with the cosmic cycle are the solar date marks he punches onto the back of each painting. ese record ‘the day or night the picture was begun in the landscape and mark that time on our yearly path around the sun from one Winter Solstice to the next.’ So, a work started on 22 December 2021, the first day of that new solar year, is marked 001/21.

Richard typically spends six weeks camping in his van, which he has converted into a mobile studio. ‘I have a specially designed box that fits my rucksack to take the wet oil panels when I head back to the van at the end of the day.’ He has become acutely aware of the interdependence of the natural world and the threading of views and connections that link the stepping stones of his journey. ‘O en I’ll find myself gazing into the far distance to a location that I’ve previously worked from,’ he says. From Skye last March, where he posted: ‘second dawn, -5°c, the full moon and its calling light all night, so small sleep,’ he could see the Morar hills, where he had spent time on an earlier trip, across the Sound of Sleat.

He completes his works in his studio, which he keeps devoid of distraction, all paintings turned to the wall so that when he pulls one out it tri ers a total recall. ‘I can close my eyes and I’m there.’ He has used this gi of recall to make the ‘monotype drawings’ that have become a key part of his process.

ese are done in black ink on copper

plates, which he then passes through a press so that a mirror image is transferred onto paper.

‘I’ll have a feeling about what I want to explore and these monotypes are a way of letting it bubble up from my subconscious and flow out. I think of them as my scouts – o en they’ll point me in new directions for my paintings’.

Richard is now based in Sha esbury, having grown up in Su olk, studied Fine Art in Cambridge, Canterbury and Cyprus, and travelled widely. Here, his recent focus has been not so much the sacred landscapes of Wessex as the woodlands – as seen in his 2020 Messums Wiltshire show Alchemy of Light. He describes how he was in a

beechwood at Fonthill when a new technique suddenly ‘happened’ and he started using bits of wood instead of brushes. ‘Unpredictable tools, such as sticks, bits of plastic or rubber, are now my preferred mode of mark-making.’

Around the same time, he began using his old, encrusted palettes as surfaces to paint on. So, for example, the thick impasto of 076/23 Full Moon over Loch Nevis is daubed over the pigments used for 294/22 e Hunter’s Moon Camas Nan Geall, creating another link in an unbroken chromatic chain. Richard credits these new methods with having liberated his technique and ‘led me back to the mountains’.

‘Testament to his preoccupation with the cosmic cycle are the solar date marks that he punches onto the back of each painting’

Threshold, in collaboration with Messums Wiltshire, is at Linlithgow Burgh Halls, The Cross, Linlithgow EH49 7AH until 15 October. Richard will be talking there on 8 September, 6.30pm. Visit messumswiltshire.com/exhibitions/pvr-richard-hoare-threshold-linlithgow or www.richardhoare.com for details.

Instagram @richardhoarepaintings

Artist’s c ner

FIELD CULTURE

A guide to Scotland’s arts and entertainment

Raeburn saved f e nation

DRACULA RETURNS TO NORTH EAST ROOTS

thrillin ne adaptation of ra ula is ein rou ht to sta es a ross otland. ire tor ally oo son has rou ht riter orna earson s old ne adaptation Dracula: Mina’s Reckoning, to life. et in a psy hiatri hospital in erdeenshire in the performan e ill sho ase the area s inspiration for ram to er s lassi novel. orna visited lains astle in ruden ay ahead of rehearsals. he sho ill tour the from eptem er. www.aberdeenperformingarts.com

A PLAYWRIGHT TO THE BONE

he itlo hry estival heatre ill present the orld premiere of To the Bone by a ard innin play ri ht sla o an. et in a se luded rural otta e To the Bone explores isolation and o nership loss and lon in . sla is a play ri ht performer and dire tor from din ur h. he sho runs from u ust eptem er. www.pitlochryfestivaltheatre.com

A VERY VIKING INVASION

LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION!

Edinburgh International Film Festival’s full programme has been announced. It features 24 new feature films, five retrospective titles, five short film programmes and an outdoor screening weekend including seven further features. e event will showcase work from accross the world, from Brazil and South Korea to India and Japan. It will run from 18-23 August. www.eif.co.uk/edfilmfest

ome of i in history s most formida le ures are the fo us of a ne exhi ition at unfermline arne ie i rary alleries. eal life heroes featured in lude the le endary ri loodaxe ruthless adventurer arald ardrada and arrior oman a ertha. eroes stories are told throu h a series of display panels repli a o e ts and even human remains displayin attle in uries. ut it is not all a out ore iven that stories of i in s as traders farmers and raftspeople feature too. he exhi ition ill run until ovem er. www.onfife.com

The National Galleries of Scotland has acquired Patrick Moir by the Scottish artist Sir Henry Raeburn. Marking the bicentenary of Raeburn’s death the portrait is now on display and available to view for free in Edinburgh. The rare portrait was painted in Rome at a key moment in Raeburn’s career. Experts say it gives important insight into Raeburn’s early development as an artist. It joins the most comprehensive collection of Raeburn’s work, held by the National Galleries. www. nationalgalleries.org

RICHARD FREW PHOTOGRAPHY & FILM

NEIL HANNA

BOOK BONANZA

As Scotland’s National Book Town looks forward to the 25th annual Wigtown Book Festival, figures show that the event has generated more than £50m for the regional economy since its inception. Each year more than ten times the village’s population descends on the book lovers’ haven to take in the festival. It was started back in 1999 to help drive regeneration across Wigtownshire. e festival takes place from 22 September to 1 October. www.wigtownbookfestival.com

RETURN OF THE LBD

A new exhibition at the National Museum of Scotland deconstructs the little black dress. Beyond the Little Black Dress examines the radical power of the colour black in fashion. The event opens with a short black dress designed by Coco Chanel in 1926. From design classics to cutting-edge catwalk creations, it brings together 65 looks from collections and designers around the world. The exhibition runs until 29 October. www.nms.ac.uk

BEHIND-THE-SCENES LOOK AT MUSEUM ARTEFACTS

Behind-the-scenes tours are being o ered at Glasgow Museums Resource Centre, home to 1.4 million artefacts. Just 2% of Glasgow’s museum’s collections are on display at any one time with most of the remaining objects stored at the resource centre. e collection of fine art, fossils, animals and armour is housed in 17 purpose-built and environmentally controlled pods. Each pod has its own climate control with the ideal temperatures around 18°C. Some 400,000 species are kept in the natural history collection including walruses and thousands of birds, such as owls, eagles and albatrosses. www.glasgowlife.org.uk

FULL STEAM AHEAD

The Scottish Maritime Museum celebrates the golden era of steamboat travel in its latest exhibition. Dream Destinations charts the growing popularity of sailing down the Clyde to Helensburgh, Gourock, Largs, Ayr or Millport for the day or a staycation from the 1900s. It runs until 1 October.

www.scottishmaritime museum.org

Folk festival

The Braemar Folk Festival will take place from 6-8 October, with headliners Elephant Sessions. The indiefolk band from the Highlands are known for their live shows, combining trad, funk, electronica and dance music. The all-female string group Kinnaris Quintet top the billing on Friday night.

www.braemarfolk festival.com

CSG CIC GLASGOW MUSEUMS COLLECTIONS

Peatland ACTION

Restoring Scotland’s peatlands for the many benefits to people and to nature.

Climate change is the most serious threat to Scotland’s environment. Early action is central to overcoming these impacts.

Peatland restoration o ers a solution.

Helping us to reduce the e ects of climate change by storing carbon.

Regulating water flow and quality, improving flood management, fisheries and source water supplies.

Benefiting farming and sporting practices e.g. the abundance of invertebrates on which grouse feed.

Internationally important habitats, home to rare and often unique plants, invertebrates and birds.

We provide bespoke advice on restoration management and funding.

Contact us: peatlandaction@nature.scot Follow us: @PeatlandACTION

PEATLAND RESTORATION DELIVERS RURAL JOBS

Peatlands in Scotland are estimated to hold the equivalent of 185 years’ worth of the country’s total annual greenhouse gas emissions. But 80% of the UK’s peatlands – the majority of which are in Scotland – are estimated to be damaged and in need of restoration. Many of us now know that healthy peatlands are crucial for water quality, richly diverse landscapes, slowing floods and wildfires, and storing carbon. But what is also becoming clear is that peatland restoration can also bring vital jobs to our rural economy.

Peatland restoration on Lochrosque Estate

One of the largest projects Peatland ACTION has yet funded is at Lochrosque Estate, near Achnasheen in the Highlands. It is a great example of a multi-year project which brought economic as well as environmental enefits to the area. ore than ha of peatlands were restored over nine phases between 2017 and 2022, with over 20 people employed to deliver the work.

In Phase 8, at Doire nan Gobhar, a large area of blanket bog, almost 700ha were restored in just six months. Most of the restoration work involved re profiling are peat hags and re profiling, damming and unding peat gullies and was carried out by a local contractor using between four and six excavators.

The work has successfully raised the water table with water being spread away from the ditches, and there's been an associated increase in biodiversity. The peatland is now healthier and keeping carbon locked in instead of escaping from eroding peat. There have also een significant improvements to water uality, reducing ongoing maintenance of a hydro-scheme by reducing peat sediment.

New rural action

John Dunnet of Angus Davidson Ltd, who managed the project, commented: ‘While peatland restoration provides an abundance of positive impacts on the environment, there are also significant socio-economic positive impacts that occur as a result of this.

This project involved local contractors, thus reducing the carbon impact of the work. This in turn helps to support local economies and provide work for local businesses.’

John Urquhart of Albamontane Restoration agrees: ‘As a local contractor peatland restoration has allowed me to expand my business, but also given really good training opportunities to younger people in the area –because they are the future.’

Peatland ACTION

The NatureScot Peatland ACTION team delivered over 65% of the Scottish Governmentfunded Peatland ACTION programme between 2022 to 2023, as part of its partnership with Cairngorms National Park Authority, Loch Lomond & the Trossachs National Park Authority, Scottish Water, and Forestry and Land Scotland. To read more about peatland restoration visit the NatureScot Peatland ACTION case studies web page www.nature.scot/PeatlandActionCaseStudies

GET IN TOUCH

ABOVE LEFT: View of peat dams and pool network at Lochrosque a NatureScot Peatland ACTION restoration site. ABOVE RIGHT: Peatland ACTION project o cer from NatureScot Ndurie Abah discusses the project with Colin Morrison of Angus Davidson Ltd.

Scan the QR code to watch case study interviews

They offer funding for suitable restoration projects across Scotland. They have officers who can help develop your project and complete applications. They fund up to 100% of capital costs for work. They fund much of the pre-application work, for example, peat depth surveys and feasibility studies. Visit their web pages for more: www.nature.scot/peatlandaction

To contact the Peatland ACTION team with details of any potential projects, please email: peatlandaction@nature.scot

The restoration of Scotland's peatlands is beneficial to communities as well as the environment and nature

‘We learn that a bird’s syrinx is divided into two parts, allowing two quite di erent sounds to be made simultaneously’

WILD HEIR

Award-winning nature writer James Macdonald Lockhart speaks with Andy Dobson about stylistic choices, finding the beauty in scientific research, and comparisons with his great-grandfather, the naturalist Seton Gordon

LEFT:

Judging by the credentials of its most celebrated exponents – Nan Shepherd, Richard Mabey and Robert MacFarlane, to name three examples – good nature writing requires a degree of professional detachment from the subject. ere is something imaginatively dampening, perhaps, in a scientific education, a tendency to uncover and understand to such an extent that the aesthetic appeal of the mysterious is lost.

James Macdonald Lockhart, whose second book, Wild Air, has recently alighted on the bookshelves, appears to exemplify this breed of educated amateur; he studied English Literature at university, and now works as a literary agent. To ascribe to him that label does not, however, do justice either to his approach or to the finished product, for Lockhart’s writing shi s smoothly

and capably between the traditional ‘observeand-comment-poetically’ mode, and a more sober, research-based rigour.

‘I aim to balance my observations against those of others,’ he tells me when I ask about his writing process, ‘and I relish delving into the background science, looking for the more “magical” aspects; there can be real beauty in research.’

Wild Air – subtitled In Search of Birdsong – is at its core a paean to the acoustic virtuosity of British birdlife, and there are some fascinating scientific insights. Early on we learn that a bird’s syrinx (equivalent to our voice box) is divided into two parts, allowing two quite di erent sounds to be made simultaneously. Later, Lockhart describes the ventriloqual quality of nightjars, who throw their voices to

FROM

Skylark singing on heather; Wild Air: In Search of Birdsong by James Macdonald Lockhart; a nightjar.

confuse predators. Skylarks erupt into full song when chased by merlins – a display of aerobic prowess that signals to the predator that there is really no point continuing with the hunt – and raven calls can be mapped onto distinct geographical areas divided by dialect, with individuals on the boundaries appearing ‘bilingual’.

ere is more going on here, however, than a mere compendium of facts and observations about birdsong. In essence this is a journal cataloguing a man’s compulsion to spend time in the wilder parts of the UK and to immerse himself in the daily patterns of a selected roster of species. e result is a

series of unvarnished portraits showing us how birds really live. Lapwings chase sea eagles with a ferocity that earned them the French folk-name of pèle chien (‘skin the dog’); shearwater chicks on Rùm must be back in their burrows before dawn lest they are eaten by calcium-craving red deer (yes, you read that correctly); a dipper plucks frozen droplets from a log and casts them one-at-a-time into the river, as if wishing to tidy up.

Alongside the birds, there are also human figures regularly flickering in and out of the picture, many of whom – Donald Watson and Desmond and Mamie Nethersole- ompson in particular – will be familiar to enthusiastic followers of 20th-century Scottish ornithology.

Foremost among them is the author’s great-grandfather, Seton Gordon. Born in 1886, Gordon died when Lockhart was just two years old, but the great-grandson finds connection via the former’s writing. ‘Whenever I think about looking for a bird that I’m unfamiliar with,’ he says, ‘I go to Gordon, pick up a book, and find there

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: Manx shearwater burrow; Manx shearwater (Pu nus pu nus), ying low over the sea; James wildcamping by the Rùm shearwater colony; James in the wild.

– in that passionate voice of his – a way to approach the species.’

It’s only too tempting to draw comparisons between the two, and Lockhart is happy to talk about his forebear, though he’s also at pains to clarify the distance between them.

‘You have to remember that he’s of a very di erent era from me, and led a very di erent kind of life. But I can still feel connected to him by his work – he never lost his passion for the natural world, and was out there studying birds in the field into his eighties. So despite that generational gap, he’s still very inspiring, very good at getting you out of the door and into the hills – he maps out those routes for you.’

If Lockhart takes Gordon as a starting point in his ornithological pursuits, his stylistic choices are entirely his own. His first book, Raptor – a kind of travelogue visiting the haunts of each of the UK’s fi een bird of prey species – is richly voiced, with a painterly prose style that aims to evoke its subject as much by its rhythm and resonance as by its literal descriptions. It’s a pairing of topic and timbre that Lockhart thought carefully about, and he has equally deliberately changed tack with Wild Air Here the prose is plainer, cleaner, more pared-down.

‘I wanted the writing to be more focused on the birds, to let them speak for themselves.’ Taking his cue from fiction and poetry – with touchstones as varied as Kathleen Jamie and Cormac McCarthy – Lockhart adapted his style to the needs of the project, which in this case meant an emphasis on birdsounds, not word-sounds.

Indeed, much of the text is taken up with the slippery task of rendering the avian voice in a human language. Lockhart himself supposes that it’s probably futile; in the chapter on nightingales he quotes the naturalist and photographer Oliver Pike, who says, ‘If half a dozen people attempted [to put a nightingale’s song into words], I doubt if two would use the same syllables.’ Seton Gordon was apparently of the same mind, claiming that ‘it is impossible to set down the greenshank’s song.’

Birdsong and English may not be su ciently compatible to allow faithful transliteration, but that is not to say that there is nothing to be gained from the attempt. What Lockhart shows us in Wild Air is that there’s far more out there in the natural world to explore and appreciate than we could have dreamt. is was never meant to be an exhaustive, didactic text or the final word on the topic from one who has all the answers. On the contrary, it’s a call-to-adventure and a sketch-map, an exhortation for the reader to go out and discover it for themselves.

And in that sense, James Macdonald Lockhart is very much the heir of Seton Gordon – updated, re-worked, and re-imagined for the 21st century.

Wild Air: In Search of Birdsong by James Macdonald Lockhart is published by Fourth Estate and is priced at £18.99.

‘Raven calls can be mapped onto distinct geographical areas divided by dialect’

Deer, oh deer...

e end of a closed season on stags, allowing the Monarch of the Glen to be shot all year round, will not reduce our deer population – and may actually have the opposite e ect

It has long been a shibboleth of Scottish country lore that stags are not to be shot a er the rut. It’s akin to the fatwa on salmon being fished-for on the Sabbath. ese have long been absolute non-negotiables.

at, however, is about to change. e Scottish Government is making 99 recommendations designed to allow deer managers to cull more deer more e ectively, three of which will apply this year. e first of which – a change from 100g to 80g in the minimum weight of bullet for shooting red, sika and fallow deer – is sensible given the move away from lead. So, too, is allowing the use of night sights for shooting deer, which will allow cullers to dispatch greater numbers, especially in wooded areas.

more hinds. In theory, one stag can impregnate as many hinds as a hundred stags if he has a freerun, so concentrating on culling stags makes limited sense (and harms the gene pool).

It may be anathema to cull hinds out of season because helpless calves would be le alone, but killing out-of-condition stags which have just been through the rut and whose meat is worthless is similarly unconscionable. But that’s what will happen because stags are easier to shoot and attract a far higher sporting premium than hinds. And when stalkers are out shooting the relatively easy prey of stags, they will not be shooting the hinds responsible for producing the next generation of deer.

Professional cullers already have endless exemptions that e ectively allow them to kill stags and hinds out of season at will. But culling red stags year round does little to solve the real problem, which is the exploding numbers of roe deer in the southern half of the country.

RICHARD BATH

But the third ‘proposal’ (which has already been e ectively nodded through by the Minister, the perennially accident-prone Lorna Slater), to remove the October 20 end of the season for stags and bucks, allowing for male deer to be shot all year round, has been met with shock by every serious organisation engaged in managing deer numbers. Seven are appealing the decision, but expectations of a volte face are not high.

Apart from the ramifications of e ectively classifying male deer as vermin, there is a very real issue: this change may have exactly the opposite e ect to the desired outcome.

ere are around one million deer in Scotland. About 400,000 are red deer, while the remaining 600,000 are largely roe, with some sika with hotspots of fallow deer. Most red deer fall within the aegis of local deer management groups, and were the aim simply to control the red deer population then the number of deer mandated to be shot could be increased within the current seasons. is could happen virtually overnight.

e law change is designed to reduce deer numbers, but it’s ill-conceived. Let’s take the red deer: if you want to control numbers, you kill

e furtive roe deer are far harder to kill, especially in significant numbers, a problem that will increase as the acreage of woodland grows.

Not only is the forestry in which roe deer shelter set to expand, but there is also a political culture which, as was explicitly stated at e Scottish A airs Committee at Holyrood last year, is seeking to further restrict firearms ownership in Scotland (and is succeeding, with the number of firearms licences falling by 3% last year). One of the reasons the roe population is getting out of hand is because there are less people shooting them, less o en – so where are all the recreational one-for-the-pot stalkers who are going to rid us of the increasing numbers of roe bucks as the proposed legislation envisages? is new legislation falls short on every front. In welfare terms, it is an abomination to chase exhausted stags around the hill. In terms of population reduction, encouraging deer managers to prioritise killing stags and bucks over hinds does not only make no sense, it is likely to actually exacerbate the situation by taking the focus o those animals most responsible for population growth. is is a measure which fails on every sensible metric.

‘The real issue is the exploding numbers of roe deer’

COUNTRY NEWS

A round-up of what’s happening in Scotland’s countryside

TRIED AND TESTED

Tried & Tested

WHAT IS IT? Outwell Wonderland Single Airbed System, RRP

I WANT IT BECAUSE: I’m not getting any younger and if I want to camp for more than a night I need a comfy bed and a decent night’s sleep.

USEFUL FOR: Camping. It’s a bit bulky to head off into the wilds with, but if you’re site camping this is perfect. It’s also handy as a spare bed at home.

HIGH POINT: The in atable base is topped by a layer of memory foam for support and the quilted cover is insulated and removable for washing.

LOW POINT: It’s quite pricey for an airbed and a foam topper, oh and the rest of the family are annoyed that I am com er than they are.

WHAT IS IT? Montane Men’s Spirit Waterproof Jacket, RRP £190,

www.montane.com

I WANT IT BECAUSE: This is Scotland, where it feels like there can be four hours of rain for every hour of sunshine.

USEFUL FOR: This versatile rain- and windproof jacket is really lightweight and packable, so was easily incorporated into my layering system as an emergency throw-on for when the heavens opened.

HIGH POINT: Thanks to some serious waterproo ng features – such as fully seam taped construction, and 75 Denier Gore-Tex Paclite – it worked amazingly well in one particularly heavy downpour. Aquaguard zips with an internal storm ap, cinchable hem and adjustable cuffs and hood kept me surprisingly dry. It was breathable too.

LOW POINT: I’d like a chest pocket as well as two inside.

NEW

DAD

TAKES

COVER FROM NOISY BROOD

ame eepers in the ammermuirs ere astonished hen a male arn o l as spotted retreatin to a disused ra it hole everyday for some do ntime a ay from his hi s. he o l is father to a rood of hi s nestin yards do n the valley in a shed ut he has een au ht on amera snea in off do n the ra it hole for some pea e at ni ht to es ape the youn sters ma in a ra et. eepers said the hee y o l al ays returns to help out ith parentin duties later on. his daddy o l is learly loo in for a it of do ntime e all no ho tirin it an e ith youn sters ma in a ra et all ni ht said ar art oordinator of the outhern plands oorland roup. www.scot-rmg.co.uk

A BURGEONING BIOSPHERE THE FACTS & FIGURES

otland s rst iosphere allo ay outhern yrshire has had its desi nation rene ed for another ten years. he iosphere s oundary has also een extended to in orporate llo ay the hins of allo ay and nauti al miles of the marine environment. he site ill ro from more than m to almost m . www.gsabiosphere.org.uk

2012

The year the site was designated.

9,800km²

The area the site will now cover.

748

The number of UNESCO Biospheres in the world.

£127.99 www.outdoorworlddirect.co.uk.

PEATLAND PROJECTS

ARE A GROWING SUCCESS

Peatland restoration in Scotland has increased by 25% over the last year, to 5,000 hectares. Peatlands in Scotland are estimated to hold the equivalent of 185 years’ worth of the country’s total annual greenhouse gas emissions. However, 80% of the UK’s peatlands – the majority of which are in Scotland – are estimated to be damaged and in need of restoration. e NatureScot Peatland ACTION team delivered over 65% of the Scottish Government-funded Peatland ACTION programme between 2022 to 2023. www.nature.scot

Tried & Tested

WHAT IS IT? Vango Apex Compact tent, RRP £200, www.vango.co.uk

I WANT IT BECAUSE: I go hill loch shing, and my one-man tent is just too small so a bigger but similar weight tent is a big plus. It has strong PoweLite alloy poles, is well designed and Vango is a well trusted brand.

USEFUL FOR: Hiking, hill trips, bike/ motorbike trips, Duke of Edinburgh expeditions etc - any trip where weight and pack size is important. Easily put up in a minute or two.

HIGH POINT: Excellent weight and pack size to usable interior space ratio. Same weight and size as many oneman tents – this is a three-man tent although it would be very tight for three people. The part-mesh inner doors means good ventilation for summer days. The tent is also made from recycled single-use plastics.

Leading UK outdoor equipment brand, Vango, has announced a new partnership with Glenmore Lodge, Sport Scotland’s National Outdoor Training Centre. e partnership will see Vango provide tents for sta and participants to use for outdoor training courses. www.vango.co.uk

e winners of the Scottish Country Sports Tourism Awards have been announced. Logiealmond Estate won best sporting lodge, South Ayrshire Stalking won best sporting agency, and e Wild Order Ltd took home sporting innovator. www.countrysportscotland.com

Robo-crop to e rescue...

Robots could help farmers care for their crops and reduce the use of chemicals. Agritech robot Tom v4 will be used to remotely scan agricultural elds to locate and log weeds and crop plants. This information from the robot will then be passed through an AI algorithm to create a treatment map. It will tell farmers exactly how much herbicide to use and where to apply it. The research comes from the National Robotarium, the UK’s world-leading centre for robotics, and The James Hutton Institute. Tom v4 was provided by the Small Robot Company. www.hutton.ac.uk

LOW POINT: As you’re maximising the interior space, you forego a porch.

WHAT IS IT? Le Chameau Women’s Iris Chelsea Jersey Lined Boot, RRP £90, www.lechameau.com

I WANT IT BECAUSE: I adore the look of Chelsea boots, but they’re not overly practical when you’ve a list of to-dos outdoors. These have that classic Chelsea style, but are waterproof, moisture-wicking and lightweight.

USEFUL FOR: These are a top pick for gardeners, but are also incredibly useful when you’re needing a smart but practical solution (working at the Game Fair has never been so comfortable).

HIGH POINT: They’re lined with polycotton jersey meaning your feet don’t get too clammy, even in warm weather. What’s more, they are available in ve colours. Someone always admires them – I think I’ve sold half a dozen ladies on them already!

LOW POINT: Granted they aren’t hugely supportive, but they are very supple.

COUNTRY SPORT WINNERS ANNOUNCED

Walking on e shells

e lack of e s on supermarket shelves was caused by retailers abusing their dominant market position to play hardball with an industry crippled by unsustainable price rises

Over the past year, empty e aisles have become a frequent feature in many supermarkets and that looks likely to continue into early next year.

Numerous explanations have been posited, such as bird flu leading to fewer laying hens, but the reality is that e producers weren’t receiving a fair price from retailers to cover their costs and, in a crisis of confidence, significantly cut back production.

e e sector is not alone. Other sectors are facing a similar dilemma as retailers focus on low prices rather than protecting availability, choice and domestic resilience. We are only 47% self-su cient in food, yet the imbalance of power in the food supply chain threatens that figure further. If the downward pressure on prices continues, livestock and arable farmers will be forced to reduce output, paving the way for more imports and increased food miles.

taken up by audits and unreasonable paperwork.

Chicks are ordered by Glenrath from only two hatcheries in the UK and arrive within 24 hours of hatching. I was on site when 32,000 tiny chicks were o oaded into the heated rearing barn which would be their home for the next 18 weeks. A huge amount of labour goes into hand rearing, vaccinating and checking the birds before they move on to join the main laying flocks, producing e s until around 80 weeks old.

Glenrath produces 1.5 million e s daily across its Free Range, Organic, Barn and Enriched Colony ranges. at a ernoon, six lorries of e s made their way to national supermarkets.

Demand for organic e s has plummeted because of the cost-of-living crisis and instead, demand for cheaper e s has heightened, so retailers are asking e suppliers for any kind of e s, despite many producers investing heavily in removing cages to fall into line with cage-free commitments by 2025. Retailers seem to think producers and packers can respond to changes overnight, despite being constrained by strict standards of practice and assurance schemes.

Whether a farmer is producing e s or lamb, it is not a simple switch-on, switch-o system. If ordering chicks or putting sheep in lamb, it can take a year or more for those products to reach the retailers. It’s a time-sensitive process, which consumers o en forget given the ready availability of food on shelves.

With e s, it is entirely in a supermarket’s power to prevent empty shelves. Retailers were warned in spring last year that feed prices and costs like energy were rising to unsustainable levels and that higher farm gate prices were needed for farming to remain viable. But it wasn’t until this spring that e prices began to rise – and by that time it was too late.

During a visit to Scotland’s largest e producer and packer, Glenrath Farms in the Scottish Borders, I was blown away by how the family-run business has adapted to the changing demands of retailers over the past year, but equally horrified by the huge amount of time

For too long, farmers have been price takers, not price setters, and have had little negotiating power with retailers. I was told by some e suppliers that trying to negotiate a higher price, even with the leverage of an e shortage, retailers instead opted for cheaper imports from Italy, selling them for as little as £1.20 per dozen.

E suppliers are now being told by retailers that they need to take a price reduction in the best interest of the wider population, while simultaneously being asked to adopt costly sustainability plans. ey are being asked to invest when they are unable to make a profit.

We have a genuine chicken and e dilemma. What came first: consumer demand for cheap e s or the unsustainable pricing strategies which are pushing producers out of business?

Empty shelves are a supermarket’s and consumer’s worst nightmare. Yet that is exactly what we will continue to face for years to come unless retailers begin to prioritise fairer pricing systems and rebuild confidence and relationships with the farming sector.

CLAIRE TAYLOR

‘For too long, farmers have been price takers, not price setters’

DEER MANOR MUSHROOMS:

Alisha holding lion’s mane, pink oyster, king grey oysters and king trumpet mushrooms.

THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS:

Alisha Fuller-Armah tending to Black Pearl King oysters in the fruiting chamber.

hen Dr Alisha Fuller-Armah explains that her home is o the beaten track, nine miles up a single-track road, followed by two and a half miles along an un-classified road in the wilderness of the southwest, she isn’t kidding.

Deer Manor Mushrooms, an awardwinning gourmet mushroom farm, is tucked away in the wilds of Galloway. It is a well-hidden gem in our nation’s blossoming fine food sector, supplying exquisite organic mushrooms to some of the country’s best restaurants, finest chefs and specialist wholesalers.

Founded by 38-year-old Alisha only two years ago, the family-owned business provides what they describe as ‘earth friendly cap-to-stem superfood’, produced in the most exacting,

Wsustainable, chemical-free, low-tech, and environmentally friendly processes.

Top chefs use Deer Manor’s mushrooms to create soups, salads, main courses and even sumptuous desserts. Mushrooms can be ordered in specially cultured batches, like the beautiful Lion’s Mane mushrooms that have a magnificent flavour reminiscent of tender lobster and aubergine, and a texture similar to juicy crab. Or the Freckled Chestnut mushrooms with their velvety texture, and earthy, sweetumami flavour that taste as delicious as they are beautiful. And the renowned Yellow Oyster mushrooms with their sweet and nutty, mellow fruity aroma and melt-in-the-mouth quality.

London-born Dr Alisha FullerArmah is a Cambridge graduate with a degree in art history and social anthropology. She obtained her PhD in

A MUSHROOM ING

BUSINESS

Struan Stevenson speaks with Cambridge graduate Dr Alisha Fuller-Armah who is mad about mushrooms

Images Kirk Norbury

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: This gourmet medley of mushrooms may look exotic, but they were all grown in Newton Stewart; immature blue grey oyster mushrooms; Alisha aspires to grow mushrooms with exacting chemical-free, low-tech processes; production methods are forensic in their application.

Shroom in the room

King Trumpets: Work seamlessly with poultry, seafood, and legumes in a variety of cuisines.

Lion’s Mane: Often used in the vegan and vegetarian communities as a seafood or pork substitute.

Pink oyster: Aromatic ‘seafoody’ avour with woody notes and sweet undertones that become delectably baconlike when cooked for a long time.

Black pearl: A meaty yet light avour, hints of sweetness and nutty - even pepperyundertones.

www.deermanor. co.uk

business management in Switzerland. She opened a wedding venue in Jamaica where she found the demand for exotic mushrooms propelled her into studying the complex science of mushroom production and, a er ten years, she sold the wedding business and decided to return to the UK to concentrate on her new-found passion. A widespread search for a perfect rural location led her and her family to Deer Manor at Polbae, in the majestic Southern Uplands near Newton Stewart.

It was the ideal spot for her new business, with a sprawling mansion house that needed complete renovation and 15 acres of woodland, overlooking a tributary of the River Bladenoch. Alisha says that for her, the southwest is one of the most naturally healthy larders on earth and an ideal location for her mushroom business, linking diet and nutrition with the surroundings.

Encircled by moorland and forest rich with abundant wildlife, the area boasts black and red grouse, mountain hares, golden eagles, ospreys, hen harriers, red kites, red deer, roe deer, feral goats and even the occasional wild boar. Deer Manor is spectacular. e area lays claim to one fi h of the Scottish red squirrel population and the river is renowned for its brown trout and salmon. Alisha says that she and her family feel privileged to live in such fabulous surroundings ‘where nature reigns supreme’.

She explains that the remote environs, where the air is fresh and pure and her mushrooms absorb nothing but the organic goodness that nature intended, make her doubly careful about the environmental impact of her business.

Using only a fraction of the energy, water and space used in the production of other foods, her carbon dioxide footprint is small. ‘Mushroom farms are as good for the planet as for the body,’ claims Alisha, adding ‘we grow gourmet mushrooms as much for their taste as the health benefits they provide.’

Her sterile production methods are forensic in their meticulous application. She explains that organic mushrooms can be easily infected by alien spores, so sta and visitors have to observe stringent safety procedures. Feet are dipped and hands sprayed. Alisha shows how spores and mycelium harvested from the tastiest mushrooms are cultured for 3-6 weeks in a nutrient-rich, sterile broth. e broth is then mixed with steam-sterilised grain or wild bird seed and placed in warm, dark conditions for a further five to eight weeks. e tented room has the yeasty aroma of a whisky distillery.

Next, the colonised grain is mixed with steam-sterilised organic Scottish wheat bran and virgin hardwood sawdust, then shaped into logs. ese logs, in sterile conditions, are

rested again in warm, dark conditions for up to six months, simulating the conditions experienced in the wild in summer. Finally, in a period that can vary from 1 to 12 weeks, the logs are shocked out of their slumber and placed in a windy, humid and cold environment, simulating autumn conditions, and encouraging the mushrooms to fruit.

e resulting gourmet crops are carefully harvested and packaged, ready for delivery and the culinary skills of a chef. Alisha explains that there are only around 30 commercial organic mushroom farms in the UK and only around five in Scotland. Her Deer Manor mushroom farm is a member of the soil association, observing its own stringent guidelines and is closely regulated by the council’s environmental services department.

e business is also proudly progressing to being fully SALSA and B Corp certified. SALSA is a foodsafety standard only granted to suppliers who are able to demonstrate that they are able to produce safe and legal food and are committed to continually meeting the requirements of the SALSA standard. e B Corp certified brands are those seen to be doing good for the planet and its people.

Answering the sixty-million-dollar question, Alisha says that she has fallen in love with Scotland, where she finds the people friendly and helpful and the natural scenery spectacular. She has provided several local people with jobs, supporting the community by paying well over the minimum wage. She is empowering chefs, restaurants and businesses to ‘harness the profitability of gourmet mushrooms’ by providing them with advice on menu development, culinary training and support. She is even keen to encourage children to love mushrooms, with a unique mushroom curriculum that highlights the all-natural, environmentally respectful processes that she employs at Deer Manor.

Alisha believes that environmental stewardship and community benefit go hand-in-hand with growing delectable mushrooms for her customers, and Deer Manor Mushrooms, with their impressive displays, are now a familiar sight at farmers’ markets and agricultural shows in Ayrshire and Dumfries and Galloway. With her combined determination to succeed and polished business skills, her gourmet organic mushrooms will soon grace the menus of the best restaurants from Lands End to John O’Groats.

‘Deer Manor Mushrooms, an award-winning gourmet mushroom farm, is tucked away in the wilds of Galloway’

DOWN TO THE RIVER TO PRAY

e Mystery Diner has been patiently waiting for the chance to try a revamped Scandi-chic waterfront restaurant in downtown Dunkeld

Ihave been looking forward to going to the Taybank for months. is former temperance hotel in Dunkeld has a heady brew of a fantastic and huge beer and casual food garden on the banks of the Tay, regular traditional music nights, and now a completely revamped restaurant.

For a few lucky diners (sadly not us) the first floor dining area looks over the Tay and omas Telford’s famous bridge. Following its acquisition by local food entrepreneur Fraser Potter in 2019, it has undergone a rootand-branch overhaul, with the interior undergoing a Scandi-chic makeover.

Nowhere is this more apparent than in the restaurant and dining room, with their contemporary bohemian vibe: stripped wooden floors, dark Farrow & Ball walls, sheep pelts on the back of chairs, and specially commissioned art celebrating the hotel’s ceilidh heritage. If that makes it sound kitsch or contrived, think again; the renovation has been done with huge style to create an authentic, comfortable backdrop.

ere has also been a huge e ort with the food. One of the first things Potter did was to take over a walled garden on the nearby Murthly Estate, which gives a sense of what he is trying to achieve. eir blurb, of course, talks about provenance, seasonality and localism, but such claims are now so ubiquitous as to be meaningless.

e proof of the pudding, as ever, is in the eating.

e menu certainly lives up to Potter’s lo y aspirations. ere are a large number of vegetarian

Vital statistics

PRICE

£117 for two, plus service & coffee RATING

options (two starters and two mains) and strong Ottolenghi overtones to the o erings. Our nibble of pigs head nu ets and sauce gribiche never materialised (we weren’t charged), but when our starters eventually came they were worth waiting for. e pork, prune and pistachio terrine with pickles and charred bread was good enough, but the star of the show was the spinach and spring onions with warm so e s, crispy potatoes and lardo. Healthy, appetising, light and perfect for a summer’s evening, with the lardo adding welcome bite to a nicely balanced package of flavours.

e slightly fatty but gloriously flavoursome roast pork loin with haricot beans, grilled peach, turnips and broad beans was the pick of the mains, mainly because the venison – which came with a winning combination of Tokyo turnip, chanterelles, baby leeks, lovage and a percussively rich sauce – was horribly overcooked and dry.

Pudding was, sadly, the least impressive course, with an icy and under-flavoured raspberry sorbet, followed by a tasty almond and lemon cake undone by a barely-flavoured rhubarb ice cream.

e verdict? e Taybank could be very good (indeed, for £130 including service, it should be). It has the building blocks in place – including a great menu and cheery sta – the right instincts, but it needs greater attention to detail in the kitchen and slicker service. en it could be very special.

e ceilidh places

Which restaurants, pubs and hotels host live traditional Scottish music?

The Taybank in Dunkeld has long been known for hosting live traditional music every ursday, but it is far from the only place in Scotland where you can eat, drink and take your fill of traditional ceilidh music ( e Taybank also puts on regular bluegrass and hosts visiting bands).

One of those places is virtually next door to e Taybank, with the Royal Dunkeld Hotel (www.royaldunkeld.co.uk) holding weekly sessions on ursday nights.

But by far the most celebrated example of a venue built around music is the Ceilidh Place in Ullapool (www. theceilidhplace.com) which advertises itself as a ‘hotel, bunkhouse, café/bar, restaurant, bookshop and music venue’, but in which that order should be reversed. For over fi y years, the Ceilidh Place has not only been providing good, hearty food, but has been a gathering place for talented musicians to play and meet other musicians. Nor has its place at the top of the pile diminished – it is the current winner of the Music Venue of the Year at the Scots Trad Music Awards.

A joyously quirky places to stay and play is the Torridon Estate in Wester Ross (www.torridonestate.com), which is owned by keen musicians Felix and Sarah von Racknitz Macleod. Accommodation is B&B or self-catering, but they say that ‘music takes up a large energy in our home. Sarah teaches and plays the Celtic fiddle, and Felix produces and composes music. ‘We are passionate musicians and invite you to share this with us, whether that’s through music courses, our recording studio or just playing together one night. It’s a pleasure to share our passions with like-minded people.’

ere are an enormous number of places in Edinburgh (Sandy Bells, Royal Oak, Ghillie Dhu and Whiski chief among them), Glasgow ( e Ben Nevis, e Park Bar and Oran Mor) and Inverness (MacGregor’s Bar, Hootenanny) which stage traditional music evenings and sessions, but most tend to be pubs. Finding somewhere to eat, stay and play is more tricky, but there are a great number of small

Reader’s recommendation

LOCANDA DE GUSTI, DALRY ROAD, EDINBURGH

hotels outside the main cities which are perfect for visiting musicians and music fans.

As you would expect, the West Coast, Highlands and islands is the epi-centre of ceilidh culture. e Old Inn at Carbost on Skye (www.theoldinnskye.co.uk), Clachaig Inn in Glencoe (www.clachaig.com), Arisag Hotel (www. arisaighotel.co.uk), Glenuig Inn in Lochaber (www.glenuig. com), Loch Shiel Hotel in Acharacle (www.lochshielhotel. com), Port Charlotte Hotel on Islay (www.portcharlottehotel. co.uk) and Loch Melfort Hotel in Argyll (www.lochmelfort. co.uk) have all at one stage or another entertained our traditional music correspondent Matthew Anderson, a member of the well-known Celtic music band Piperactive.

But there are plenty of live music venues south and east of the Highland Fault too, with live traditional music sessions happening in most towns and villages throughout the country. If you would like to do some further research, www.scotlandsmusic.com/Explore/SessionsAndClubs, www.thesession.org/sessions and www.folkandhoney.co.uk/ scotland/venues are all good starting places, but make sure you check their recommendations are still up to date.

My wife and I love Italian food, but she’s gluten intolerant, so it was a stroke of luck when we discovered this amazing little family restaurant near Haymarket. Chef-owner Rosario Sartore is a genius who serves authentic food from his home city of Naples and his daughter is gluten intolerant, so my wife can eat all his (stunningly good) food. www.locandadegusti.com, Recommended by Sandy Macdonald

JAMMING: A normal night at Ullapool’s Ceilidh Place.

Dementia advice from experts

One step at a time

A video guide to navigating dementia

Our new video guide offers expert advice to help you navigate dementia, from initial diagnosis, to living well with the condition and self-care tips for carers.

Trusted to care

Cairdean House, Colinton

Lauder Lodge, Portobello

Murrayside, Corstophine

careuk.com/edinburgh

Download the guide at careuk.com/one-step-at-a-time or scan the QR code.

Quality care in a place you can call home

As the UK’s most awarded large care provider, Care UK delivers high quality care that’s all about enabling you to enjoy the lifestyle you want. We support you to be who you’ve always been, or who you want to be, shaping your care and lifestyle to suit your interests, needs and preferences.

More like family

Our teams receive the latest training in all aspects of care. Our partnership with the Association for Dementia Studies at Worcester University means we stay up to date with the latest dementia care approaches, and a Dementia Champion in each home supports all colleagues to deliver high quality care.

Above all, our teams are passionate about supporting you to live life to the full. There’s a variety of activities, entertainment and outings to enjoy every day at our Edinburgh care homes. So, whether you’d like to continue enjoying a lifelong hobby, discover a new interest, make new friends or simply look forward to being pampered, our homes have everything you need.

Relax in luxurious surroundings

Our Edinburgh care homes are stunning, purposebuilt homes offering a wealth of superb facilities, including a hair salon, cinema and café. And if it’s peace and quiet you’re after, we have plenty of comfy lounges and restful alcoves where you can relax with a favourite book. Each en-suite bedroom is beautifully furnished, with our ground floor rooms enjoying private patios. If you’re a gardener or simply love the outdoors, we have lovely gardens to explore too.

Trust us to care

At Care UK, we’ve been delivering high quality, person-centred care for over 40 years. What’s more, we have more ‘Outstanding’-rated homes than any other provider. That’s why over 8,000 families across the country trust us to care for their older loved one.

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At our care homes in Edinburgh, we deliver the highest quality * residential, dementia, nursing and short-term care.

*Care UK is the top-rated private care provider in Scotland, according to The Care Inspectorate. We have the highest percentage of Excellent and Very Good–rated homes amongst our private competitors, with 100% of our homes achieving Excellent, Very Good or Good ratings.

FOOD & DRINK

e latest happenings on Scotland’s food and drink scene

CRUMBS

The Scottish Rum Festival will take place on 2 September. The day will feature a line up of Scottish producers presenting their rums to sip and mix, alongside some new entrants to the thriving rum scene. A programme of expert talks will discuss Scotland’s rum heritage, and the synergies between Scottish rum and whisky. It will be held in Patina, Edinburgh. www. scottishrumfest.com

TOAS T ING TOP PRODUCE

Some 75 food and drink businesses from across Scotland are celebrating after being named as nalists for the otland ood rin x ellen e ards . here are taste ate ories this year in ludin artisan a ery and meat produ t of the year. usinesses shortlisted in lude ma or produ ers li e raham s the amily airy and a ie s as ell as smaller artisanal produ ers li e ho olatia ottish oney erry ro ers and he ee ottish ider ompany. he inners ill e announ ed on eptem er. excellenceawards.foodanddrink.scot

SENSATIONAL SCRAN DRAM

MALT COASTER

Old whisky staves are being saved from land ll and upcyced into handmade coasters.

J Boult Designs has launched its latest creation, a handmade whisky coaster and glass gift set. The coasters are made using locally sourced whisky staves from oak barrels that once held aged spirits. www. jboultdesigns.com

e Scran & Scallie has been recognised as South-East Scotland Pub & Bar of the Year 2023. e Edinburgh gastropub was acknowledged at the National Pub & Bar Awards Grand Final. e eatery was opened by Tom and Michaela Kitchin in 2013 and is celebrating ten years on the city's culinary scene. www.scranandscallie.com

e visitor centre at Scotch whisky distillery e GlenAllachie has undergone a major upgrade. A £600,000 investment has seen the conversion of a former engineering workshop to a whisky bar, tasting lounge and outdoor bar seating. e whisky bar will o er a range of e GlenAllachie drams and rums. www.theglenallachie.com

Spirit of Speyside

The Spirit of Speyside whisky festival will return for Distilled 2023. The annual event will unite Speyside’s best whisky distillers under one roof for a weekend, celebrating the avour of the region that is home to over half of Scotland’s distilleries. Already con rmed are crowd favourites Cardhu, Aberlour and Glenlivet. The event will take place on 1 and 2 September at Elgin Town Hall. www.spiritofspeyside.com

TONY SINGH RETURNSTO EDINBURGH

Celebrity chef Tony Singh is bringing his exciting street food pop-up back to Edinburgh. Tony’s Road Trip will combine the best of Scottish and Indian cuisine and will open at two Apex Hotels in the capital. The pop-up will run until 3 September at Apex Grassmarket Hotel and Apex Waterloo Place Hotel. The chef will be treating diners to a host of dishes, mixing up street food styles and flavours from across the world. The menu has a mix of fusion favourites. www.apexhotels.co.uk

Looking up f Lei

The UK’s rst vertical whisky distillery has appointed its head of whisky as it prepares to turn on its stills. Vaibhav Sood, previously operations manager at The Lakes Distillery, has taken on the new role at Port of Leith. The £13m ninestorey distillery is due to open later this year in Leith’s historic port. It is hoped the distillery will attract 25,000 visitors in its rst year, with projections soaring to 160,000 annual visitors by 2025. It will produce up to one million bottles of premium whisky per year. www.leithdistillery.com

Welcome to producer's c ner

WHISKY CARBON CRUNCH

A ground-breaking project to help de-carbonise the Scotch whisky industry has been announced, saving 25,000 tonnes of carbon each year. e £45m AMP Clean Ener project will see electric and biomass boilers built at Simpsons Malt Limited’s Tweed Valley Maltings in Berwick-upon-Tweed. e ener generated will displace fossil fuel gas that is currently used in the production of malt. www.simpsonsmalt.co.uk

If you have visited the Isle of Skye in the last few years you might have heard of a small shed at the end of an eight-mile single track road, selling homemade tablet. Visitors from around the world have ocked to Donnie Montgomery’s tiny shed to sample his tablet and snap a sel e with his famous purple box.

Weary travellers are delighted to come across Donnie’s Tablet Shed, which has an honesty box for paying and a visitor book for customers to leave a message. Alongside his original tablet, Donnie also whips up avours like maple syrup, Isle of Skye sea salt, and malt whisky made with Talisker. Every few weeks he embarks on a 60-mile round trip to Uig to collect supplies from the local shop, but keeps the shed stocked up every day with tablet.

As a child Donnie fondly remembers visits to his aunt and uncle’s house where there was always a tablet tin. He began experimenting with making it 35 years ago and fell in love with the process. He set up the shed when he moved to the Waternish Peninsula on Skye four years ago and is now shipping it to fans around the world - from India to Dubai and America. To read the full interview go to www.scottish eld.co.uk

DONNIE MONTGOMERY

Donnie's Tablet Shed, Isle of Skye.

SCOTTISH FIELD

Earning your keep

Flipping limited edition drams for profit is commonplace, but our whisky guru has found a more altruistic way of accessing luxury goods

The world of whisky is full of excitement. New releases are eagerly anticipated, and limited editions are snapped up by collectors and investors. But what if there was a way to make whisky even more rewarding for those wanting to get their hands on a new release? What if they really had to earn the bottle?

Whisky flipping is when people buy limited edition bottles with the sole intention of reselling them for profit. is drives up prices and can make it di cult for genuine fans to get their hands on the bottles they want.

tra c chaos when a limited-edition Macallan ‘Genesis’ was released to mark the distillery opening. e release of 2,500 was priced at £395 per bottle, but now they regularly sell for between £2,500 and £5,000.

But what if these bottles could only be purchased by people who were willing to give back to their community? Instead of being reserved for those with the deepest pockets?

In the July 2022 edition of Scottish Field, I wrote about the growth of businesses in the whisky industry that were achieving B Corp status and the drive to be forces for change rather than simply generating profit.

I recently came across a fascinating platform called EARNT.co.uk that allows consumers to earn the right to purchase limited edition products and experiences by completing altruistic deeds or volunteering.

EARNT is a simple but powerful idea. By requiring consumers to give back to their community or a worthy cause before they can purchase a luxury item or experience, EARNT encourages people to do good before they can get their hands on something they really want. It also creates a barrier for those who simply want to profit from flipping. is concept could be particularly interesting in the world of whisky. In 2022, a Springbank whisky charity release in aid of the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal caused chaos when a fight broke out outside a London shop and someone was arrested. e £60 bottle was limited to 500 and only available in-person, but flippers tried to profit by selling it despite it being a charitable bottling. Some auction sites refused to list the bottle, while others accepted it only if the seller agreed to donate 100% of the proceeds to the appeal. One bottle was sold for £1,200 at auction, with all proceeds going to the DEC.

In 2018, the roads around the Macallan Distillery had to be closed by police due to

If you are interested in this subject, I would recommend the book Good Is e New Cool: e Principles Of Purpose, which states: ‘It’s no longer enough for great brands today to only have “share of mind” via a great product and “share of heart” (an emotional a nity). ey must also win “share of spirit,” showing how they can upli the world through positive social impact. And to achieve that and truly move the cultural needle, there is a new expectation of how a company shows up in the world; great advertising is nothing if not backed by significant actions.’

It is important for consumers to know that any purpose-driven initiative by a business is genuine and not just an example of ‘purpose-washing’.

Of course, there are some potential challenges. It would be important to ensure that the altruistic deeds or volunteering activities were meaningful and impactful. It would also be important to make sure that the system was not abused. For example, preventing people being paid to do the volunteering on behalf of a flipper.

Even so, I’d love to see something like this at the next Feis Ile or Spirit of Speyside Festival. In order to be eligible for a limited-edition bottling you could be asked to do, for example, two hours of litter picking on an Islay beach or along the River Spey.

e EARNT concept has the potential to be a positive force in whisky. It would create a new kind of VIP fan, and help to address the problem of flipping. It’s an idea worth considering.

BLAIR BOWMAN

‘Create a new type of VIP fan and address the problem o ippin

Toyota Professional

One for the road

In Neil Lyndon’s final motoring column, he concludes that one car stands head and shoulders above the rest – the Toyota Hilux pick-up

This will be the last article I ever write about cars. Apparently, insurers get nervous when the keys for £200,000 cars that can top 200mph are handed to writers over 75. Bah!

It has been a good run. is enforced retirement comes close to the anniversary of the moment when the editor of a national newspaper idly asked if I might fill in on the motoring column for a few months while she found somebody permanent. at was

the answer has varied according to need and circumstance. For sports cars, it was always Mazda’s MX-5. For family cars, usually Ford’s Focus. For SUVs, BMW X5 or Lexus RX. Luxury cars, Mercedes S-Class. If, however, anybody ever asked, ‘What car would you choose for yourself?’ they were o en taken aback when I answered, ‘Toyota’s Hilux pick-up’.

It’s the all-in-all car. As a load-lu er, it is capable of shi ing a tonne of household junk in the load bed; as a towing vehicle, it could drag a Leopard tank out of a lake; as a cross-country conveyance, it could carry you to the darkest Orinoco; as a family car, it will imperturbably transport five people through the most adverse conditions that a Scottish winter can generate. As a car to make an impression on a first date… maybe not ideal.

In production for nearly 60 continuous years, Toyota’s Hilux has been a cornerstone of the fortunes of one of the world’s richest and most productive companies. ey have turned out more than 18 million of the things. You see them everywhere you go on earth and they seem to live forever. Like crows, you never see a dead one.

Evolved over eight generations, the Hilux has been progressively house-trained and gentrified. Beginning unashamedly with cart-springs and an interior that could be hosed-out (if anybody could be bothered), it has now acquired some of the accoutrements and comforts you might expect to find in a GP’s Volvo estate. Our Hilux Invincible test car came with leather upholstery, an interior quiet enough to enjoy the JBL audio system and a cooled upper glove-box for drinks and sandwiches. Get out of here.

During that time, about 1,500 new cars have been delivered to my door and I might have attended 500 car launches all over the world – o en on private jets, in five-star hotels with Michelin-starred restaurants. Somebody’s got to do it.

Every stranger I have met at every party in all those years has invariably asked, ‘What is the best car you’ve ever driven?’ and, equally invariably, the answer was always ‘Honda’s original NSX supercar’. But whenever I was asked, ‘What would you recommend?’

With its four-wheel lock di erential and descent control, this mighty vehicle might match any Land Rover product o -road and, at £38,378, it would cost about half the price and be twice as reliable. In Australia they say, ‘You can take a Range Rover into the Outback but, if you want to come out alive, take a Toyota Land-Cruiser.’ Same goes for the Hilux.

Its 2.8 four-cylinder diesel engine cranks out more than 200bhp and a torrent of torque or pulling power which will shove this uncomely block of metal from 0-62mph in 10.7 seconds and up to 109mph. At that rate, you can count the pounds you are spending on fuel by the second. Toyota claim an average of 33.2mpg which is shameful enough to deserve universal condemnation but my own average on test was 29mpg. at almost amounts to a crime against the planet, as do the 224g/km emissions.

It’s way past time that the Hilux went electric. Too late for me, alas. is wild hooligan in his eighth decade will now be downsizing to a cute little Suzuki Swi hybrid. In my dreams, however, I shall always be at the wheel of a Toyota Hilux.

HITTING THE ROAD: The Toyota Hilux Invincible can match any Land Rover off-road.

‘In my dreams, I shall always be at the wheel of a Toyota Hilux’

What do people forget when writing a will?

Ahead of charity schemes Will Relief Scotland in September and Will Aid in November, Peter Ranscombe explores some of the finer points that are forgotten when writing wills

Most of us have them – a to-do list scribbled at the back of a notebook or on the outside of an envelope that’s then hastily stu ed into the back of a desk drawer. at list of ‘life-min’ o en includes such classics as ‘Get to grips with my pension’ or ‘Take out a life insurance policy’ or ‘Open a savings account’. Or ‘Write my will’.

Big events – such as buying a house or having children – o en tri er that ni ling reminder to put a will in place. Yet those same landmark moments also tend to make life much, much busier, squeezing out the free time needed to both make important decisions and tell your loved ones about your final wishes.

with clients, I like to go back to basics with them – and that includes the appointment of executors,’ says Joe Davies, head of the private client department at law firm Gilson Gray. e executor is the person responsible for carrying out the steps in the will, including distributing money and other assets.

‘ e executors also need to get on with each other – there’s no point appointing two children who are going to bicker,’ adds Davies. ‘It’s also important to appoint someone who’s an appropriate age because, if you live for another 30 years a er making your will, you want your executor to still be around.’

Davies highlights the need to think about who to appoint as guardians of any young children, and whether they should be the same people as the executor. ‘It’s also important to make sure trust provisions are in place to look a er money for young children,’ he adds.

While many brands o er ‘do-it-yourself’ will-writing services online, most appear to be aimed at the English market, ignoring the fact that Scotland has always had its own legal system – one of the clearest cases of ‘buyer beware’. Writing a clear will can be a complex task which is why so many people ask their solicitor to help.

A recent survey by Schroders Personal Wealth found that 74% of people aged between 35 and 59 don’t have a will, and neither do 27% of people over the age of 60. With so many people putting o writing their will, how do experts recommend starting the process?

‘Whenever I have an initial meeting

During September, many solicitors take part in Will Relief Scotland, a scheme through which clients donate money to four charities – Blythswood Care, EMMS International, MAF, and Signpost International – instead of paying a fee. A similar scheme, Will Aid, runs during November to support nine charities, including SCIAF.

‘I don’t think people realise that, in Scotland, we have quite a distinctive feature known as “legal rights”, which is a form of forced heirship,’ explains Caroline Pringle, a director at law firm Anderson Strathern. ‘Under legal rights you cannot disinherit a spouse or child – people think they can just leave their estate to whoever they wish, which they can,

‘Your spouse and your children are automatically entitled to make a claim’

of course, include in a will, but they don’t realise that actually, regardless, your spouse and your children are automatically entitled to make a claim of their legal rights.’

ose legal rights vary depending on whether you are leaving behind a spouse, children, or both. ey also only cover ‘net moveable assets’ – such as cash in the bank or investments –and not ‘heritable property’ such as land and buildings.

‘It’s little quirks like that which o en get overlooked by clients,’ agrees Davies. ‘It’s our role as a trusted advisor to make sure clients understand the implications.’

Pringle points to the need for people to check the title deeds to their home when writing a will. ‘It was very common a number of years ago for there to be a ‘survivorship destination’ placed in titles,’ she says.

‘Essentially this means that, if people bought property together, it automatically transfers to the other owner on death. at defeats anything that expressly relates to the property in the will.’

Considerations about property naturally lead into conversations about inheritance tax. Writing a will and planning for how your wealth will be

distributed when you die naturally go hand-in-hand.

‘Inheritance tax only a ects about 3% of the population, but inflation means more and more people are coming under its auspices,’ Davies points out. ‘Inheritance tax also bites when a couple are living together but aren’t married and so don’t get spousal exemptions.

‘It’s also important to consider the assets that you may not think are part of your estate – you’ve got your house and your bank account and your car and your dog, but what about your pension and your life insurance? A pension could be worth £200,000 or £300,000 and your life insurance could be a multiple of your salary, so you probably won’t want those big chunky sums getting rolled into your estate and adding to your inheritance tax and instead you might place them in separate trusts.’

Digital assets – such as social media profiles, websites or media files – also need to be considered. ‘People might choose to have a specific executor for particular parts of their will, such as their art collection or digital assets,’ Davies says.

‘People might put plans in place through a digital assets schedule. It’s

also important to list all of your digital assets and accounts, and think about how people can get access to them when you die.’

As well as their will – which becomes a public document when they die – some people will choose to leave a more informal letter of wishes, which will help to guide their executors, but will remain private. at letter could include more sensitive information, such as funeral arrangements or trusts set up to deal with challenging family circumstances, or even last wishes for pets.

‘You could potentially set up a trust for a dog or leave a token legacy to pay for its upkeep – because dogs are expensive,’ adds Davies. ‘Some people will see inheriting a dog as an asset, but for others it will be a liability.’

Pringle has also come across wishes about animals in wills. ‘I’ve seen a horrible one, where it was “Please humanely destroy my animal”,’ she remembers.

‘You can understand why though, because there’s probably no one else to look a er them and they can’t be sent to a sanctuary for whatever reason. It’s always crucial to talk to your loved ones about your final wishes – it’s about managing their expectations.’

LIGHTS, CAMERA , ACTION!

Scotland’s landscapes and historic landmarks have graced many a silver screen, so join SF as we roll out the red carpet and premiere eight trails to help you discover the best TV and film locations

Map illustrations Kati Lacey

ABERDEENSHIRE

SPEYSIDE & MORAY

SURF AND TURF PARADISE

e North East truly has it all, from quaint fishing villages and atmospheric harbours to castles and stately homes, making it the perfect surf and turf muse for film directors, says Rosie Morton

ABERDEENSHIRE

As an Aberdeen quine, many of my creative dreams were born in the North East – and I’m not alone. With more than 260 castles, stately homes and ruins, as well as charming fishing towns that pepper the coastline, Aberdeen City & Shire is an inspirational playground for directors seeking a surf and turf backdrop.

e Silver City itself is of course known for its monumental architecture including Marischal College, the second largest granite building in the world. However, it was a rather more ordinary setting that caught director Jon S. Baird’s eye. In the 2023 film Tetris, starring Taron Egerton, he gave Tillydrone Avenue a subtle Soviet-style edit. e street, which is just outside the University of Aberdeen’s Zoology department, was lined with antique phone-boxes and vintage cars to portray the true story of the race to patent the videogame ‘Tetris’ in Cold War Russia. A er picking up a ‘butterie’ from a local bakery, watching for cetaceans from the city’s dolphin viewing centre, or visiting the colony of seals at Newburgh, skirt north round the coast to Pennan. Here, you’ll find another

phone-box which is likely the most famous of its kind. It featured in Bill Forsyth’s 1983 cult classic, Local Hero, which celebrated its 40th anniversary in May this year. Stop o at Pennan Inn where Mac MacIntyre (the American oil tycoon played by Peter Riegert) pleads with the landlord (Denis Lawson) to swap lives with him.

From there, it’s time to head west

to the vibrant 17th-century harbour of Portsoy which served as the principle location for the 2016 remake of Whisky Galore! which tells the story of the SS Politician which ran aground with 28,000 cases of whisky. A smu lers’ paradise? Naturally. Connoisseurs can sample Glenglassaugh’s finest amber nectar in nearby Ban . at said, don’t skip Portsoy Ice Cream shop which is known for its unusual flavours including strawberry daiquiri sorbet.

Portsoy’s TV appearances don’t end there though. It was also given a makeover in 2022, doubling as French outpost Miquelon in the thrilling finale of Brummie gangster series Peaky Blinders. Reward yourself with a hearty bowl of Cullen Skink at nearby Cullen Bay Hotel, and snap a photo at Bow Fiddle Rock in Porknockie (which is home to a variety of seabirds such as guilletmots and kittiwakes) before heading to your next destination: Braemar.

You needn’t be Steven Spielberg to see why Royal Deeside (specifically, Braemar Castle) was an ideal base for Henry Hathaway’s regal 1954 Prince Valiant in which a Viking prince fights to become a knight in King Arthur’s

ABOVE: Cillian Murphy (as Tommy Shelby) visited Portsoy for Peaky Blinders which saw The Shore Inn turned into ‘Hotel Lannan’. BELOW: Tetris set outside Aberdeen University.

court. ough the castle is currently closed for restoration, nearby Balmoral – Scottish home of the Royal Family since 1852 – is open to the public until 16 August. e Fife Arms (which boasts over 16,000 works of art) and e Bothy are excellent pitstops for a refuel.

A stone’s throw east is Craigievar (a pastel pink castle said to have inspired the Disney Castle), as well as Cluny Castle and Castle Fraser which both featured in the Oscar-winning movie, e Queen. Nearby Glen Tanar, Ballogie Estate, Birsemore Loch and Fettercairn also make for great stopping points for fans of the 2015 remake of Grassic Gibbon’s Sunset Song.

Head back to the North East coast to finish your grand tour at Dunnottar, a ruined medieval fortress. Not only did it provide inspiration for Dunbroch Castle, the home of Brave’s feisty red-headed princess Merida, it also featured in Victor Frankenstein, a modern take on Mary Shelley’s epic monster tale which starred James McAvoy and Daniel Radcli e, and the 1990 adaptation of Hamlet with Mel Gibson. You can even paddleboard beneath Dunnottar with local watersports clubs to view it from a unique perspective.

Having worked up an appetite, it would be churlish not to stop at e Bay Fish & Chips where the cast of Outlander had their fill of seafood when filming in the area last year.

ABOVE: Sara Stewart as Amanda MacLeish (distillery manager) and Lloyd Owen as Paul Bowman-Macdonald in Monarch of the Glen, which was lmed partly at Speyside Distillery.

BELOW: The beautiful Covesea Lighthouse featured in The Crown, when Imelda Staunton played the Queen.

It’s nigh-on impossible to mention Speyside without writing of its inextricable ties with the water of life. A whisky Mecca, it is no coincidence that BBC Scotland’s much-adored TV drama series Monarch of the Glen included a significant nod to Scotch malt. In 2001, Speyside Distillery was transformed into the fictional ‘La anmore Distillery’ and served as the set for the fi h series. Whether it was because of viewers’ love for amber nectar or the Highland heartthrob Archie MacDonald (laird of the fictional estate Glenbogle, played by Alastair Mackenzie), this particular series drew in an audience of 8.5m in the UK alone and was later sold to 24 countries worldwide. Of course, the distillery had to undergo an appropriate transformation to make the cut. Panelling was added to the production area to su est antiquity, while casks stencilled with ‘La anmore’ were used to pack out the warehouse.

A little further north lies one of the most architecturally impressive distilleries: e Macallan. While it may not have featured on the silver screen as yet, its highly sought-a er malt has frequently been a prop for James Bond, including in Skyfall when 007 drinks e Macallan Fine & Rare 1962. Further strengthening e Macallan’s cinematic ties is former distillery chairman Allan Shiach who is also a Hollywood screenwriter (under the name Allan Scott). He was the executive producer and co-creator of the Netflix series e Queen’s Gambit

Imelda Staunton is one of the bi est names to have visited this beautiful neuk of the north in recent times. Here, Staunton – who is also renowned for her roles in Harry Potter, Vera Drake and Downton Abbey – filmed scenes as the Queen in the everpopular Netflix series, e Crown at Covesea Lighthouse near Lossiemouth and further east in Macdu Harbour. Visitors who are keen to make the pilgrimage to the coast may be bold enough to climb the 144 steps and two fi xed ladders to the top of the lighthouse. Alternatively, you can enjoy a more leisurely stroll along the spectacular beachfront or a trip to Moray Golf Club for a round on Old Tom Morris’ undulating fairways.

While you’re in Moray, why not visit the eerie ruins of Elgin Cathedral, browse the cashmere at Johnston’s of Elgin or head to Gordon Castle Walled Garden at Fochabers for a bite to eat?

TOP: SPEYSIDE DISTILLERY, COURTESY OF BBC. RIGHT: INAKI BOLUMBURU/SHUTTERSTOCK.

MORAY

‘It would be churlish not to stop at e Bay Fish & Chips where the cast of Outlander had their fill of seafood’

AUTUMN BREAKS

ABERDEENSHIRE, SPEYSIDE & MORAY

Explore the glorious North-East this autumn

THE SHIP INN

Stonehaven, Aberdeenshire

Tel: 01569 762 617

www.shipinnstonehaven.com

GLENSHEE SKI CENTRE

Aberdeenshire

Tel: 01339 741 320

www.ski-glenshee.co.uk

3,504ft of mountain adventure beckons skiers and snowboarders. From the invitingly easy to the surprisingly steep, Glenshee offers the most extensive skiing and snowboarding in Scotland. It is easy to see why Glenshee is the UK’s premier ski centre. Enjoy homemade soup, hot food and cakes at Tea @The Shee Cafe.

Built in 1771, The Ship Inn is an historic inn situated at the edge of Stonehaven’s picturesque harbour. Their excellent home-cooked food is served in the panoramic air-conditioned restaurant, while real ales and over 100 malt whiskies can be tasted at the cosy bar or on the open terrace.

DEVERON VALLEY COTTAGES

Huntly, Aberdeenshire

Tel: 07983 770 561

www.deveronvalleycottages.co.uk

In the heart of Aberdeenshire, nestled between the Cairngorms and the coast. These fi ve cosy, dog friendly cottages with log burners on the Whisky & Castle Trail are the perfect place to enjoy a dram after a day exploring.

EAST KINKNOCKIE COTTAGE

Udny, Aberdeenshire

Tel: 07747 845 122

Facebook/Instagram:

@eastkinknockiecottage

LOCHTER ACTIVITY CENTRE

Inverurie

Tel: 01651 872000

www.lochter.co.uk

A place to challenge friends, family and colleagues. They offer a wide range of activities suitable for all ages and levels of skill. Once you’ve savoured the delights Lochter has to offer, you’ll want to go back again and again. At Lochter they take pride in offering a warm and friendly service. They offer go-karting, archery and more.

Take it easy at this unique and tranquil getaway. Situated in rural Aberdeenshire, minutes from the coast. Close to golf courses, castles and distilleries. Enjoy walks in the woodland surrounding the cottage with wildlife on tap. Relax and enjoy.

SPEYSIDE DISTILLERY

Kingussie

Tel: 01479 810 126

www.speysidedistillers.co.uk

Speyside Distillery, a small private distillery, are still hand-distilling in time honoured traditions, specialising in small batch single malt Scotch whisky. They are proud to celebrate fi ve years of orld hisky Awards with a double win in 2023 – gold and the overall winner with their 10YO SPEY

Trutina

Deveron Valley

_________ cottages

& log cabins

The Ship Inn

Overlooking the Harbour, The Ship Inn offers a great variety of quality food and drink.

With eleven bedrooms, most with views of the harbour, The Ship Inn is an excellent choice for your stay in Stonehaven.

Only 20 minutes from Aberdeen, Stonehaven is the gateway to Royal Deeside.

Built in 1771, this historical and award winning hotel has so much to offer.

01569 762617 www.shipinnstonehaven.com

Dreaming of a place to peacefully retreat? Look no further than Deveron Valley Cottages & Log Cabins

Situated on the banks of river Deveron, our ve self-catered cottages now include the Marnoch Lodge shing boat. Salmon and trout shing are available to book through us.

Use code SCOTF23 for 10% o when you book direct via our website  www.deveronvalleycottages.co.uk

T: 07983770561 E: info@deveronvalleycottages.co.uk

Jewellery

For an ideal family holiday, we are just twenty minutes from the beautiful Moray Firth Coastline and beaches. Follow the Whisky and Castle Trails with spectacular views and stunning coastal villages. From

Karen Duncan Jewellery

Up in northern lights

When it comes to wild filming locations they don’t come more dramatic than Orkney and Shetland, where the islands have seen more than their fair share of murder, intrigue and marauding giants, says Morag Bootland

Despite their distant shores, it’s hardly a surprise that the Northern Isles have inspired film-makers through the decades. Windswept cli s and coastlines, a unique culture and a compelling history combine to make Orkney and Shetland a muse that’s always well worth travelling for.

Standing 449 feet tall, the Old Man of Hoy is one of the tallest sea stacks in the UK and arguably the most famous. Jutting skywards from the Atlantic Ocean, this red sandstone stack stands near Rackwick Bay on the west coast of Hoy in Orkney. With its gravity-defying otherworldly look the Old Man of Hoy proved perfect as part of the inspiration for Giant Country in the 2016 film adaptation of Roald Dahl’s e BFG. is Orcadian column of rock, along with some of Skye’s incredible geology was digitally enhanced to create the landscape for the terrifying land of the giants.

It is possible to hike to Orkney’s most famous landmark, but it is not for the fainthearted. e round trip from Rackwick takes

around three hours and the track is rough in places. Oh, and watch out for those giants! Visitors to the islands who prefer a more leisurely view can also catch a glimpse of the Old Man of Hoy from the Scrabster to Stromness ferry.

Hoy was also the setting of e Spy in Black, a 1939 spy thriller set during the first world war. But the star of this film, which was released just weeks before the country once again went to war with Germany, was Scapa Flow. is body of water became the UK’s chief naval base during both world wars and the plot of the film centres around a German U-boat commander who is ordered to attack the fleet.

Scapa Flow is a popular destination for anyone with an interest in history. e scuttling of the German fleet in the a ermath of the first world war has created a haven of shipwrecks that make this one of the world’s most exciting places to dive. But if you’d rather stay on dry land then never fear, because some of the wrecks are visible from the shore depending on the tides. Even further back in time, it was here that the Vikings chose to moor their longboats when they arrived on the islands.

But there’s more than just history here, with the naturally sheltered bay being the home to a

vast array of wildlife. Overhead black guillemots and great skuas (or tysties and bonxies as they are known here) soar and the surrounding land is home to curlews and oystercatchers. e wrecks have become a playground for sea life, as well as seals and in summer there’s even the chance of spotting a basking shark or orca.

Another piece of wartime history overlooks the pristine waters of Scapa Flow. e Italian Chapel sits on Lamb Holm, a tiny island connected to the mainland and other islands by a series of concrete barriers installed at the behest of Winston Churchill to defend the naval fleet. e chapel was constructed from two nissen huts by prisoners of war. e artistry of Italian prisoner Domenico Chiocchetti makes this one of Orkney’s best-loved and most beautiful man-made attractions.

e island of Papa Westray, or Papay, is just one of the locations where the film adaptation of Orcadian author Amy Liptrot’s brilliant memoir e Outrun was shot. is tiny island is one of Orkney’s smallest at around four miles long, but it is rich in archaeology. e Knap of Howar is home to the oldest stone houses in Northern Europe. Visitors can also make a world record breaking journey to Papay on the world’s shortest scheduled flight from Westray, which lasts just 90 seconds.

TOP: IAN COOPER IMAGES/SHUTTERSTOCK.

RIGHT: ROB ATHERTON/SHUTTERSTOCK.

FAR RIGHT: GONZALO BUZONNI/SHUTTERSTOCK.

TOP: St Magnus Cathedral in Kirkwall. ABOVE LEFT: The Churchill Barriers at Scapa Flow. ABOVE RIGHT: The Old Man of Hoy.

‘It is possible to hike to Orkney’s most famous landmark, but it is not for the faint-hearted. Oh, and watch out for those giants’

THERE’S BEEN A MURDER: Douglas Henshall as DI Jimmy Perez and Steven Robertson as DC Wilson contemplate the evidence in Shetland

For fans of classic cartoon comedy there’s lots to see and do in the home town of e Simpsons’ Groundskeeper Willie, whose Orcadian roots were revealed in a 2012 episode named e Daughter Also Rises. Orkney’s bi est settlement is home to the magnificent St Magnus Cathedral and a ra of independent shops filled with jewellery and cra s. ere’s also Highland Park and Scapa distilleries close by and an array of great little eating places.

SHETLAND

From Kirkwall, fly to Sumburgh on the southern tip of the Shetland mainland, or catch a ferry to Lerwick, the largest town and main port in Shetland. It is here at the south end of Commercial Street that you will find the house of DI Jimmy Perez, the protagonist of BBC TV drama Shetland. A private residence, the Lodberrie dates back to around 1772. It sits with its foundations in the turquoise sea by Bain’s beach, which is a popular swimming spot in the heart of the town. Wester Quar , a small fishing village five miles south of Lerwick has also made an appearance, along with many of the small islands that make up this archipelago, including West Burra and Fair Isle.

Shetland has been filmed across the islands for a decade and showcases plenty of dramatic scenery as Perez and his team try to crack their latest case. With more than its fair share of coastline, its no surprise that beaches have featured heavily in the seven seasons that have aired. Follow in the footsteps of Perez with a walk over the beautiful sand tombolo to St Ninian’s Isle, wander the cli s at Maywick, look out for bodies washed ashore at Scousburgh, or chill out on the golden sands at Peerie Spi ie or Minn beaches.

It may be one of the most remote islands in the UK but Foula, which lies 20 miles west of the Shetland mainland can be reached by ferry, day cruise or air depending on the weather. e island’s sheer cli s and glorious hills stood in for St Kilda in the 1937 romantic adventure film e Edge of the World, which was based on the evacuation of St Kilda. Foula is popular with bird watchers who flock to see great skuas, pu ns, kittiwakes, fulmars and guillemots. It’s also home to the Foula sheep, a native breed famous for the range of colours in its wool.

Seasons

ALL GOLD

Seasons is a celebration of happy past times and special moments. Available in classic 9ct yellow gold accentuated with white and rose gold leaves. Also available in silver with enamel in Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter colours, adorned with yellow and rose gold leaves.

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Beautiful and unique rings available in silver, 9ct and 18ct yellow and white gold, and in platinum, many hand-set with diamonds.

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AUTUMN BREAKS

ORKNEY & SHETLAND

Everything you need for a fabulous break in the Northern Isles

INSTABILLIE SELF CATERING

Sandwick, Orkney

Tel: 01856 841733

www.orkney-accommodation.co.uk

KAREN DUNCAN JEWELLERY

Burray, Orkney

Tel: 01856 731614

www.karenduncanjewellery.com

On the island of Burray, Orkney, Karen creates stunning jewellery designs. Her understanding of materials and attention to detail result in jewellery made with passion, care and precision

Two traditional Orkney cottages which have been totally renovated, with all modern comforts. Situated just over a mile from Skara Brae and the beautiful sandy ay of kaill. ou can find out more information online.

SHEILA FLEET

Orkney

Tel: 01856 861203

www.sheilafleet.com

Sheila Fleet OBE is one of Scotland’s leading designer-makers of gold, silver and platinum jewellery. All Sheila’s ewellery is designed, made and finished at her workshop-by-the-sea in Orkney.

Sheila Fleet has two retail locations in Orkney—The Kirk Gallery & Café and Kirkwall Gallery and is celebrating 30 years in business in October

KARLIN ANDERSON

Hoswick, Shetland

Tel: 01950 431230

www.karlinanderson.com

ORKNEY ISLANDS COUNCIL

Kirkwall, Orkney

Tel: 01856 873535

www.orkney.gov.uk

We could all use more time and space. What if you could escape to a place where the rhythms of life are synced with landscape, light and ocean? In Orkney, you call the shots on how to spend your days, whether you seek adventure, escapism, culture, or simply some head-space.

Karlin’s jewellery is inspired by her clients’ stories, and the rugged landscape and rich culture of Shetland. She recently relocated her business from Hatton Garden, London back to her native islands. Karlin’s collections and espoke fine ewellery are handmade in her beachfront studio.

THE ORKNEY DAIRY

West Mainland, Orkney

Tel: 07745 957080

www.theorkneydairy.com

The Orkney Dairy is a family-run dairy farm in the West Mainland, making yogurt, milkshakes, butter and cheese from their unique Fleckvieh cattle’s creamy fl avoursome milk.

ARGYLL & THE ISLANDS

A trip to the wonderful west...

KILCAMB LODGE

Strontian, Argyll

Tel: 01967 402 257

www.kilcamblodge.co.uk

BRIDGEND HOTEL

Islay

Tel: 01496 810 212

www.bridgend-hotel.com

Located at the ‘Heart of Islay’, Bridgend Hotel is an ideal base for business or pleasure. The hotel aims to provide an original Islay experience to all of their guests.

Kilcamb Lodge is a luxury hide-away, situated on the peaceful shores of Loch Sunart. Surrounded by 22 acres of meadow, mountains and woodland, and the only luxury 4-star hotel and 3AA Rosette restaurant on the beautiful Ardnamurchan Peninsula.

HOLIDAY COTTAGES

WEST COAST

Various

Tel: 07585 709 992

www.holidaycottageswestcoast.co.uk

Gorgeous cottages around Loch Fyne, come walk by the loch, breathe the air, kick the leaves, enjoy the stunning scenery and then return home to a cosy log fire. All cottages are dog-friendly and a perfect base for exploring all that Argyll has to offer.

VENTURESAIL

Various

Tel: 01872 487 288

www.venturesailholidays.com

BALLYGRANT INN

Islay

Tel: 01496 840 277

www.ballygrant-inn.com

At the heart of allygrant nn estaurant is a fine selection of malt whiskies, beers, wines and spirits in the award-winning whisky bar which offers over 400 types of whisky, in two cosy lounges with wood urning fireplaces.

Discover the seclusion of the Western Isles on a sailing holiday adventure. Soak in the views from deck and experience incredible wildlife encounters as you sail the West Coast, take a voyage to St Kilda, or cruise the Hebrides. Each vessel is run by experienced crews.

BENMORE ESTATE

Isle of Mull

Tel: 07483 352 262

www.islandpods.co.uk

Set in spectacular scenery, these luxury pods are the ultimate island retreat. Whether you are looking to conquer your first unro, e plore a cottish castle, encounter eagles, or simply relax from the hustle and bustle of working life.

From Shakespeare to Star Wars

Argyll and the Hebridean islands along Scotland’s West Coast are a cinematographer’s dreamland. With its atmospheric lighting conditions, stunning scenery, island locations and the sheer manifold beauty of the place, it’s no wonder visitors get endless opportunities to walk in the footsteps of the stars of the big and small screen.

and Susan Hampshire., which was shot in Inveraray. A fantasy film in which a deceased family cat’s soul goes to a feline a erlife and returns as the Egyptian cat goddess Bastet, it is a profoundly strange supernatural tale in which gypsies, God, witches and magical bagpipes all have bit parts.

Heading north to the gateway to the islands, the best film to have been shot in Oban is definitely Morvern Callar, Lynne Ramsay’s adaptation of Alan Warner’s cult classic novel about a girl whose boyfriend commits suicide, leaving a manuscript of his unpublished novel

in Argyll, with Highlander extras provided by Lochaber High School and Redcoat extras by Oban High School.

e island of Seil is one of the Slate Islands and is reached by crossing e Clachan Bridge (a humpbacked stone bridge known as e Bridge over the Atlantic) seven miles south of Oban.

If you’re travelling to the Hebrides it’s very likely that your journey will take you through some of beautiful Argyll. And if you travel up the west coast you may well want to stop o at the unlikely setting for the 2018 Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. e fi h instalment of the dinosaur blockbuster saw a ship racing an erupting volcano to transport captured dinosaurs from a jetty on the island of Isla Nublar, which was actually the Glen Mallan Jetty on Loch Long in Arrochar.

Perhaps the strangest film ever to be produced in Argyll was 1963 Walt Disney movie e ree Lives of omasina, starring Patrick McGoohan

But following in the footsteps of Jurassic World, there is another megafilm franchise that has had a recent brush with Argyll. Star Wars: Andor was filmed in 2022 and saw the Cruachan Dam near Oban transformed into a faraway galaxy for this spin-o TV series.

Argyll also has a more storied history as a place where film-makers come to work and play. e 1971 film Kidnapped, based on the eponymous novel by Scottish writer Robert Louis Stevenson, starred Michael Caine, Trevor Howard, Jack Hawkins and Donald Pleasence. Its opening moorland scene of the end of the Battle of Culloden was filmed

Ring of Bright Water was based on Gavin Maxwell’s bestselling memoirs of the same name, which is a touching account of how he brought an otter he called Mijbil back from the Iraq marches to his remote home at

Few areas of Scotland have a richer or more varied cinematic history than Ar ll and the Hebridean islands, says Richard Bath

OPPOSITE PAGE: Virginia McKenna and Bill Travers lming Ring of Brightwater on Seil Island.

Camusfeàrna near Glenelg, facing Skye.

e film was shot almost entirely on location on Seil Island in 1960, and stars Bill Travers and Virginia McKenna, the two leads from another story of a bond between human and animal, Born Free Seil is small but perfectly formed, and was also the setting for filming e Tales of Para Handy, a television series based on Neil Munro’s storied 1930s books, and starring Scots acting luminaries like Rikki Fulton, Gregor Fisher and David Tennant.

If you visit, make sure you go to the island’s main village, Ellenabeich, with its rows of neat white cottages beneath towering back cli s and stunning

gardens at An Cala with its glorious azaleas and Japanese flowering cherries.

e adjoining island of Easdale, also hosts the world stone-skimming championship in late September.

For anyone familiar with its steepling Cuillin peaks, it is probably not the greatest surprise that the Isle of Skye is one of the most prolific venues for visiting television and film-makers.

Part of Skye’s worldwide appeal lies in its instantly recognisable landscape, with a seemingly never-ending list of Instagrammable views that include the Quiraing, Black Cuillins, Faerie Pools, Trotternish Ridge and the Old Man of Storr. For film bu s, that landscape has

never looked more beautiful than in the 2017 fi h instalment of the Transformers franchise – Transformers: e Last Knight as the location of a spaceship as the autobots and decepticons race to find an ancient artefact.

e Quiraing and the Old Man of Storr provided suitably moody backdrops to the critically acclaimed Macbeth in 2015, in which Michael Fassbender plays the lead as the ill-fated King in this nicely nuanced adaptation of Shakespeare’s ‘Scottish play’.

e Old Man of Storr and Fassbender also featured prominently in the opening scenes to Sir Ridley Scott’s Prometheus, the prequel to the Alien films. Shot in 2012, the film has a star-packed cast – the Irishman is joined by Guy Pearce, Idris Elba and Charlize eron – and shows

‘Part of Skye’s worldwide appeal lies in its instantly recognisable landscape’

archaeologist Dr Elizabeth Shaw discovering cave paintings with alien connections.

Most of the islands seem to have played host to at least one film or television series. Islay was the scene for Whisky Galore! director Alexander Mackendrick’s much-loved e Ma ie in 1954. Five years later Coll was ‘Beag’ the backdrop for e Bridal Path, a gentle Nigel Tranter comedy in which the unworldly Ewan McEwan (Bill Travers) heads to the mainland in search of a wife.

In 2014, Mull had a starring role in e Silent Storm about the tempestuous marriage between authoritarian minister (Damian Lewis) and his gentle wife, but was also the location for the filming of children’s television series Balamory

Outer Hebridean islands have long proved particularly popular with

directors and film-makers. Nor is it just the big islands which have attracted film crews, with some of the smaller ones also casting their spell. One of the most famous films shot on a Scottish island was the 1949 classic Whisky Galore!, based on Compton Mackenzie’s classic book of the same name (Mackenzie also wrote the screenplay), about a true incident where the SS Politician ran aground and was relieved of its cargo of 240,000 bottles of liquid gold.

While neighbouring Eriskay was the location of the real-life wreck plundering, the producers of this Ealing Comedy opted for the larger island of Barra to shoot the movie. e whole island became a film set as the fictional isle of Todday and today visitors might recognise the village of Castlebay and Kisimul Castle. e weather was dire, however, with filming being delayed by five weeks, leaving actors like James Robertson Justice, Gordon Jackson and Joan Greenwood to explore the island. Perhaps learning a valuable lesson about logistics, the recent remake of the film in 2016 saw filming take place at Portsoy in Aberdeenshire, but Barra is quite easy to get to, with flights from Glasgow famously landing on the beach between tides. ere is lots of scope to visit iconic filming locations, such as the stunning white sandy beach at

Tangasdale or the medieval bastion of Kisimul Castle, the ‘Castle in the Sea’.

Limbo, a sweet 2020 film about a refugee stuck on a remote Scottish island, was filmed on the Uists.

One of the most iconic and influential movies in the history of modern cinema was partly made in the Outer Hebrides. Stanley Kubrick’s seminal 1968 science fiction behemoth 2001: A Space Odyssey, was filmed at Loch Airigh on the Isle of Harris, the island doubling up as the surface of Jupiter as Kubrick shot astronaut Dave Bowman (Keir Dullea) flying across its rocky anorthosite-strewn shore in the Arthur C Clarke inspired tale.

Lewis has a similar dichotomy. Not only was it the backdrop for 2022’s e Road Dance, an eve-of-war melodrama based on John MacKay’s popular novel, but it also hosted the children’s television series Katie Morag (although the books on which it was based were written by Mairi Hedderwick, who lived on Coll).

TOP LEFT: Michael Fassbender as Macbeth lming at the Quiraing on Skye. ABOVE: The colourful houses of Balamory, better known as Tobermory on Mull. LEFT: Drunken villagers in Whisky Galore! BOTTOM LEFT: Cruachan Dam features in the set of Andor.

SCOTLAND’S HEARTLAND

Perthshire, a huge county which dominates central Scotland and straddles Lowlands and Highlands, is so diverse and scenic that it’s like catnip for films and television makers, says Richard Bath

Ilove the diversity of Perthshire.

It’s a county that traditionally stretches from the wilds of Rannoch Moor and the wooded braes of Balquhidder in the west, to the Pass of Drumochter and the Cairngorms in the north, the Ochil Hills in the south, and to within sight of Dundee in the east.

e Big County has proved just as popular with film-makers and many of the movies that have been filmed there have majored on its stunning scenery, with most also taking advantage of its unspoilt countryside to evoke a bygone era.

e most obvious case of this is in the filming of the hugely successful Outlander series, in which in 1945 a woman who served as a military nurse is transported back in time to 1743 by the fictitious standing stones at Craigh na Dun. She then falls for and marries a dashing tacksman of Clan Fraser of Lovat, with the two of them becoming

embroiled in the Jacobite Rising of 1745. Filming for Outlander took place throughout Perthshire, with especially notable scenes being shot at Tibbermore, Drummond Castle and Dunkeld. e infamous witch trial scene was shot at Tibbermore Parish Church, just west of Perth, where it doubled as Cranesmuir Church, while

the woods around Dunkeld House Hotel also featured as the wilderness of North Carolina later in the series.

One of the other big Outlander locations was the beautiful formal gardens at Drummond Castle, just to the south of Crie . ese not only doubled as the perfectly manicured gardens at the Palace of Versailles in France, but were also used in the 1995 Liam Neeson and Tim Roth film Rob Roy. In this historical epic, Drummond Castle is the setting for the Marquis of Montrose’s troops’ pursuit of Rob Roy.

‘Perthshire’s links with the arts and literature go all the way back to Shakespeare’s 1606 play, Macbeth’

Nearby Loch Monzievard is a popular fishing spot that provided one of the locations where Frank Redmond, played by Peter Mullan, began to train for a cross-Channel swim in the 2005

film On A Clear Day

And the countryside surrounding the pretty town of Crie , with its ra of independent shops and restaurants, provided the backdrop to Get Duked!, starring Eddie Izzard, which opened the Edinburgh International Film Festival in 2019.

Some more modern history also led film-makers to the wild and woolly Sma’ Glen, just north of Crie , for the filming of David Putnam’s multi-Oscar-

winning classic Chariots of Fire in 1981. While most of us will remember the unforgettable running scene filmed on West Sands in St Andrews, a good deal of the film was also shot in the Sma’ Glen, where a field provided the perfect backdrop for an athletics meet.

e glen is a peaceful place to visit, but there’s lots of history to be discovered there too. It is the site of a Roman fort, was part of General Wade’s military roads for the pacification of the Highlands postCulloden, is home to the 8 high monolith known as Ossian’s Stone, and is also rumoured to be the resting place of the fabled Gaelic Bard Ossian.

OPPOSITE PAGE: Tibbermore Parish Church was a lming location in the opening series of Outlander, where it doubled as the ctitious Cranesmuir Church in the witch trial.

However, the fact that Perthshire is also a useful venue for contemporary dramas was shown by the filming of the 2013 tear-jerker e Railway Man. Starring Colin Firth and Nicole Kidman, the film – which is about a soldier who was on the Burma death railway – was filmed in various locations throughout the county. e most prominent 0f these was Perth Railway Station, although filming also took place in the Fife village of St Monans and around East Lothian.

If Perthshire has a rich history, with Scone being the crowning-place of the Kings of Scots, its links with literature and the arts also go all the way back into antiquity. Shakespeare, for instance, developed an interest in Scottish history a er James I of Scotland succeeded to the throne of England. One of the most famous lines in literature – that ‘Macbeth shall never vanquish’d be until / Great Birnam Wood to high Dunsinane hill’ – is set in central Perthshire (although all that is le of the great Birnam Wood from Shakespeare’s visit in 1589 are two trees, the Birnam Oak and the Birnam Sycamore).

Scone Palace, as well as Perth city centre, has also played host to the colour

ABOVE: Drummond Castle gardens have featured in Outlander and the historical epic Rob Roy.

and energy of Bollywood’s finest. Aarzoo was filmed in various locations around Scotland ahead of its release in 1999. And Scone may be about to take on another starring role as rumours abound at the time of writing about a largebudget period drama being shot there.

Heading north, Birnam is famous as the village where Beatrix Potter stayed each summer as a child while her parents fished for salmon. While staying at Dalguise House she wrote ‘picture letters’ which are now regarded as the first dra s of her later books e Tale of Peter Rabbit and e Tale of Jeremy Fisher. Another book, e Tale of Mrs Ti y Winkle, which was published in 1905, is based on the washer woman at Dalguise, Kitty MacDonald.

Nor were Shakespeare and Potter the last literary giants to find themselves

RIGHT: CORNFIELD/SHUTTERSTOCK.

‘ e filming for Outlander took place across Perthshire, including Dunkeld, Tibbermore and Drummond Castle’

Plan your Highland getaway to Atholl Estates.

From grand stately homes for a family reunion to cosy Shepherds’ Huts for just the two of you, escape to Highland Perthshire this autumn.

With stunning views and miles of trails, explore all that Perthshire has to offer from the tranquility of your cottage. From newly refurbished Charlottefield to historic Old Blair, there really is a lodge for every requirement, each opulently fitted out with everything you need for the perfect Highland holiday.

enraptured by Perthshire’s beauty. Several prominent actors and film people come from, or have made their home in the county. Author and occasional film-maker JK Rowling, for instance, lives at Killiechassie, a grand country estate and house near Weem, next to the town of Aberfeldy,

Ewan McGregor, star of Moulin Rouge, Trainspotting and Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, comes from the town of Crie , as does his uncle Denis Lawson (a prolific actor who, as well as appearing in the original Star Wars and four sequels/ prequels, plus the legendary Scottish film Local Hero, has also appeared in countless TV series since making his debut in Dr Finlay’s Casebook in 1969).

Two luminaries of Scottish film and television, the Mackenzie brothers –director David and actor Alastair, best known as Archie in Monarch of the Glen – also grew up in Trinafour near Loch Rannoch. One of David’s best-known films, Young Adam, saw him join up with Ewan McGregor in 2003 for an erotic drama that was partly shot in Perthshire and garnered much critical acclaim.

As the gateway to the Highlands, and an area occupying key routes north and south, Perthshire has a rich military history. ere are many interesting military sites, such as the Soldier’s Leap in Killiekrankie where a Redcoat famously jumped across the River Garry. Blair Castle, at Blair Atholl, is not only a beautiful and historically significant castle that is well worth a visit, it is also home to the private infantry regiment e Atholl Highlanders. Some of the regiment appeared on screen with Jemma Coleman when the popular TV drama Victoria was shot at the castle in 2017.

e natural beauty of the county drew the film-makers for one of the few horror movies to be shot in Scotland. Indeed, not only did the director of e Descent film around Dunkeld for the original in 2005, he also filmed the sequel there in 2009.

e opening shots of the film see some of the cast white-water ra ing in the Appalachian Mountains, but really this was shot at the picturesque rapids of the Linn of Tummel, near Pitlochry. e countryside around Dunkeld also pops up in this horror movie about six women who enter a cave system only to find themselves stru ling to survive against the humanoid creatures inside.

FROM TOP: The whitewater rapids of the Linn of Tummel feature in The Descent; the Sma’ Glen joins the cast of Chariots of Fire

‘In Liam Neeson’s historical epic Rob Roy, Drummond Castle is where the Marquis of Montrose’s troops set out in pursuit of the eponymous hero’

which is where actor Alan Cumming grew up.

RIGHT: MISTY LOCH PHOTOGRAPHY/SHUTTERSTOCK. BELOW: MARTIN FOWLER/SHUTTERSTOCK.

AUTUMN BREAKS

PERTHSHIRE

A trip to the heart of Scotland...

MAINS OF TAYMOUTH

Kenmore

Tel: 01887 830 226

www.taymouth.co.uk

GRACE & FAVOURS

Auchterarder

Tel: 01764 663 369

www.facebook.com/ graceandfavoursauchterarder/

One of Perthshire’s leading gift and interior shops. Ellie Beaumont, Just Slate, L’Occitane, Neom Organics, and Powder are just a few of the stunning suppliers in store. All your gifting needs under one roof. Follow them on social media.

Kenmore is the perfect location to base yourself as you explore the stunning Perthshire countryside in all its glory this autumn. In the heart of Perthshire’s Big Tree country we have a selection of luxury accommodation with any day arrival and many are pet-friendly with log fires, hot tu s, and more.

CRIEFF VISITOR CENTRE

Crieff

Tel: 01764 654014

www.crieff.co.uk

As the home of the world-renowned Caithness Glass, Crieff Visitor Centre is a popular visitor attraction, where you can enjoy watching the skilled craftsmen at work, before meandering around their gift shop, garden centre, or art and collectables area. Also experience the delicious homemade food on offer in their restaurant.

DEWAR’S ABERFELDY DISTILLERY

Aberfeldy

Tel: 01887 822 010

www.dewars.com

ATHOLL ESTATES

Highland Perthshire

Tel: 01796 481 355

www.atholl-estates.co.uk

Atholl Estates covers roughly 120,000 acres from the beauty of Dunkeld in the south to the wild mountains of the Cairngorms in the north. The selfcatering accommodation to choose from ranges from large Victorian shooting lodges to the cosiest of cottages. They all sit in attractive glens and straths.

Visit the distillery built by the Dewar family in 1898. See how the world’s most awarded blended whisky is made and how Aberfeldy single malt is crafted. Book to take a tour of the working distillery, enjoy a tasting and then pick up a bottle in the on-site shop.

SCONE PALACE

Scone, Perthshire

Tel: 01738 552 300

www.scone-palace.co.uk

Stay at Scone Palace and enjoy a unique experience. The beautiful alvaird ing provides fi ve star, lu ury accommodation for up to six guests in three individually designed en-suite bedrooms. Scone Palace is an ideal ase for golfing or country sports breaks, weddings or weekends away.

Robertsons of Pitlochry is an independent specialist whisky and spirit shop, who also produce their own award winning gin.

You can visit the shop for a tasting session in ‘The Bothy’ or just to look around the extensive collection of whiskies, beers, wines and other spirits. Robertsons are also a specialist whisky broker and have a vast range of old, rare and unique whiskies, some for drinking and some for collecting. Visit our website for details of tastings and to have a look through our extensive list of whiskies.

ALL ABOARD: The Jacobite Steam Train crossing Glen nnan Viaduct, the same path that the ‘Hogwarts Express’ famously takes in Harry Potter

Your wee bit hill and glen

Is there any place more iconic than the Highlands? ere’s a reason why the high roads are a Mecca for film directors and silver screen stars who are seeking their big break, says Rosie Morton

Place yourself in the shoes of a Hollywood director and this region will surely feature in your ‘dream film set’ list.

A er all, the Highlands – where colossal mountains act as natural punctuation between lochs and moody skies – deliver that which seems only possible with CGI. Filming here can of course be a serious challenge, not just because of steep inclines and dodgy signal, but due to inclement weather conditions as well.

But the very real threat of having her face etched by Highland rain, hail and sunshine was not enough to dissuade Sheila Hancock from climbing all 731m of Suilven in the 2018 movie Edie. Aged 83, the actress starred as a widow who refuses to live out her autumn years in a home. Instead she runs for the hills, enlists the help of a young outdoor enthusiast, and proves she is still capable of climbing the unforgiving mountain that rises out of the North West.

If you’re feeling brave (and have the right gear and expertise) you could try following in the footsteps of Hancock and her accompanying camera and sound crews who camped out for several nights on the trot to complete this mammoth feat.

ough they didn’t have to hike for their bird’s-eye views, director Christopher Nolan and his production team also enjoyed incomparable vistas when making Batman’s e Dark Knight Rises. In the opening sequence of the 2012 movie, where villain Bane (Tom Hardy) escapes the CIA on a plane, viewers are treated to aerial shots of

Loch Bealach Culaidh and the smaller Loch nan Druidean and Loch Garve. ( ough we Scots say so ourselves, Gotham City never looked so good!) Silverbridge riverside circuit near Garve o ers a far less demanding walk than scaling Suilven, but it is one that is equally rewarding as it includes a spectacular viewpoint over Loch Garve.

From here, it is worth extending your trip by venturing through the James Bond-esque mountains that surround Torridon. If you’re feeling flush, book dinner at the five-star Torridon Hotel and peek into their Gin Garden, or simply drink in the epic West Coast views before heading south to your next stop: Kyle of Lochalsh.

Here lies the 13th-century stronghold, Eilean Donan Castle, which is unsurprisingly a popular choice for film, TV, fashion shoots and music videos. e attraction is one of the most important of its kind in the Highlands, and has featured through the decades in Bonnie Prince Charlie (1948); e Master of Ballantrae (1953); e New Avengers (1976); Loch Ness (1996); and the 1986 classic Highlander, starring Sean Connery and Christopher Lambert. Perhaps the most iconic visitor of all, however, was secret agent James Bond. In 1999, Pierce Brosnan starred for the third time as 007 in e World Is Not Enough, in which the castle served as MI6 HQ.

Of course, Brosnan (who played Bond four times) doesn’t quite match the legendary Dame Judi Dench’s record when it comes to ‘double-0’ appearances. Dame Judi starred as M an impressive seven times before being killed o in 2012’s Skyfall which was partly filmed in the Highlands. (Who could forget

Daniel Craig’s bullet-like Aston Martin speeding through Glen Etive and Glen Coe, where Bond’s ancestral home, Skyfall Lodge, was located?)

Dame Judi’s Highland exploits don’t begin and end there though. She also played Queen Victoria in the moving 2017 film Victoria & Abdul which was partly shot in Glen A ric and the wild Glenfeshie Estate in the Cairngorms. e production team behind the 2019 movie Mary Queen of Scots (with Saoirse Ronan playing the flame-haired ruler) also filmed in this magical area of the Cairngorms. If you

venture here, it is worth going the extra distance to Aviemore’s e Old Bridge Inn for live music and excellent pub grub. Alternatively, take a pew at e Old Post O ce Café for top-notch, homemade baked goods a er a watersports outing on Loch Insch or Loch Morlich.

Next, it’s time to head for the magnificent Ardverikie House which was made famous as the fictional Glenbogle House in the series Monarch of the Glen (2000-2005). It also doubled as Balmoral Castle in e Crown (in Season 4). Ardverikie is a traditional sporting estate that dates back to Victorian times, and today plays host to countless activities including birdwatching, photography and fishing. Visitors can also rent out dog-friendly holiday cottages on the estate (sleeping from three to 13 people).

You’ve made it this far, but there’s still time to grab your teleporting ‘portkey’ and weave your way south west to an alternate world of witchcra and wizardry. Glenfinnan Viaduct – which served as the billboard shot for the Boy Wizard 2001-2011 series, Harry Potter – is the landmark that the Hogwarts Express flies over on its way to the magical high school. If,

CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: MILOSZ MASLANKA/SHUTTERSTOCK; MARK HARRISON/© BBC ARCHIVE; J M RITCHIE/SHUTTERSTOCK; PICTORIAL PRESS LTD / ALAMY STOCK PHOTO.

‘ e very real threat of having her face etched by Highland rain was not enough to dissuade Sheila Hancock from climbing Suilven’

like me, your letter to Hogwarts was tragically lost in the post, you can still board e Jacobite Steam Train from Fort William to live out your positively ‘Potty’ dreams.

If that doesn’t float your boat/ broomstick, Loch Shiel (which features as ‘ e Black Lake’ in the series) or the beautiful Steall Falls (seen during the ‘Tri-Wizard Tournament’ in e Goblet of Fire) both o er gorgeous walks and excellent photograph opportunities.

If watching your back for firebreathing Hungarian Horntail dragons is not your idea of a good time, you can instead head straight to Glen Nevis to experience your very own Braveheart moment. You could be forgiven for thinking that this 1995 movie, starring Mel Gibson as William Wallace, was filmed in Scotland. Mais non – disappointingly, the majority was filmed within touching distance of Dublin. at said, parts of it were shot in and around Glen and Ben Nevis, most notably the scene where Wallace runs across the ten peaks of the Mamores, high above Loch Leven. How accurate is the movie? It’s a topic of hot discussion, but I nevertheless challenge you to stop here without wanting to re-enact that famed ‘freedom!’ speech...

If you’re bold enough to scale the great Ben Nevis, you may be a little reluctant to take on another epic gander through the hills – much like Mark Renton, Spud and Sick Boy from Trainspotting who were less than impressed that their friend Tommy had deposited them at a remote railway station with the intention of going for a walk. But don’t let that stop you from visiting Corrour Railway Station to round o your Highland movie road trip. A mere hour away from Glen Nevis, this scenic station is one of the few locations outside of the capital that featured in Irvine Welsh’s 1996 tale of Edinburgh’s underbelly. e station also features in T2, the hugely popular 2017 sequel.

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: Follow in the footsteps of Bond and M through Glen Etive; the cast of Monarch of the Glen outside Ardverikie house; Corrour Railway Station; Saoirse Ronan as Mary Queen of Scots travels through the countryside.

AUTUMN BREAKS

THE HIGHLANDS

GLENUIG INN

Glenuig, Sound of Arisaig

Tel: 01687 470219

www.glenuig.com

LOCH NESS CENTRE

Drumnadrochit

Tel: 0131 225 0672

www.lochness.com

Everyone has heard of Nessie, but only some people know the real story. Walk through 500 million years of history during this unique one-hour immersive experience. Delve deeper into the myths, uncover the mysteries, learn a out scientific research and ecome part of the story.

A small inn with a bar, restaurant and six rooms. The rooms are large with their own door and vestibule. This is the perfect place for the casual active traveller to get away and relax surrounded by hills, sand and sea. Visit their website for their off-season deal and further information.

EDDRACHILLES HOTEL

By Scourie, Sutherland

Tel: 01971 502080

www.eddrachilles.com

By the North West coast, on the NC500, is Eddrachilles Hotel, winner of the Good Hotel Guide’s Best in Scotland 2023 award. Genuine Highland hospitality, excellent food, pet-friendly, tranquil grounds and the warmest welcome

WEIROCH LODGE

Ballindalloch, Morayshire

Tel: 01807 500797

www.weiroch.co.uk

THE SPEY LARDER

Aberlour

Tel: 01340 871243

www.speylarder.com

Visit this charming Victorian shop in the heart of whisky country. Stocking cottish and ontinental fine foods, Scottish and international cheeses, uality ham and antipasti, fine wines, malt whiskies and beers, picnic lunches and gourmet sandwiches, cookery books, quality gifts and linens. Gift hampers available all year.

Five-star 18th-century mill conversion adjacent to the River Spey. Self-catering. Sleeps 6, with discounts for 2-4. Idyllic setting, stunning views, abundant wildlife, superb walks. The perfect place to unwind. Within easy reach of the Cairngorms, Moray coast, distilleries and golf courses. Dogs by arrangement.

THE HIGHLANDER INN

Craigellachie

Tel: 01340 881446

www.whiskyinn.com

The Highlander Inn is in the centre of the village of Craigellachie, Speyside, at the heart of Scotland’s Malt Whisky Trail. With eight ensuite bedrooms, whisky bar, patio, lounge, and parking, it truly is a great little place to stay. Open all year with a warm, friendly and relaxing atmosphere it is a cosy, hospitable home from home.

I’ll take the high road...

An eastern thriller

Scotland’s capital city is renowned as one of the most beautiful and historic in all the world and it has played host to many a film crew looking to capture its essence, whether that be its incredible architecture or seedier underbelly. But there’s more for film fans to uncover than just Edinburgh on the east side of Scotland.

who plays media tycoon Logan Roy in HBO’s smash hit TV series Succession was born and raised. e writers saw fit to make it the birthplace of his character too, and in season two the family travels to the city to celebrate Logan’s 50th anniversary as CEO of Waystar Royco. e glamorous gala is held at the V&A Dundee and the family stayed at the luxurious Gleneagles hotel.

Heading south into the Kingdom of Fife a journey along the coastline will reward visitors with the historic town of St Andrews, the home of golf and the impressive two-mile stretch of beach that is West Sands. It was here that the iconic opening scene of Chariots of Fire was filmed, and if you’re not humming

Starting in the mountains, valleys and glens of Angus a trip to Arbroath will allow foodies to discover the home of the famous Arbroath smokie, as well as visiting the birthplace of Scotland. Because it was here, at Arbroath Abbey, in 1320 that the Declaration of Arbroath was signed. e abbey appeared in the 2008 film Stone of Destiny, which told the true story of a group of students who famously stole the stone from Westminster Abbey in a bid to return it to Scotland. e film culminates in the abbey where the stone was returned to the authorities. e real Stone of Destiny is housed in Edinburgh Castle, but is due to move to Perth City Hall when a new museum opens there in 2024.

Inland from here, Kirriemuir was the birthplace of Peter Pan author JM Barrie and while it’s not a film location you can visit the house and the washhouse where the author performed his first play at the age of just seven and which was the inspiration for the Wendy House in Peter Pan Dundee is where actor Brian Cox,

e V&A has an ever evolving choice of exhibitions making it worth visiting time and again. Visitors this autumn will be able to see the Tartan exhibition providing a new look at Scotland’s most famous textile, covering everything from high fashion to the humble shortbread tin.

Vangelis’ incredible theme right now then you really should be!

Carrying on along the coast will reward you with the many charming little fishing villages of the East Neuk with their quaint harbours and some top drawer fish n’ chips. With a cast including Oscar-winner Robert Duvall

DANDY IN DUNDEE: Succession’s Tom and Shiv get their glad rags on at the V&A in Dundee for her father Logan Roy’s glamorous anniversary celebrations.

Big business, bags of history, superheroes and sordid tales abound on a journey from the rolling hills of Angus along Fife’s pretty coast to Scotland’s capital and its surrounding lands, says Morag Bootland

and Scottish football legend Ally McCoist, 2001’s A Shot at Glory features lots of football pitches, but also views of Crail Harbour.

THE LOTHIANS

e Forth Bridge appears in both film versions of John Buchan’s novel e irty-Nine Steps (1935 and 1959) as the setting of a daring escape, although the bridge never actually featured in the book. e final shot of the bridge in Alfred Hitchcock’s 1935 version was filmed to the east of the bridge, by the river in South Queensferry.

Dame Ma ie Smith won an Oscar for her role in the film version of Muriel Spark’s famous novel e Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, released in 1969. Situated on the shore between South Queensferry and Cramond, Barnbougle Castle plays the home of Mr Lowther, where Miss Brodie enjoys weekend getaways. e castle is not open to the public, but is used as an exclusive and

CLOCKWISE FROM RIGHT: Greyfriar’s Bobby in the kirkyard; Rosslyn Castle; T2’s Ewan McGregor and Ewen Bremner on Arthur’s Seat with views across Edinburgh; view over Crail harbour which featured in A Shot at Glory

luxurious wedding and events venue. Donaldson’s School and Greyfriars Kirkyard in Edinburgh also make appearances in the film.

And, of course, it was Greyfriars Kirkyard, as well as Edinburgh Castle, Arthur’s Seat and much of the capital’s Old Town that was the location for the filming of e Adventures of Greyfriars Bobby starring James Cosmo in 2005. Walt Disney’s 1961 version of the loyal Skye terrier’s story was also shot on location in Scotland with some scenes in Edinburgh.

From filming in the streets of Edinburgh’s New Town for his directorial debut Shallow Grave, Danny Boyle went on to direct the film versions of Irvine Welsh’s tales of the capital’s underbelly Trainspotting and T2. From Princes Street, to the famous scene featuring Ewan McGregor as Renton running into a car on Calton Road, it might come as a surprise that much of the rest of the 1996 film was shot in Glasgow. T2 showed o more of the capital with filming at locations from luxury department store Harvey Nichols to the less salubrious Edinburgh Prison.

It was the Old Town, specifically Cockburn Street, St Giles Cathedral and Waverley Station that saw the cast of Avengers: Infinity War battle it out with the bad guys in 2018. A real Hollywood blockbuster, the city was alive with rumour and sightings of stars like Chris Evans, who plays Captain America, Elizabeth

Olsen (Wanda Maximo ) and Paul Bettany (Vision). e capital is also the home city of author Ian Rankin and his most famous creation, Detective Inspector Rebus. e Rebus books were adapted for TV and shot in Edinburgh between 2000 and 2007 with John Hannah and then Ken Stott playing the title role. But filming for a new season is underway in the city at the time of writing and the latest incarnation of the mercurial detective will be played by

Richard Rankin, of Outlander fame. A key location in both the book and the film version of Dan Brown’s e Da Vinci Code can be found in the historic village of Roslin in Midlothian. According to the plot, Rosslyn Chapel is the final resting place of the Holy Grail and saw Tom Hanks and Audrey Tatou filming there on location, as well as at Rosslyn Castle which sits precariously on the edge of the beautiful glen that lies below the chapel. e beautiful 15th-century chapel still draws in tourists from all over the world to admire its intricate and unique carvings.

Moving east there is another incredible coastline to discover in East Lothian. e ruins of 14th-century Tantallon Castle sit on the dramatic cli s near North Berwick looking out over the sea to the Bass Rock. e atmospheric ruins were visited by Scarlett Johansson when she played an alien seductress in Under the Skin in 2013. is sci-fi film based on Michael Faber’s novel was also shot at Glasgow’s Buchanan Galleries and Auchmithie Castle in Angus. e castle ruins are situated close to some of East Lothian’s best beaches and the grounds make a great vantage point to watch the impressive seabird colony that calls the Bass Rock home.

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: OLLIE UPTON © PICCADILLY PICTURES; PHOTOFIRES/SHUTTERSTOCK; FILM4; CHRISTOPHER BABCOCK/SHUTTERSTOCK.

‘A key location in the book and film of e Da Vinci Code can be found in the historic village of Roslin’

*According to Tripadvisor

AUTUMN BREAKS

ANGUS, FIFE & THE LOTHIANS

STARFISH TRAVEL

Various Tel: 07446 112 672

www.starfishtravel.scot

DISCOVERY POINT

Dundee Tel: 01382 309 060

www.rrsdiscovery.co.uk

Indulge in an immersive journey of exploration at the Discovery Point Museum. Uncover the captivating stories of legendary explorers such as Captain R.F. Scott & Sir E. Shackleton amidst fascinating exhibits and interactive displays. Perfect for all travellers seeking a unique historical experience.

Autumn provides you with the opportunity to explore Scotland in a variety of different colours. Early autumn will display the heather bloom while October will bring an abundance of autumnal colours and the midges will have vanished. Temperatures remain mild and may invite you for a hike.

THE REAL MARY KING’S CLOSE

Edinburgh

Tel: 0131 225 0672

www.realmarykingsclose.com

Discover a warren of streets fro en in time, where centuries of stories are waiting to be told. Unlock secrets of Edinburgh’s only preserved C17th street, follow its past residents and hear their real stories during a one-hour guided tour. Listed in the top 10 best visitor attractions in the UK.

FAIRMONT ST ANDREWS

St Andrews, Fife Tel: 01334 837 000

www.fairmont.com

SCOTTISH SEABIRD CENTRE

North Berwick

Tel: 01620 890 202

www.seabird.org/events

The Scottish Seabird Centre’s guided wildlife boat trips are a seasonal highlight. See iconic species including puffins, gannets, terns, ra or ills and guillemots breed in their thousands on the local islands, which ecome raucous seabird cities in the spring and summer months.

Your home from home in the 520-acre coastal resort of Fairmont St Andrews. Perfect for a family break or golf/spa getaway. Manor Homes private accommodation provide all the enefi ts of a hotel stay with complimentary spa use.

VERDANT WORKS

Dundee

Tel: 01382 309 060

www.verdantworks.co.uk

Step into the heart and soul of the Industrial Revolution at Verdant Works. Immerse yourself in the rich heritage of Scotland’s textile industry through captivating displays and engaging narratives. An unmissa le fi ve star destination for all travellers. Unleash the spirit of the past at Verdant Works today!

Let the autumn breaks begin...

© VICKY ALLAN

THE BORDERS, DUMFRIES & GALLOWAY

STARS IN THE SOUTH

From grand stately homes in bucolic settings to windswept and ru ed cli ops there are cult horror films, Hollywood blockbusters and action adventures to discover in the Borders and Dumfries & Galloway, says Morag Bootland

The south of Scotland is blessed with a surfeit of rolling green hills, stunning stately homes and a glorious coastline that is rich in wildlife. And the diversity of the landscape is reflected in the films that have been set in this beautiful part of Scotland. From cult classics to Hollywood’s bi est blockbusters, there’s something for fans of every genre to discover.

Starting in the west, no Scottish guide to film locations would be complete without a reference to Summerisle. e place may have been a mere figment of screen writer Anthony Sha er’s imagination, but it was Dumfries and Galloway that would prove to be the perfect location for the fictional island and the setting for cult classic horror movie e Wicker Man

e film, starring Christopher Lee, Edward Woodward and Britt Ekland, was released exactly fi y years ago to critical acclaim. And its terrifying appeal has stood the test of time, with fans regularly making the pilgrimage to Dumfries and Galloway to visit key locations from the film.

e cli s at Burrow Head is where e Wicker Man reaches its horrifying climax, with Edward Woodward’s Sergeant Neil Howie burned alive with a giant wicker e gy by Christopher Lee’s terrifying Lord Summerisle in a pagan ceremony. For years a er filming, the stumps of the wicker man’s legs could still be seen on the edge of the cli s. But today visitors can gaze across the water to the Isle of Man, Cumbria and even Ireland on a clear day from this excellent viewpoint at the most southerly tip of the Machars peninsula. e five-mile walk to Burrow Head from Whithorn village takes in beautiful farmland that gives way to rockier coastline and high cli s.

It’s also worthwhile checking out St Ninian’s Cave, which features in the film and is believed to have been a place of solitude and retreat for Scotland’s first saint. Carved

DUMFRIES & GALLOWAY

‘ e cli s at Burrow Head are where e Wicker Man reaches its terrifying climax, with Edward Woodward’s Sergeant Neil Howie burned alive’

headstones and crosses dating back to the 10th and 11th century were excavated from the cave and are displayed in the Priory Museum in Whithorn, but there are still many ancient carvings to be found in and around the cave.

Many of the pretty villages in Dumfries and Galloway feature in e Wicker Man and fans could head to the seaside town of Creetown on the north side of the Solway Firth where the Ellangowan Hotel was used for the interior of Summerisle’s Green Man Inn. Or pay a visit to Anworth, Stranraer, Gatehouse of Fleet, Newton Stewart, Kirkcudbright and the Isle of Whithorn to follow in the ill-fated footsteps of Sergeant Howie.

Heading north, a train journey from Dumfries to Annan will reveal some of the glorious countryside that typifies the area. But, you have to wonder if Tom Cruise, as Ethan Hunt in the first film in the Mission: Impossible franchise, managed to take in much of the scenery

as he clung to the roof of a train on this line. Although the plot had him hurtling towards the Channel Tunnel, eagle-eyed film bu s may well have noticed that the blurred countryside is actually in Dumfries and Galloway, rather than Kent.

Drumlanrig Castle is well worth a visit and with its incredible art collection, woodland adventure playground and beautiful gardens it is the perfect place to while away a day. It was also one of the filming locations for e irty Nine Steps, the 1978 film adaptation of John Buchan’s classic novel starring Robert Powell. e picturesque village of Durisdeer, the Forest of Ae with its excellent mountain bike trails and the ruins of Morton Castle by nearby ornhill also feature in the spy thriller. Drumlanrig was also paid a visit by Sam Heughan and Catriona Balfe when the castle doubled as Belhurst, the home of the Duke of Sandringham, in season two of Outlander

THE BORDERS

Departing Dumfries and Galloway for the bonnie Borders, film bu s can discover another stately home that has played a starring role on the silver screen. Floors Castle in the pretty town of Kelso was built for the 1st Duke of Roxburghe over 300 years ago. e castle is home to the current Duke and Duchess and is the largest inhabited house in Scotland. It boasts incredible period interiors, gorgeous Victorian Gardens and a cafe that does a delicious a ernoon tea. But it was the 1984 film Greystoke: e Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes – starring a loin-cloth clad, pre-Highlander Christopher Lambert – that saw the castle in all its glory on the big screen. e film was based on the 1912 novel by Edgar Rice Burrows and told the tale of how Tarzan was discovered in the jungle and stru led to adapt when returned to his family’s English stately home, Greystoke.

A visit to Floors Castle makes a wander along the mighty River Tweed a must, and of course there is ample fishing available both on the Tweed and also on its many tributaries that crisscross these borderlands.

Further east, in Berwickshire, another castle that played host to an all-star cast, including Judi Dench, Billy Connolly and Gerard Butler, can be found on

ABOVE: Burning the e gy on the Burrow Head cliffs in The Wicker Man BELOW: The pink Drumlanrig Castle was visited by the Outlander crew when it doubled as Belhurst.

‘You have to wonder if Tom Cruise managed to take in much of the scenery as he clung to the roof of a train on the Dumfries to Annan line’

Duns Castle Estate. e 1997 drama Mrs Brown tells the story of Queen Victoria’s (Judi Dench) withdrawal from public life following the death of her beloved Prince Albert, and how servant John Brown (Billy Connolly) helps her live with her grief. Duns Castle takes on the role of Balmoral and Windsor in the film. e town is also home to the Jim Clark Motorsport Museum where you can learn the story of one of the best racing drivers of all time, who hails from Duns.

Yet further east lies the beautiful Berwickshire coastline and the pretty harbour town of St Abbs, which first appeared in the 2010 action-adventure film Solomon Kane. But it was the Marvel ju ernaut that is Avenger’s Endgame that christened the village New Asgard in 2019. St Abbs became the ‘Norwegian’ home of or, the God

of under in the follow up to Infinity War that saw the Avengers battle it out on the streets of Edinburgh.

Marvel fans still flock to St Abbs to have their photographs taken with the New Asgard sign and if you head to the visitor centre you’ll find some Marvel memorabilia including or’s hammer Mjolnir and axe Stormbreaker. Here you can also look back at the maritime history of St Abbs and its surroundings.

St Abbs Head nature reserve is a massive draw for wildlife lovers and the dramatic cli s are home to thousands of seabirds. A walk along the vertiginous cli ops is gloriously bracing, but if you’d rather get closer to the water then you can join the snorkellers or scuba divers who flock to the reefs and wrecks o St Abbs to get a closer look at the wildlife that call them home

ABOVE: Floors Castle, home to Tarzan. FAR LEFT: St Abbs Head is the perfect place for twitchers. LEFT: The St Abbs and New Asgard sign.

The Gardens at Monteviot lie along a dramatic slope of the Teviot valley. The sheltered terraced rose garden is Victorian: the river garden at the bottom was originally designed in the 1930s by Percy Cane. Italianate in inspiration, this sheltered garden slopes down passed herbaceous plants, shrubs, bulbs and roses and has a breathtaking view of the River Teviot.

The Garden of Persistent Imagination at Monteviot is the most adventurous of all the gardens recently developed – an eclectic mixture of natural stone structures, a climbing rose and clematis avenue, an area of meditation leading to a large stone Moon Gate through which to step into the future.

THE BORDERS, DUMFRIES & GALLOWAY

Explore what the wonderful south and south-west have to offer

STRANRAER OYSTER FESTIVAL

Stranraer

E: events@stranraer developmenttrust.co.uk

www.stranraeroysterfestival.com

Stranraer Oyster Festival 15-17

September.

They’re sought after by chefs around the world but until fairly recently Scotland’s only wild, native oyster fishery, hidden beneath the crystal clear waters of Loch Ryan, was a well kept secret.

Stranraer Oyster Festival has shone a spotlight on this delicious seafood delicacy, making Scottish native oysters accessible and easy to enjoy during this three-day foodie celebration.

The festival returns from 15-17 September and this year’s packed programme includes celebrity chef demonstrations by Michael Caines, Tony Singh, Julie Lin and many more. Plus, there’s the Scottish Oyster Shucking Championships, live music, local food, artisan market and lots more.

CRAWICK MULTIVERSE

Sanquhar

Tel: 01659 50242

www.crawickmultiverse.co.uk

MONTEVIOT

Jedburgh

Tel: 01835 830380

www.monteviot.com

The Gardens at Monteviot lie along a dramatic slope of the Teviot valley. The sheltered terraced rose garden is Victorian: the river garden at the bottom was originally designed in the 1930s by Percy Cane. Italianate in inspiration, this sheltered garden slopes down past herbaceous plants and roses. Open Tues–Sun, 12 to 5 pm

Crawick Multiverse is an amazing land art installation for you to explore and enjoy. Whether you are interested in cosmology, science, art or just want to walk your dog and savour the beautiful landscape we look forward to welcoming you. isit our we site for more information

LARCH COTTAGE NURSERIES

Melkinthorpe, Penrith, Cumbria

Tel: 01931 712404

www.larchcottage.co.uk

Mail order available Sept-May. With over 15,000 varieties of plants, Larch Cottage is a paradise for plant lovers. The restaurant offers a taste of Italy, serving breakfast, lunch and homemade cakes every day. The Red Barn Gallery is a haven for art aficionados, and the shop a perfect place to find uni ue gifts

ANNANDALE DISTILLERY

Annan

Tel: 01461 207817

www.annandaledistillery.com

Book a classic distillery tour at Annandale Distillery. Discover the fascinating history, how it was revived after decades of closure, and how it produces some of the finest single cask single malt scotch whisky in the world. You’ll also get to sample up to fi ve different whiskies. Tours run every hour on the hour from 10am to 3pm.

THE BEST WESTERNS

With its architecturally impressive city, famous bonnie banks and world-renowned coastal views, western Scotland has always been a huge draw for global film directors, says Rosie Morton

Swathes of creative talents call western Scotland their home.

When you consider that some of TV and cinema’s bi est names – including Billy Connolly, Phyllida Law, James Cosmo and James McAvoy – hail from this region, there is little wonder why

it has piqued the interest of cinematic talent scouts the world over.

It is also thanks to the architecturally and culturally impressive reputation of our ‘Dear Green Place’, the natural beauty of the Trossachs and Glentrool, and the incomparable vistas of Ayrshire and Arran that have earned the west its rightful place in the hearts of global film directors.

THE TROSSACHS

It is no accident that Loch Lomond and the Trossachs were immortalised in song and poetry. A er all, the outstanding beauty of the ‘Bonnie Banks’ really do speak for themselves.

Not only has the National Park served as one of Outlander actor Sam Heughan’s favourite mountain biking spots, it has also been a much-adored playground for directors, going as far back as 1922. Rob Roy – a silent biopic about the 18th-century outlaw, starring David Hawthorne in tartan kilt and tammy – was filmed almost exclusively in this region. ough some shots were taken at nearby Stirling Castle, the 10th Duke of Argyll gave the production team permission to film on his estates

in the Trossachs. Around 800 men from the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders were also dra ed in as extras.

It is worth investing time here to take advantage of the plethora of activities on o er at Loch Lomond. Top of the list? Cameron House Hotel. Set the adrenaline pumping in their 4x4 driving experience with Steve, AKA ‘Kilted Chucky’, who takes you through the woodland surrounding the loch in his trusty Land Rover Defender. Alternatively, try their paddleboarding or jetski experiences, then enjoy fresh seafood in the Boat House restaurant, or fine-dining tasting menus at Tamburrini & Wishart. If that’s not enough, visit the feathered residents of the Bird of Prey Centre or climb Ben A’an or Conic Hill for unspoiled views. Loch Lomond, however, hasn’t always stolen the limelight. Glasgow’s legendary ‘Big Yin’, Billy Connolly can be seen fishing on nearby Loch Katrine in the 2014 comedy drama, What We Did On Our Holiday which also stars David Tennant and Rosamund Pike.

Just over an hour east, you’ll also find Doune Castle, which appears in the much-maligned and neveraired pilot episode of Game of ones,

when it stood in as the seat of House Stark, Winterfell. It was also Diana Gabaldon’s choice for Castle Leoch, the fictional seat of Clan MacKenzie in her genre-defying Outlander series, which follows the tale of time-travelling lovers Jamie and Claire Fraser (Sam Heughan and Caitriona Balfe).

I was surprised and delighted to learn that Monty Python and the Holy Grail, the 1975 hit comedy, was also filmed here on multiple occasions. e East Wall is where King Arthur is reliably informed about which type of swallow might be capable of carrying a coconut. Its grand hall also doubles for Camelot,

WINTER IS COMING:

while the kitchen serves as Castle Anthrax. Tickets for visiting Doune Castle can be booked online. Otherwise, you can raise a glass in nearby Deanston Distillery, the setting for Ken Loach’s 2012 comedy drama, e Angel’s Share

As the daughter of a proud Weegie and a Highland queen, I remember the comical debate that would ensue around the kitchen table whenever 1980s film, Gregory’s Girl came up in conversation. One loved it, the other loathed it, but either way Bill Forsyth’s coming-of-age comedy is held dear in the hearts of many Glaswegians. e film, which follows the story of hopeless

The courtyard at Doune Castle stars as Winterfell in Game of Thrones and the castle interior.

Anexperiencelikenoother.

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TIMESTOTREASURE

THE BATMAN:

The Batcycle takes to the streets in Glasgow.

THE LAST BUS:

The movie was cleverly lmed entirely in Scotland, despite being about an epic journey from John O’ Groats to Land’s End in England.

romantic Gregory and his unrequited love for Dorothy, was filmed in and around Cumbernauld. Perhaps the most iconic backdrop is the clock (St Enoch Clock, which was originally housed in Glasgow’s old St Enoch Station) in New Town Plaza, by which Gregory awaits his ‘girl’.

e Dear Green Place has made more film appearances than there have been Doctor Who reincarnations and Fast & Furious sequels put together. Speaking of which, the sixth ‘furious’ action movie from 2013 was partly filmed in the city’s George Square. So too was the zombie apocalypse movie with Brad Pitt, World War Z (2013); e Flash (2023); and Hobbs & Shaw (2019) which saw thrilling car chases through the city. e caped-crusader, Batman, also traded Gotham City for Glasgow’s e Necropolis, St Mungo Cathedral and Bridge of Sighs in 2022’s e Batman e city’s King’s eatre, eatre Royal Glasgow, Hope Street and Bath Street all have one thing in common –the hilarious 2021 Netflix movie, Falling For Figaro, which stars Joanna Lumley. Meanwhile, Indiana Jones took to Renfield Street, St Vincent Street and Cochrane Street (which doubled up for 1960s New York) in e Dial of Destiny, while Timothy Spall (as 90-year-old Tom Harper) featured in e Last Bus (2021), in which the Glasgow Vintage Vehicle Trust’s Bridgeton bus garage on Fordneuk Street took centre stage.

Needless to say, there is no end to the entertainment awaiting in Glasgow.

ere is plenty for all budgets and tastes, including the Banksy exhibition

at the Gallery of Modern Art (which runs until 28 August) and Kelvingrove Museum and Park. It will be hungry work marching round all these movie hotspots, so I’d book in for top notch Italian food at Eusebi Deli, or take tea at Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s original Mackintosh at the Willow.

Ayrshire is of course known for having birthed a poetic genius – the great Rabbie Burns – but it has nurtured its fair share of cinematic legends too. In east Ayrshire lies Galston, one of the filming locations for e Flying Scotsman of 2006, which tells the story of local cycling legend Graeme Obree (played by Jonny Lee Miller). Aside from stopping at the Robert Burns Birthplace Museum in Ayr, you might like to take a trip to Galston’s Barr Castle, a 15th-century keep, or test your speed and agility on the rope swings and fence climbs at Scottish Assault Courses.

Moving south, you’ll find the film location of the 1973 horror classic e Wicker Man which was famously shot in Dumfries and Galloway (see page 153). But did you know that the first meeting of the ill-fated Sergeant Neil Howie with Lord Summerisle was filmed in the cli -top castle at Culzean? Robert Adam’s romantic late-18th-century castle has borne witness to much history, so a visit here to see the turrets and towers (as well as the beautiful 650-acre estate) is sure to be full of storytelling.

Speaking of castles, a hop over the Firth of Clyde to visit Brodick Castle on Arran makes for the perfect final stop. In a moment of telly trickery, it doubled up as the home of the Cavendish family on the Isle of Skye in the 1998 period drama, e Governess, featuring Minnie Driver. While you’re here, don the hiking boots and take on the mighty Goatfell, or drink in the beach views with a dram of Lochranza’s malts in hand.

‘Bill Forsyth’s coming-of-age comedy is held dear in the hearts of many Glaswegians’

AYRSHIRE & ARRAN

EUAN CHERRY/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO. RIGHT: HURRICANE FILMS.

THE TROSSACHS, GLASGOW, AYRSHIRE & ARRAN

AUTUMN BREAKS

THE TROSSACHS, GLASGOW AYRSHIRE & ARRAN

VICTORIA SQUARE

Stirling Tel: 01786 473 920

www.victoriasquare.scot

THE PIPER WHISKY BAR

Glasgow

Tel: 0141 552 1740

www.thepiperbar.com

This independently owned bar, situated in George Square, has something on offer for everyone. You won’t be disappointed with the legendary customer service, live music, amazing range of whisky and traditional Scottish food. With bespoke whisky tastings, they will take you on a trip around the whisky regions of Scotland and more.

Within easy reach of Stirling Castle, Victoria Square and the Orangery offers 5-star luxury accommodation and innovative fine dining. A warm welcome and award-winning service awaits

TRUMP TURNBERRY

Ayrshire

Tel: 01655 331 000

www.turnberry.co.uk

Embark on an unforgettable adventure with their Gun Club and Cask package. Immerse yourself in a two-day journey featuring simulated shooting at the stunning Culzean and Cassilis Estate. Then, play the renowned Ailsa or King Robert the Bruce golf course. Enjoy lavish accommodations and exceptional amenities at Turnberry.

BRAVE NEW SPIRITS

Glasgow

Tel: 01414 063 793

www.bravenewspirits.com

HILTON GLASGOW

Glasgow

Tel: 0141 204 5555

www.hilton.com/glasgow

Explore Glasgow this summer and stay in the newly refurbished Hilton Glasgow. Featuring 320 bedrooms, a stylish restaurant, the first Dilmah Tea lounge in the UK and a state-of-the-art gym, pool and spa treatments by PURE Spa

Cask Noir, from Brave New Spirits, is a range of stunning limited-edition whiskies that take inspiration from classic movies. From thrilling and adventurous, to dark, romantic and mysterious, these whiskies embark on a journey of rare and often exotic casks with enchanting fl avours

CAMERON HOUSE HOTEL

Loch Lomond

Tel: 01389 312 210

www.cameronhouse.co.uk

The 5-star Cameron House Resort, nestled on the bonnie banks of Loch Lomond, provides a memorable and one-of-a-kind setting The resort is enriched by an award-winning spa with rooftop infinity pool, championship golf, an array of activities and an exceptional choice of dining experiences

A trip to the wild west...

AUTUMN SHADES

Scotland is proudly home to some of the world’s finest artisan makers

1. THE HOUSE OF BRUAR: Suede Elbow Patch British Tweed Hereford Jacket, £295. Its design showcases the evocative colours and accomplished craftsmanship of this exclusive Mossed Iris Harris Tweed. Featuring vertical in-seam welt pockets and contrast moleskin trims. Tel: 01796 483236 , houseofbruar.com

2. JAMIESON & CARRY: This suite of amethyst and diamond jewellery with a scalloped detailed setting, inspired by the rolling heather covered hills of Scotland, and carefully selected amethysts, cut to maximise the beauty. Pendant £1,500; Earrings £1,550. Tel: 01224 641 219, jamieson-carry.com

3 JOYCE YOUNG: Indulge in autumn allure with their chocolate and olive velvet day dress, a stunning and seasonal blend of rich hues. Tel: 0141 942 8900, joyceyoungcollections.co.uk

4. LOCHCARRON: Lochcarron of Scotland, the world’s leading manufacturer of authentic tartans. Based in Selkirk in the heart of the Scottish Borders and made in Scotland. From Highland wear to accessories and cloth. Tel: 01750 726 025, lochcarron.co.uk

5. GRACE & FAVOURS: One of Perthshire’s leading gift and interior shops. Ellie Beaumont, Just Slate, L’Occitane, Neom Organics, and Powder are just a few of the stunning suppliers in store. Follow the shop on Facebook. 119 High Street, Auchterarder PH3 1AA. Tel: 01764 663 369, facebook.com/graceandfavoursauchterarder

6 KARLIN ANDERSON: Karlin’s jewellery is inspired by her clients’ stories, and the landscape and rich culture of Shetland. She recently relocated her business from London back to her native islands. Karlin’s collections and jewellery are handmade in her beachfront studio. Tel: 01950 431 230, karlinanderson.com

Self Build and Renovationyour home of the future…

Jane Austen said ‘Ah! There is nothing like staying home for realcomfort.’ And we definitely agree. Being at home should be the ultimate luxury. Especially in today’s world, where our house is not only shelter for our bodies and a refuge from the world for our souls, but it is just as likely to be our workplace. And over the past few years, smart technology has come a long way. Features that looked like the Jetsons before are now widely available.

That’s why, despite the cost of living crisis, it seems our enthusiasm for selfbuilding or renovating is still as strong as ever. But the way we do it is changing, from more of us performing more of the labour

ourselves, to installing energy saving features throughout the property.

It’s a myth that you have to be wealthy or young to create the perfect home for you and your family. According to a recent survey, most self-builders, for example, have a household income of less than £50k a year and work with a relatively modest budget. Nearly 70 percent are at least 55, and more than a third of them are retired.

The time to start your journey to a happy home is now. So whether you are looking for the convenience of a kit house, the flexibility of a bespoke design or just want to transform your existing home into a space you really love, we feature some of the businesses that can make it happen.

Low maintenance eco haven on the southern edge of the Cairngorms National Park in the Scottish Highlands, from Fleming Homes

Bespoke timber frame homes to the wind and watertight stage. It’s our mission to help make self-building more straightforward!

CRAZY FOR KIT HOMES

Prefabricated homes have come a long way since the humble single-storey bungalows erected in response to Britain’s post WWII housing crisis.

In 1944 Churchill announced the Emergency Factory Made (EMF) housing programme. Like today’s timber frame homes, EMF houses used off-site construction. However, while both have prefabrication at their core, modern timber frames are designed and built to stand the test of time.

What exactly is a kit home?

A kit home is a modern method of construction (MMC). Manufactured within a factory environment, it is flat packed, making it highly transportable. It can then be delivered to site on a lorry. Kits are also exceptionally fast to erect. Like a huge jigsaw the panels fit together making it easy to achieve a wind and watertight dwelling within 2 weeks, depending on the size of the home. Kit homes often use a timber frame structural system although there are other methods such as SIPs (Structurally Insulated Panels). Both timber frame and SIPs are highly thermally efficient.

Can you get a mortgage and insurance for a kit home?

Yes, absolutely. However, it’s not as simple as hitting the comparison websites to find what appears to be the most competitive mortgage deal: you will need to take a more specialist approach. Stage payment mortgages are specifically designed to suit the needs of homebuilders. They differ from traditional mortgages in that they release funds in defined phases – either in arrears or in advance - based on your build programme. A great place to start is Buildstore, a UK brokerage specialising in mortgages and finance for homebuilding projects. Nowadays, all of the major insurers offering building warranties accept timber frame kit homes as an acceptable method of construction.

Why self-build a kit home?

Here are just a few of the many benefits to kit homes. As mentioned earlier, the structures are highly thermally efficient. There is also scope to integrate renewables into the specification which further improves energy efficiency and leads to lower energy bills. Secondly, the speed of erection means self-builders have more control over their build programme making it easier

to schedule trades and bring their build in on time. Speed also means less noise, dust, traffic and disruption for neighbours. Manufacture in a factory allows for material optimisation and up to 40% less waste on site. Timber is also a renewable resource and, with the lowest CO2 of any build material, it is a sustainable choice. Perhaps the most significant advantage is the consistent high quality achieved with a product produced within a factory.

How flexible is a kit home?

Flexibility is another reason to build a timber frame kit home. You can opt for an off-the-shelf design, or create a bespoke home designed to your specific requirements. Some kit companies will have their own in-house design team, or you can work with the architect of your choice. Self-build is no longer associated with DIY. You can choose to do as much or as little as you like and different build routes support this. Some people prefer to hire a main contractor and defer the responsibility to them. Alternatively, you can project coordinate your build and manage your trades yourself. Obviously the more you can do yourself, the more money you save. There really are options available to suit an enormous range of circumstances and budgets.

is unique, a one-off created to meet the exact requirements of the self-builder. Accredited to international standards with ISO 9001:2015, we have gained a sterling reputation for the quality of our work since establishing in 1986. Today, our mission is to help make self-building more straightforward.” Sarah Mathieson, MD Fleming

Homes

We aim to support our customers from the outset of their self-build project with a range of services which starts with the design of your new home. From there, our experienced team can help you through the planning and building regulations phases. If you already have architect’s drawings, we will simply jump straight to the construction design phase. Each one of our homes is manufactured in our factory and every prefabricated panel is hand-crafted by an experienced maker. Once complete, our accredited erection team will quickly and efficiently progress your project to the wind and watertight stage. Alternatively, we can supply your kit to be erected by your own team.

We are especially proud of the feedback we receive from our customers. Here are just a few examples to give you an idea of what you can expect:

“Working with Fleming Homes was a pleasure. They clearly love what they do and seek to deliver the house of your dreams. Who could ask for more.”

Aileen Downie

An award-winning company based in the Scottish Borders, Fleming Homes has been supplying bespoke timber frame houses to the self-build market for over 37 years.

“Each one of the homes we manufacture

“Fleming Homes have been exceptionally helpful in all aspects of our build. We felt we could always phone for advice, and someone would be able to help us out. Everything was clearly explained from start to finish. Cannot fault the company and cannot recommend them highly enough.”

Karen and Martin Young

We’ve made over 2000 beautiful homes for happy clients throughout the UK. Putting you at the very heart of your project, you will find us there for the whole journey –not just for your timber frame. For more information visit www.fleminghomes.co.uk or call Fiona Brewer on 01361 883785.

Architecturally progressive timber frame home by Fleming Homes which combines traditional and contemporary design features and exemplifies the versatility of self-build.

Bathroom bliss

Let’s face it, we spend a LOT of time in there. For many of us, it’s our favourite room of the house, a place we go to escape. We’re talking, of course, about the beloved bathroom. We’re seeing a trend towards treating the loo as more than just a convenience, but rather as a place to escape and relax. Who wouldn’t want their very own home spa? A welldesigned bathroom could also increase a home’s worth by up to 6.1%. So it pays to put some effort into the lavatory, for your enjoyment now, and for later, when you sell the property. We combed social media for expert advice and hot trends.

Let nature nurture you

Biophilic design- there’s that buzzword againemphasises the connection between nature and interior spaces. Homeowners are increasingly seeking to incorporate the outdoors into their bathrooms to promote relaxation and well-being. Include features such as natural light, large windows and live plants to create a calm and rejuvenating atmosphere.

Pastels and earthy tones

The colour palette for bathrooms is moving towards softer shades that evoke a sense of tranquillity. Soft pastels like blush pink, sage green and powder blue help create a gentle and soothing ambience. Earth tones such as warm beige, terracotta and rich brown ground the space and connect it to nature. These colours work well in combination with natural materials and understated designs to create a harmonious and serene atmosphere.

Sustainability first

More homeowners are choosing sustainable and eco-friendly materials for their bathroom designs. For those of us trying to lessen our environmental footprint while

Smart and stylish

and a neutral colour palette. Incorporate elements such as light wood tones, white tiles and minimal ornamentation to bring a sense of balance and harmony. Matte black faucets, showerheads and hardware provide a sleek and contemporary look. Trendy gold fixtures introduce a touch of glamour and elegance.

A multifunctional space

aesthetics and practicality, recycled glass tiles, repurposed wood and water-saving fixtures are popular options. Look for vintage stand-alone tubs that need a new home. You can refurbish them yourself or find them in upcycle shops.

practicality, recycled stand-alone

High-tech features are becoming increasingly popular as homeowners look for ways to incorporate technology into their bathroom designs without compromising style. Smart mirrors display the time, weather, and personalized notifications, while providing adjustable lighting for makeup application or shaving. Touchless faucets reduce water waste and improve hygiene (great for little ones!) Waterproof speakers bring your favourite music or podcasts to your daily routine.

Scandi style

Minimalist and Scandinavian styles focus on simplicity, functionality and the use of natural materials. We’re talking clean lines, frameless glass showers,

We are increasingly seeking ways to create a sanctuary within our bathrooms, turning them into havens for rest and rejuvenation. Features such as built-in seating, cosy nooks, natural baskets and integrated storage solutions will make your bathroom more versatile as it accommodates activities like reading, meditation and home spa treatments.

William Wilson – Services for self-builders in Scotland

William Wilson are one of the largest suppliers of plumbing, heating and bathroom materials in Scotland. With 21 trading locations throughout Scotland, they are uniquely placed to help the Scottish self-build community. William Wilson have many unique services ideal to help you turn your self-build dream into a reality including:

• Free of charge heating system design and technical advice.

• Free of charge bathroom design service. *

• Free delivery to most areas of mainland Scotland.

Plumbing

William Wilson have 21** trading locations in Scotland, stocking a comprehensive range of plumbing fittings and products from brass fittings to renewable heating systems. The company aim is to provide an excellent service to customers as well as having the right products in the right place at the right time.

Heating

William Wilson can provide a free of charge heating system design and technical advice service. Renewable technologies such as ground or air source heat pumps are becoming ever more viable and cost effective, particularly when installed in a new or self-build situation. Whatever the technology and whatever the consumer requirements William Wilson can provide the right solution. Fully trained heating design engineers have the expertise to design and supply any of the renewable energy systems currently available in the marketplace and can incorporate underfloor heating into most designs.

Bathrooms

William Wilson have 17** bathroom showrooms throughout Scotland, each with eye-catching displays filled with ideas to inspire you. Room set displays in each showroom feature both contemporary and traditional bathroom suites from manufacturers such as Ideal Standard and Roca. William Wilson also have a comprehensive range of bathroom accessories, furniture and tiles.

Building your own house can be made easier with William Wilson. Visit www. williamwilson.co.uk to find a location near you. Ask about our Self-Build Purchase Account facility.

Visit us at Scottish Self-Build and Renovation, Macdonald Aviemore Resort, Saturday 16th September.

*Does not include a site visit. **Bathroom showrooms only at Aberdeen Altens, Aberdeen Mastrick, Aviemore, Ayr, Dundee, Edinburgh, Elgin, Fraserburgh, Glasgow, Inverness, Inverurie, Kirkcaldy, Kirkwall, Perth, Portree, Stornoway and Thurso.

MONEY MATTERS

Your home is a big investment, and unless you are sitting on a pile of cash, then you will need to take out a mortgage loan. No matter which way you go, it’s important to start early, because it can take four to five weeks for the approval process. And always add a 10-15 per cent contingency to your budget for overruns.

There are different types of loans available, depending on whether you are self-building or renovating, so let’s break them down.

Mortgage experts Hanley Economic Building Society can help youvisit www.thehanley.co.uk

Self build mortgage Renovation mortgage

Assuming you already own a plot and have planning permission, your next step is a speci c self build home loan. These are more rare and harder to get than traditional mortgages, so you may have to shop around.

You will need to have detailed plans, permissions and budgets in place to show the lender, as well as risk assessments and contingency plans. They will usually only lend if a professional architect or consultant is heading up the build. You may also need to show that you have enough funds to have somewhere else to live in the meantime, even if it’s in a caravan on site. And last, but not least, you will need a good deposit saved up Money Supermarket suggests at least 25 per cent.

The funds for this type of loan are generally released in instalments, as the building stages are completed. Some loan companies will release funds in advance of each building stage, but others will reimburse you after you fork out for the work rst. Your lender may keep a percentage of your loan total until the house is signed off as complete.

If all other avenues are explored to no avail, you could apply for the Self uild Loan Fund from The Communities Housing Trust. Up to £175,000 is available and can be used in conjunction with the Croft House Grant Scheme. Apply before August . Check out www.chtrust.co.uk

According to data from Together, almost one in ten, or of UK homeowners plan on making home renovations this year instead of moving, due to rising living costs. A renovation mortgage enables you to borrow money against the value of your property to pay for house upgrades. These might range from minor structural adjustments to cosmetic alterations. Interest rates on mortgages for renovations are often higher than those on regular mortgages. This is because by lending you money to enhance your house, the lender is taking on greater risk. You should also expect to put down payment of per cent for a renovation mortgage.

Remortgaging or re nancing your existing home loan for renovation is taking advantage of the e uity you have built up in your home, which is the difference between the market worth of your house today and the balance owed on your mortgage. The size of that difference will determine how much you can borrow. Adding the cost of home improvements to your mortgage can be cheaper than other forms of nance such as a personal loan or maxing out your credit cards.

According to Checkatrade, these are ballpark gures to expect for some home improvements in

Three bedroom house total renovation , , New kitchen , Extension £19,500

New heating system , New windows ,

is the UK’s leading provider of Structural Insulated Panels (SIP)

Established in 2003, SIPS@Clays is the UK’s leading provider of Structural Insulated Panels (SIP). As the original delivery partner of the market leading Kingspan TEK® Building System, SIPS@Clays designs, fabricates and installs SIPs for self-build and commercial projects across the country.

Working with SIPS@Clays couldn’t be easier. From initial design and fabrication right through to onsite installation, we carefully guide you through the process; working hand in hand with you, your chosen architect or your main contractor.

With everything under one roof, including our own in-house design studio where we push the boundaries of SIP designs, our streamline procedures ensure an end to end service that is hard to beat.

We stylishly design using CAD and interactive 3D modelling; we precision engineer with the latest cutting technology and expertly install your structure using our own teams of qualified installers. We strive for excellence in every aspect of our business and have been awarded one of the top accolades within the structural timber sector – STA Assure Gold.

From our HQ and factory in Skipton, North Yorkshire, we apply our many years of experience, both in SIP and traditional construction, to provide technically sound, straightforward solutions that are individually tailored to your needs.

We take a fresh approach to homebuilding, so if you have plans you’d like to discuss, send them to SIPS@Clays.com for a speedy and reliable quotation.

WHISKY IN YOUR POCKET WHISKY IN YOUR POCKET

FREE to download App that gives you up to date news on the whisky industry, plan your own distillery visits, see where your closest bottle shop or bar is. Create you own favourites list in your profile, use it with no data coverage.

FREE TO DOWNLOAD

Destinations

Gorgeous, well equipped holiday cottages with loch views, all in glorious Argyll. The perfect, comfortable, relaxing base for exploring all this wonderful area has to offer. Our cottages are in Strachur, St Catherines and Newton sleeping 4 - 10 people.

www.holidaycottageswestcoast.co.uk Tel: 07585709992   email: amanda@holidaycottageswestcoast.co.uk

DUMFRIES

Fullyrefurbishedriversidecottageinthegroundsof RobertBurns’EllislandFarm.Sleeps4.Petfriendly.

Enjoy the luxury this unique 5* earth sheltered eco house in unspoiled Kintyre offers, a perfect hideaway for couples. Fabulous sea views to the Inner Hebrides to the west and Arran on the east while big skies capture sunshine and stars. Fantastic sandy beaches, forest walks, whisky/gin tours and excellent local produce. The welcome hamper of local goodies and Champagne will add the finishing touch to an unforgettable break.

Website: hightrodigal.co.uk email: stay@hightrodigal.co.uk Call Linda and Mike01586810305

Rock House is a historic gem in the heart of Edinburgh. From its secluded posi�on at the foot of Calton Hill, it has an elevated terrace which has wonderful panoramic views over the sites of the City.

Web: rockhouse-edinburgh.com

Email: team@amore-property.com Tel: Marco on (07596 486 958)

EDINBURGH FIFE FIFE

your mind. Kings of Scotland chose this bonnie bountiful location and named it their Kingsbarns. They stored their grains here because of its beautiful rolling farmland, forests and invigorating beaches where they built a harbour. Refresh your Soul and Mind, call us 01334-880-778

fife cottages

finest food and whisky!

Nurture in nature and add a mindfulness experience if you wish

HIGHLANDS

Luxury holiday homes in the Highlands

Each lodge sleeps 8, hot tub, sauna, dog friendly, stunning views. Ideal for enjoying your outdoor pursuits or just to simply chill and enjoy the tranquility. For 10% off in August code SF-2023 bookings@highlandlodgeescapes.co.uk 07719501964 www.highlandlodgeescapes.co.uk

submit to the jurisdiction of the Scottish Courts and Scots Law. In the event of any dispute or action by the Publisher to recover payment from an advertiser, it is agreed that matters will be settled in the Oban, Argyll Sheriff Court or such other Court as the Publisher may choose. 07 The Publisher shall not be liable for any loss or damage occasioned by any total or partial failure (however caused) of publication or distribution of any newspaper or edition in which any advertisement is scheduled to appear. In the event of any error, misprint or omission in the printing of an advertisement or part of an advertisement, the

Two traditional Orkney cottages which have been totally renovated, with all modern comforts.

Two traditional Orkney cottages which have been totally renovated, with all modern comforts.

Two traditional Orkney cottages which have been totally renovated, with all modern comforts.

Situated just over a mile from Skara Brae and the beautiful sandy Bay of Skaill. Christmas and New Year stays available.

Situated just over a mile from Skara Brae and the beautiful Bay of Skaill. Christmas and New Year stays available.

Situated just over a mile from Skara Brae and the beautiful sandy Bay of Skaill.

Tel: 07753 378917

info@orkney-accommodation.co.uk

www.orkney-accommodation.co.uk

Tel: 07753 378917 info@orkney-accommodation.co.uk www.orkney-accommodation.co.uk

Tel: 07753 378917 info@orkney-accommodation.co.uk

www.orkney-accommodation.co.uk

A Scottish themed wedding barn, ten minutes away from the heart of Glasgow. We offer you, exclusive use of the whole venue on the day of your hire. There is a variety of locations for you to host your day, with space for up to 80 day guests and further 60 evening guests. We will help you through every step to make sure your day is stress free.

Contact details: 0141 779 4913 thegatheringscotland.uk

Happy glampers...

BY FAY WILKINSON, SUE FINDLAY AND PAM & GAVIN WARD FROM DORNOCH

Situated on the shores of Loch Torridon, The Bothy at Ben Damph is an ideal base for those wanting to hillwalk, mountain bike or explore this scenic area. Built in 2018, it comprises two large bedrooms with walls made from the local sandstone and hand-crafted wooden beams. Each has a woodburning stove and a double or two single beds.

At the front is a conservatory-style dining/kitchen area with a Belfast sink which has cold running water from the river, a two-ring cooker and crockery for four people. Drinking water is provided in containers. There is no electricity, but a new shower with hot water should be ready soon. What makes The Bothy special is its location looking out on the spectacular Beinn Alligin and Liathach. Even the composting toilet is a real ‘loo with a view’!

We visited during a very hot spell but The Bothy stayed cool inside and a cold shower was a delight. The downside of summer on the west coast is the midges – but we were prepared with midge nets. The high re risk meant that we didn’t have a re outside but there is plenty wood lying around that people are welcome to collect for a camp re.

We planned our own gourmet one-pot meals but there are plenty bars and restaurants a short drive away. The estate can arrange shing and stalking. A bothy holiday is not for everyone, but for anyone used to camping or using mountain bothies this is so much more comfortable.

BY DEBBIE GRAY FROM GLASGOW

Tucked away in the captivating Scottish Borders, Bedrule Old Manse B&B and Luxury Glamping exceeded all expectations, offering a peaceful and unforgettable retreat. My friend and I had the pleasure of discovering this hidden gem and creating cherished memories.

We stayed in the Blackthorn glamping pod. It had everything we needed for a comfortable experience, including a king-sized bed, a well-equipped kitchen and a modern bathroom. The highlight was the inviting decking area with a comfy outdoor sofa, where we spent hours soaking in the beauty of our surroundings.

The view from the pod was simply breathtaking, with lush greenery stretching as far as the eye could see. Three elegant horses added to the charm of the place. The serenity of this setting was truly a gift.

Evenings became magical with the presence of a re pit, which provided a cosy ambiance. We were also delighted by the visits from Zelda and Margo, the friendly resident Labradors, whose playful company made our stay even more delightful. Bedrule Old Manse’s petfriendly policy added an extra touch of warmth.

The weather couldn’t have been better and we are grateful to have been introduced to this extraordinary destination. Bedrule Old Manse offers a perfect blend of comfort and natural beauty. It’s a place we’ll hold dear in our hearts, and we eagerly await the opportunity to return.

From £284 for three nights for two people (min. three nights).

From £175 per night (min. twonight stay; 5% off for three nights).

If you’re looking to escape to the hills but aren’t ready to camp under canvas, check out these four glamping venues that will provide the necessary creature comforts for a memorable outdoor retreat

BEN DAMPH ESTATE, IV22 2EZ bendamph. com

Bedrule Old Manse

The Bo y at Ben Damph

BY ROSS STOCKDALE & ELEANOR BRADFORD FROM DRUMMUIR, MORAY

We arrived at our glamping pod on a cloudless summer evening just in time for a spectacular BBQ as the sun set between the mountains directly opposite our west-facing pod. Our accommodation was immaculate, with beds cleverly incorporated into the curved walls of the pod. Our ‘ repit experience’ provided wood and a pack of treats including marshmallows for toasting, but the star of the show was the location. There are few places where you can go swimming in the adjacent river, collect seashells from the nearby shoreline, listen to oystercatchers in the evening and enjoy mussels in a pub next door.

Check-in was a smooth experience with all the necessary information arriving in our inbox ahead of time and no restrictions around arrival times because the key could be accessed via a key safe. Make sure you have everything you need before you leave the mainland as shops are scarce en route from the ferry terminal.

We browsed independent shops in Tobermory and spent longer than expected exploring Duart Castle (which has an excellent cafe). There are plenty of walks from the front door of your pod, but also regular boat trips if you want something more adventurous. We enjoyed chilling on our patio, sipping chilled wine thanks to our pod’s kitchen facilities and watching our repit smoke away the inevitable west coast midges. Slàinte.

BY JENNY ANDERSON FROM MONTROSE

After a busy week of deadlines, the thought of a totally off-grid stay at Down on the Farm was delightful. I arrived at the beautiful spot just outside Fraserburgh, to glorious sunshine and a gentle breeze to keep the midges at bay.

Greeted by Carole who was a bubbly and lovely soul, we plodded some 150m to my home for the next two days which overlooked the vast North Sea and magni cent cliffs. Carole made sure I had everything I needed while her daughter’s ock of friendly zwartbles sheep poked their heads through the fence in search of some ear scratches. Although my phone still carried full reception I decided to fully immerse myself in the off-grid life and turned it off, kicking back with a beer and my knitting as the sun slowly set - making sure to keep a close eye for any dolphins.

The Harvest Hut is a simple, cosy home with everything you need for a comfortable stay. With a private compost toilet to the rear, optional outdoor seating, a double bed and single above, a small dining table, and best of all a wood-burning stove. I couldn’t resist popping it on to fully appreciate the space. It was lush falling asleep to the gentle patter of rain on the roof and the crackling re.

With Pennan and Crovie within a short drive, this is the perfect ‘slow escape’. Carole advised that in the winter the aurora makes a common appearance on the hut’s doorstep. Farm tours are also offered. I left feeling totally refreshed, wishing I had a few more days of undisturbed bliss.

farm.net

1 The Bothy at Ben Damph

Tel: 07774 127562

4

2 Bedrule Old Manse Tel: 01450 870 625

From £130 per night. fancy yourself

3 Further.Space Pods

Tel: 028 9099 3499

4 Down on the Farm Tel: 07954 989737

From £80 per night (min. two nights).

If you are a subscriber and would like to spend a free night away in one of our chosen establishments and send us your review, then please email us on editor@scottishfield.co.uk and include your subscriber number. Terms and conditions apply.

ROSEHEARTY, FRASERBURGH AB43 6JY downonthe

PORT NAN GAEL, PENNYGHAEL, ISLE OF MULL PA70 6HB

Fur er Space at P t Nan Gael

Harvest Hut, Down on e Farm

Luxury Scottish

HAMPERS

GIFT HAMPERS FOR ALL OCCASIONS

FROM £300

HAMPER

Our luxury SCOTTISH FIELD hampers are the perfect gift for every occasion and celebration.

Beautifully presented in a box or basket.

From £45

FROM

FROM £85

FROM £75

Larder Lover Celebration

VISIT OUR WEBSITE TO VIEW AND ORDER ALL OUR HAMPERS OR WHY NOT CREATE A HANDPICKED HAMPER?

You will find all of our hamper goodies listed in our shop – get in touch with us via email or telephone so that we can help you build your own hamper!

To order a fabulous hamper* visit shop.scottishfield.co.uk or scan the QR code Telephone orders line: 01631 568055 Email orders: shop@scottishfield.co.uk

OFFERS & COMPETITIONS

To enter, send entries with your name, address, telephone number and email address to Scottish Field Competitions, e North Quarter, 496 Ferry Road, Edinburgh EH5 2DL or enter online at www.scottishfield.co.uk. Closing date, unless otherwise stated, is Friday 29 September 2023.

WIN

AN OYSTERFEST SHORT BREAK FOR TWO PEOPLE

Fancy a trip to Stranraer Oyster Festival? Make a weekend of it with a two night break at North West Castle Hotel, or enter our competition to win one!

The lucky winner will enjoy two nights bed and breakfast at Stranraer’s iconic curling hotel, just a short walk from the Oyster Festival site. Plus admission to the festival and tickets to a chef demonstration of your choice.

Stranraer Oyster Festival runs from Friday 15 – Sunday 17 September 2023. Weekend admission tickets cost £12 (concessions available). Additional charges apply for selected chef demos. More information and tickets are available at www.stranraeroysterfestival.com NB: The closing date for this competition is Wednesday 30 August.

WIN

TWO TICKETS TO THE COUNTRY & FOOD FESTIVAL

The Country & Food Festival, held at Philiphaugh Estate outside Selkirk on Saturday 23 September. With an incredible jam-packed line up of talent, activities, displays, demonstrations, and exhibitors for the whole family to enjoy.

From shing, Craft & Gift tent and cookery demos to archery, art galleries, dog competitions and gin tastings there is something for everyone. In its inaugural year, the festival will celebrate the best of British and all the joys of country living while supporting local and independent businesses and showcasing the beauty of the Scottish Borders.

Jo’s Kitchen and her talented team have created a bespoke menu for their VIP Dining Tent & Garden while the Main Ring will host an array of demos (dog agility from award winning Seal Pin Gun Dogs, pipe bands, BMX shows and more!) philiphaughestate.com

Where does the Country & Food Festival take place?

Open

WIN

A COPY OF THE THINGS WE DO TO OUR FRIENDS BY HEATHER

DARWENT

Scottish Field have again teamed up with Bloody Scotland International Crime Writing Festival to give you the chance to win books shortlisted for the Bloody Scotland Debut Prize.

This month we have 10 copies of The Things We Do To Our Friends by Heather Darwent, who has been shortlisted for the 2023 prize to give away.

It’s a suspense debut published by Penguin, about a toxic friendship in 1st year at Edinburgh University and has been compared to The Secret History by Donna Tartt. Originally from Yorkshire, Heather Darwent, like her character Clare, came to study at Edinburgh University and never ended up leaving. She now lives outside Edinburgh and loves swimming in the sea.

Where is author Heather Darwent originally from?

months after which it will be destroyed, unless you agree to an extension to be contacted

company.

The winner of the 2023 Debut Prize will be revealed on the opening night of The Bloody Scotland International Crime Writing Festival which will take place in Stirling from 15-17 September 2023. To find out more join the Bloody Scotland Facebook page or sign up for the newsletter at www.bloodyscotland.com

to all persons aged 18 and over who are resident in the UK at the date of their entry. We offer no case alternative for non-cash prizes and prize winners must accept prizes in the form offered. Competition closes Wednesday 30 August.

Which sport is North West Castle Hotel associated with?

scene SOCIAL

GLAD RAGS & CARTRIDGE BAGS CLAY PIGEON SHOOT

FASQUE HOUSE, ABERDEENSHIRE

01 Fiona Miller, Ellie Louise Sinclair, Kim Shearer, Sarah Brogan, Barbara Marshall, Helen Malcolm

02 Mandy Ross, Cerys Anderson, Mark Watson, Jill

Donaldson, Fiona Grundy, Claire Cooper 03 Diane

Greer, Lynda McConnach, Carrie Keenan, Linda Robb, Tricia Schooling 04 Lyndsay Harley, Laura Crabb, Fiona Donaldson, Ara Murray, Laura Ross, Emma Shanks 05 Laura Crabb, Jamie Linton 06 Clare-Louise Battersby, Kerry

Doran, D’arcy Holt 07 Tricia Schooling, Carrie

Keenan, Linda Robb, Alastair Smith, Diane Greer, Laura Anderson, Lynda McConnach 08 Petra

Grunenberg, Angie Sojka, Helen Haigh

IMAGES MHAIRI MORRISS & ABOYNE

ROYAL MARINES CHARITY DINNER

EDINBURGH CASTLE, EDINBURGH

Patrick Edwardson, Anna Edwardson 02 Elaine Barnwell, Hon Col David Watt, Col Barry Barnwell OBE, CSgt Terry Hislop, Sgt Stu Vass, Sgt Steve Queen 03 Sara Reed, CRSM Nick Ollive, Lynn Fordham 04 Superintendant

Jim Gillen, Colin Rigby 05 Capt Larry Foden, RAdm Jude Terry OBE RN, Lt Ben Hendy, Andrew Kerr 06 Bruce Cartwright, Hugh Hall 07 Duncan Mackison, Brigadier Mark Dodson 08 Lt Col Simon Giles, Susie Hamilton, Col Ben Foster, Nick Holloway 09 Tony Ross, Edward Russell 10 Drum Major Chris Bray, CSgt Jos Maj Andy Bryce, Maj David Richmond, CRSM Nick Ollive FELIX

GWCT DINNER AUCTION

PRESTONFIELD

01 Malcolm Burberry, Gill Carnegie, Alistair Anderson 02 Katherine Kerr, Gordon Kerr 03 Guy Tulloch, Stephen Kay, Hew Bruce Gardine 04 Earl of Morton, Lady Mary Callander, Oliver Thomson, Olivia Thomson 05 Linn McDonald, Rachel Osborne 06 Allister Cowan, Trish Kennedy 07 Billy Birse-Stewart, Lorna Birse-Stewart, Nick Liddle 08 Will Lindsay, Mike Bremner, Robert McCulloch, Andrew Marshall 09 Gregor Bruce, Harry Kendall, Ed Fitzgerald

10 Annabel Wishart, Jo Graham-Campbell, Caroline Graham-Campbell 11 Nic Wood, Rebecca Lovie, Ewan Lovie, Sarah Wood, Garreth Wood 12 Rachael Hamilton, Billy Hamilton 13 Seb Callander, Georgia Flanagan, Bob Hawkey 14 Shelbey Dunn, Gary Scollon IMAGES

ROY SUMMERS

SSAFA CHARITY CLAY PIGEON SHOOT

BISLEY AT BRAIDWOOD

01 Jim Keith, Jock Balfour, John Starr, Paul Crosbie 02 Hamish Currie, John Cooper, Gavin Tweedie, Grant Horsburgh 03 Adrian Lucas, William Carrington 04 Tino Nombro, Stuart Buchanan, Neil Hall, Alistair Cameron, Lewis McKechnie 05 Douglas Mitchell, Adam Dave, Hugh Robertson, Kevin Patterson 06 Wilson Jamieson, Peter Readman, William Carrington, Alan Walker 07 Jimmy Runciman, Alec Paton, Jerry Peters, Garry Kennedy 08 Chris Lightfoot, Douglas Tait, Peter Huddleston, Brain Tait, Martin Edgar 09 MacLean, Bob Small, Stuart Ritchie, James Taylor 10 Marcello Rodrigues, Robert Thomson, Alan Ness, Willie MacEachen

11 Peter Baxendale, Anthony Woodd, Conner Kelly, Prof. Hew Strachan

Ken 09

06 07

02 03 12 Sales: 0141 225 3880 Lettings: 0141 225 3881 189

WHAT YEAR IS IT?

USE THE CLUES AND PICTURES TO HELP GUESS THE YEAR.

GENERAL

1. What year was the battle of Culloden?

2. The movie Local Hero was made how many years ago?

3. Which woollen pattern producing island is the most remote inhabited island in Scotland?

4. On which Scottish archipelago would you nd neolithic village Skara Brae?

5. What is the largest member of the grouse family of birds?

6. What is the term for Scottish mountains between 2,500 and 3,000ft?

7. What is the longest Scottish river?

8. What member of the capsicum family is named after its resemblance to a Tam o’ Shanter?

9. Who captained GB’s only gold medal winning team at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City?

WORD SEARCH: SWASHBUCKLE

How many English words can you make from the word above? We can nd 321. Try to nd as many as possible. Words must be at least three letters long.

150-199 WORDS: GOOD, 199-249 WORDS: EXCELLENT, 250 WORDS OR MORE: YOU ARE A GENIUS

WHERE ARE WE?

It lies on the River Annan and was once a popular spa town. It is well known for its toffee and sits at the bottom of the infamous cattle rustling valley, ‘The Devils Beef Tub’. It is home to the fifth highest waterfall in the UK, ‘The Grey Mare’s Tail’ and The Black Bull Inn used to be a regular haunt for Robert Burns.

10. Which Scottish rock band released their debut single ‘Darts of Pleasure’ in 2003?

SUDOKU DIFFICULTY: HARD ENTER DIGITS FROM 1 TO 9 INTO THE BLANK SPACES. EVERY ROW MUST CONTAIN ONE OF EACH DIGIT. SO MUST EVERY COLUMN, AS MUST EVERY 3X3 SQUARE. AUGUST’S SOLUTION IS SHOWN RIGHT.

We will protect your personal data. We only gather what we need for the requirements of this competition – your name, address and telephone number. Should you be selected as the winner, Scottish Field will contact you by post and your personal data will be passed to the crossword sponsor (Inverawe Smokehouses) for the purposes of veri cation. Scottish Field (Wyvex Media) will retain your information for a maximum of 3 months after the crossword competition closes and then it will be deleted.

WHERE ARE WE?

WHAT YEAR IS IT?

1. Sean Connery and Ronnie Corbett were born in Edinburgh.

2. The last islanders of St Kilda were evacuated to the mainland.

3. Arthur Conan Doyle, the Edinburgh-born Sherlock Holmes writer died.

4. RMS Empress was launched from Clydebank.

5. The Kirriemuir Camera Obscura opened to the public for the rst time.

Rhona Martin captained the curling team

Cover to cover

e Wild Card

BY JUDY MURRAY ORION

£16.99

Judy Murray knows better than most how brutal the sporting world can be. With 64 national tennis titles and a seriously successful coaching career to her name, Judy has seen it all. However, it is her role as a powerful, self-assured mother that has secured her place as one of Britain’s best-loved tennis personalities. As her sons Jamie and Andy continue to shoulder their way to the top, Judy is frequently praised for her steely competitiveness while watching the on-court theatre unfold. An extraordinarily strong female role model, she is now one of the most in uential voices in the ght for equality in sport.

e Unforgiven Dead

BY FULTON ROSS INKSHARES

£20.99



Tartan Noir meets gothic fantasy in this novel that blends classic mystery tropes and beats with Highland folklore and tales. The setting is absolutely spot on. It’s atmospheric in its gloomy darkness, isolated and eerie, making the process of uncovering the truth feel unattainable and opaque despite the protagonist’s – unwanted – gift of foresight.

Read this book if you are looking for a spooky, meandering thriller with damaged characters and saturated in the imagery and lore of the stark and beautiful Highlands. A thrilling debut from Ross, who is originally from the Highlands himself. (MA)

A Blind Rye

BY MARION TODD CANELO

£9.99

It’s almost a cliché placing a Tartan Noir novel in the Highlands or the capital, so Todd is cleverly bucking the trend with her DI Clare Mackay series which is based in and around St Andrews, Fife. In this book (the seventh installment) DI Mackay traces the brutal murder of a local solicitor who is not as innocent as one might hope. My heart was stolen by the Auld Grey Toon’s characterful cobbled streets many moons ago, but setting aside any unconscious bias, it is hard to deny St Andrews’ palpable atmosphere. Todd’s ability to craft a sense of place is intensely absorbing and her characters are scarily authentic. A TV series in waiting. (RM)

It is these lived experiences and observations of women in sport that have driven Judy to produce this debut novel. Protagonist Abigail Patterson, who was forced to stop competing in tennis at high levels for various reasons, launches a comeback in her late-30s after being given a ‘wild card’ entry to Wimbledon.

Judy’s writing will inevitably ring true with both sportsmen and women, as it hones in on the challenges of balancing a high performance lifestyle in both personal and professional arenas. What’s particularly powerful, though, is that Judy tackles the very real issues that many young, developing women have to contend with in a maledominated sphere.

A simple storyline, but the core message (that persistence prevails) is uplifting. Stirring writing that will inspire. (RM)

Scottish Plant

Names:

An A to Z

BY GREGORY J KENICER RBGE

£16.99

This Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh’s guide to the connection between Scotland’s plants and language is unexpectedly amusing. We learn the etymology of names like Stink Davie, and of alternative names for marsh marigold (demon water-horse’s shoe), foxgloves (witches’ thimbles), bluebells (crow’s toes) and roses (itchy coos). I enjoyed the inclusion of Gaelic and Scots derivations, and there are allusions to French and even Pictish in uences. I disliked the lack of illustrations, all of which are sadly in mono, but there was much to like in this surprisingly quirky little tome. (RB)

A look at the latest Scottish books by

Rosie Morton, Richard Bath, Megan Amato and Scarlett Donald

No More Games

BY GORDON J BROWN RED DOG

£8.99 

When a director of crime-writing festival Bloody Scotland releases a novel, you sit up and take note! It’s a ctitious yet vivid account of traumatic boyhood memories in 1970s Glasgow when 12-year-old Ginger and his friend nd a gunman in their den. The rug is continually pulled from beneath your feet in a tale where boys are forced to become men. Thrilling. (RM)

Abigail Returns

BY PAULINE TAIT FOUNTAINBRIDGE

£9.99 

This Skye-based mystery has stunning descriptions of scenery and as many twists and turns as the winding road of the Quiraing itself. Pauline Tait has a talent for making the ctional seem real as everything from Abigail’s emotional journey and the way she weaved the mystery into the setting was visceral. An engaging and hugely satisfying read. (MA)

e Discreet Charm of the Big Bad Wolf

BY ALEXANDER MCCALL SMITH LITTLE BROWN

£18.99



There is a reason McCall Smith’s books have been translated into 46 languages. Indeed, I’ve yet to meet anyone in the literary world who doesn’t regard him as a national treasure. He never fails to deliver acute observations of human nature, doing so by craftily weaving them into layers of whimsy, wit and repartee. This book (the fourth in McCall Smith’s ‘Scandi Blanc’ series) is no exception.

Ulf Varg, detective in the Department of Sensitive Crimes and owner of a deaf dog called Martin, grapples with both personal and professional dilemmas. From dealing with a man whose home has (rather amazingly) been stolen, to exploring treatments for his hard-of-hearing-pooch, Varg has plenty to wrestle with. It is the emphasis that McCall Smith places on truth, kindness and integrity that keep me coming back for more. As ever, a masterclass in creative writing. (RM)

irsty Animals

BY RACHELLE ATALLA

HODDER & STOUGHTON

£18.99



An unsettling yet fascinating read that had me on edge due to its dystopian nature. ScottishEgyptian writer Atalla expertly describes the painful feeling of thirst in a drought when protagonist Aida faces exorbitant costs for bottled spring water and loos that don’t ush. There is still a sense of hope demonstrated through the importance of family. (SD)

Jimmy Two Guns

BY JAMES J MCINTYRE BLACK & WHITE PUBLISHING

£14.99 

This true crime memoir about a gangland lawyer who ended up in prison is compellingly written and cracks along at a rare old pace. Moral misgivings aside, if you can suspend disbelief when needed then this is a hugely readable insight into a world that few sane people would ever want to encounter, let alone inhabit. (RB)

e Quiet Moon

BY KEVIN PARR FLINT BOOKS

I am not keen on reading widely in the self-help genre – or any adjacent genre that uses vague spirituality in hopes of uplifting their readers. However, the overall message of nding inner strength through the steadiness of the lunar cycle and ancient Celtic practices resonated more than I expected.

Perhaps this is because his intentions are not didactic – he is not telling me how to live better but only relaying his own experiences with depression and anxiety and how he learned to cope by connecting more with the natural world.

Though the romanticisation of the Celts is nothing new, I appreciated the combined research with his own rst-hand accounts in practice. With writing as beautiful as the message, this is certainly worth a read. (MA)

THE LAST WORD

Winds of change

Running a Highland estate in the 21st century requires a fresh approach and tireless hard work, as our new columnist knows all too well

Iwas pregnant when I heard the Log House had burned down. I remember my father’s partner, Claire, making sure I was sitting down before she broke the shocking news. ‘It’s gone,’ she said. All gone, in a matter of hours.

We later found out it was an electrical fault that caused the fire. In a house built of logs, it tore through the building like a pack of hungry wolves. ankfully no one was hurt.

We drove up to see if we could salvage anything from the wreckage. Strangely, there were charred pages of magazines fluttering in the breeze, but everything else was melted down or vaporised in the flames: a tartan sofa Granny bought in an auction, a bespoke wooden hot tub, even the iron weather vane of a roaring stag. Precious things were lost: a fishing trophy in memory of an old friend, a portrait of my grandfather by Juliet Pannett and the battered Visitors Books with twenty plus years of stories.

For a while we could not contemplate a new Log House. My father, Duncan, bought Ben Damph Estate in 1983 and built the ‘New Lodge’ in 1992 as the centre for a working estate and his dream hunting lodge. He based it on the log cabins he stayed in as a teenager in Norway and brought over French-Canadian cra smen to build a traditional structure out of 100-yearold Scots pine, Douglas Fir and European larch felled on the estate. It soon became the ‘Log House’ loved by not just our family but all the families who came to stay there. Duncan realised his dream and I thought he would want to build it all over again. But to my surprise he turned to me and said: ‘You do it, it is your generation now.’

At first I thought about a new log cabin shipped in from the Pacific Northwest.

But my friend Stubbs counselled against that.

‘You are going to have to build a new house, a di erent house,’ he said.

So I hired some young architects in Edinburgh to use more modern building techniques, whilst still using as much local material as possible. We felled a 130-year-old Douglas fir for beams and European larch for the cladding and used Torridonian sandstone for the paving slabs. We drove ourselves mad choosing the best view for each room, and the most e cient way to power an o -grid house on renewable energy.

Over two summers, an engineering degree, a book, a baby and a global pandemic, Ben Damph Lodge did rise from the ashes. It is now a house that hugs the landscape and invites the visitor to reconnect to nature.

Not everyone will like it. I have already encountered strong opinions about the bath in the bedroom, the rock in the living room and the lack of hunting trophies on the walls. But it is not the same house as the one that burned down and we are not the same people.

I am a mother, I have built a house with the help of my partner Luke and my friend Derek and alongside my siblings, I have taken on an estate in the Highlands. Even the landscape has changed, peatland is being restored, woodland is being created and swathes of land are being ‘rewilded’ in the fight to stop climate change. e Highlands has become a place to do yoga and go wild swimming as much as a place to stalk deer and catch fish. It was not just the timbers that made the Log House, it was the experiences written down in those old Visitors Books. Sadly, they are lost forever. But in this column I can write about new experiences, about planting trees and culling deer, dealing with feral sheep and fashion shoots, about the challenges (and the joys) of running an estate in the 21st century. It is just the beginning of a new story.

LOUISE GRAY

‘The Highlands has become a place to do yoga and go wild swimming’

Care Crew are here to provide a quality care service in our clients’ own homes

 We only provide full day, full night or 24 hours care.

 We can offer assistance in obtaining direct payment from the Scottish Government for your personal care.

 We can liaise with the Social Work Department to obtain equipment to make our clients’ lives more comfortable at home.

 We provide either live in or live out care and can travel throughout Scotland to our clients’ homes.

 We have even been known to undertake foreign travel with our clients.

 We keep costs down by being self-employed; the client pays their carer direct. There are no hidden charges.

 We can cover the whole of Scotland

Care Crew is managed and founded by Helen McDonald. Helen liaises with families to better understand the individual’s requirements before assigning the most suitable members of Care Crew to the particular client. Helen introduces each client to their carer after the initial consultation. We aim to provide continuity of care and try to match clients with like-minded carers. Each carer is registered as self-employed, insured and holds an enhanced disclosure (PVG). In addition Moving and Handling certificates are constantly updated in accordance with legislation. Most of the carers have completed their SVQ 2 or SVQ 3. We are also experienced in palliative care, spinal care, dementia and we are familiar with the medical protocol associated with care at home.

If you want to know more about tailored packages please call 07738 625 021 www.carecrew.co.uk