Just off the A68 on the outskirts of the Scottish Borders, a small sign points towards the remnants of an ancient highway. Known as Dere Street, the road was once a bustling hive of Roman (and later Medieval) activity that connected York with the Firth of Forth. You have to use a fair amount of […]
With only one week to go until the beginning of the largest Highland Games held outside of Scotland, this years gathering at Grandfather Mountain is shaping up to be one of the biggest. The games are held in the North Carolinian high country over four days attracting more than 50,000 punters, and coincide with the […]
A renowned team of experts at the University of Dundee have revealed a 3D virtual image of Mary, Queen of Scots as she would have looked at the time of her reign. The image was released to coincide with a major new exhibition on the life of the iconic figure that opened at the National […]
If you still haven’t seen Episode 9 ‘The Rains of Castamere‘ in the latest season of Game of Thrones, you should probably stop reading this post right about now. It’s a well-known and begrudgingly accepted fact that Game of Thrones author George R.R. Martin loves to kill off central characters. In episode nine of the […]
An English food historian has declared Haggis as an English delicacy, claiming the Scottish origins of the dish are as “made up” as tartan. Peter Brears has described Haggis as a ‘fine English dish’ in his new book Traditional Food in Northumbria, stating the food was made throughout England from the late 14th Century. Brears […]
Spiders at Dunollie Castle in Argyll & Bute, have been granted special protection from the workers during the castle’s £1.3 million restoration. European cave spiders, also known as Meta menardi, need very dark places to live, usually being found in caves and tunnels away from the light, but a colony have made a home for […]
One of the experiences that stood out the most on my Highland adventure a few months back was the amount of Scottish Gaelic I encountered. From road and railway station signs, to the greeting displayed on the entrance to McDonalds in Inverness, this was my first encounter with Scotland’s oldest surviving spoken language. It’s something […]
I t is with great sadness that we announce the death of Ellice McDonald, Jr., CBE, a central figure and past High Commissioner of Clan Donald USA. McDonald spent a lifetime involved in the clan society and received many awards and honours for his work, including the title of CBE. He was also chiefly involved […]
A bus driver in the northern Swedish town of Umea has begun wearing a skirt to work as temperatures sore past 25C. Mats Lundgren decided to find a trouser alternative when his boss turned down his request to wear shorts to work, stating he was fed up of sitting in the drivers’ seat for hours […]
A week ago I took advantage of a lovely sunny day in Edinburgh and cycled along the Innocent Railway, then on to Craigmillar Castle. The castle is an amazingly well-preserved 14th Century castle just on the outskirts of the Scottish capital. It was home to the Preston family for over 250 years and was visited […]
