Scotland November/December 2025 Sample

Edinburgh’s Secret Coastline

Discover castles & beaches close to the capital

300

toOrkney and Shetland

Your holiday in the beautiful Northern Isles begins as you set sail with NorthLink Ferries.

The comfortable and reliable service offers sailings from Aberdeen to Lerwick, Shetland, with regular calls into Orkney’s capital of Kirkwall.

Alternatively travel to Orkney’s port of Stromness from Caithness. This 90 minute journey on MV Hamnavoe is the only sailing to Orkney which passes the iconic sea stack, the Old Man of Hoy.

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Scotland magazine Issue #143, (ISSN 1475-5505) (USPS 020-429) is published six times a year (bi-monthly) by The Chelsea Magazine Company, part of the Telegraph Media Group, 111 Buckingham Palace Road, London, SW1W ODT, UK Distributed in the US and Canada by NPS Media Group, 74 Winthrop Street, Suite #6, Augusta ME 04330. Periodicals postage paid at Augusta, ME and other mailing o ces.

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Editor’s letter

This issue, as we make the slow transition from the golden glow of autumn to the icy cool of winter, it’s time to make yourself a hot drink and cosy up by the reside as you indulge in all things Scotland.

If, like us, you love a good story, then they don’t get much better than the tale of Margaret Fay Shaw, who swapped her glamorous life for a more simple one when she moved to the Scottish isles in the rst half of the 20th century. Here she dedicated herself to collecting and documenting Gaelic songs and you can read all about the work she did in preserving these crucial links to Scotland’s past in Peat Smoke & Paris Glamour (p24).

Another person who contributed hugely not only to Scotland’s cultural landscape but the world’s, was John Logie Baird and in The Father of Television (p40), we pro le his pioneering work, a century on from his rst TV transmission.

Elsewhere this issue, Mark Rowe takes a meander through the Tweed Valley in A River Runs Through It (p16), while I visited one of Scotland’s most underrated regions to bring you what I think is the perfect short-break destination in East of Edinburgh (p56).

In terms of history, in Policing the Highlands (p52), we look back at 300 years of the iconic Black Watch, while this issue, Kirsten Henton puts her focus on one of Scottish history’s most despised characters in The Butcher of Culloden (p65).

And nally, with Christmas fast approaching, turn to page 46 for some Scottish gift-buying inspiration for the perfect presents to place under the tree. As always, I hope you enjoy the issue.

16 A river runs through it

The Tweed Valley in the Scottish borders is packed with history, culture and vibrant energy

24 Peat smoke & Paris glamour

The tale of an American heiress who moved to the Hebrides to document Gaelic songs

30 Glasgow stays

Hotels in Glasgow can now claim to match the city’s cultural status. Here’s our pick of the best

36 Smoking hot

Jeremy Flint visits Arbroath to watch the famous Smokies being made the traditional way by hand

40 Father of television

John Logie Baird was born in Helensburgh and became world-famous for pioneering TV technology

Bonnybridge in Falkirk might seem like an ordinary town but it’s a centre for UFO sightings

44 Strange sightings

Bonnybridge in Falkirk has been one of the world’s most concentrated clusters of UFO reports

46 Shopping

Scottish fine art, jewellery, and scents make fabulous gifts this Christmas

50 Symbols of Scotland: Tablet

The definitive Scottish candy, that is definitely not fudge... although the ingredients are similar

52 Policing the Highlands

Celebrating 300 years of the Black Watch regiment, one of the army’s most decorated

56 East of Edinburgh

The sunny shores of the Firth of Forth offer relaxation and sea views for Edinburgh residents

62 Ask the expert

Dr Bruce Durie answers a reader’s query about the McKichan family of Mount Hope, Wisconsin

65 The Butcher of Culloden

How did Prince William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland, earn his brutal nickname? Our historian goes some way to explaining

73 O’er the water

Touring the Scottish coast and islands by ship is your key to unlocking history, culture and wildlife

81 Highland flings

Scottish-themed events around the world

82 The story behind...

Enjoy more travel, history and heritage stories from the teams behind Scotland magazine and our sister titles, Discover Britain and Britain, to your inbox every month. To sign up, simply visit discoverbritain. com/magazines/ newsletter and enter your email address. 16

A brand-new biography of Lady Jean Gordon shines new light on 16th-century history

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CLAN COURIER

New castle tours in Stirling, while a stirring Lewis monument gets award recognition

[TOURS]

STIRLING’S SECRETS SHARED

Visitors to Stirling Castle can now gain access to parts of the historic castle normally closed to the public.

Access is via new daily tours that take visitors to 10 hidden areas of the castle, including the King’s Closet, located o the King’s bedchamber, which Mary, Queen of Scots may have used for her daily devotions when she returned to the castle as an adult.

Another potential stop on the tour is the 18th-century Governor’s Kitchen, which stands on the site of a medieval chapel where Matthew Stewart, Earl of Lennox, the paternal grandfather of James VI, may have been laid to rest.

Ross Blevins, interpretative events and guiding manager at Stirling Castle, said: “The tours will be bespoke on the day depending on the weather as well as which rooms or areas of the castle we can access.”

The daily tours cost £15 (on top of the normal entry fee). historicenvironment.scot/visit-a-place/places/stirling-castle

EDITOR’S DIARY

Christmas at the Botanics will feature Night Birds by artist Michael Young

1

Brodie Illuminated, Brodie Castle, 1-30 November 2025 (Thurs-Sun)

This autumn, wrap up warm for a wander around the grounds of 16th-century Brodie Castle, in Moray (pictured below). Taking inspiration from characters depicted in the castle’s intricate plasterwork dining-room ceiling, the trail will follow a theme of Earth, Fire, Air, and Water, which will be brought to life through projection, light and sound. nts.org.uk/visit/places/brodie-castle

2

Christmas at the Botanics, Edinburgh, select dates from 20 Nov-30 Dec 2025

Santa will be making an appearance at this spectacle in the Botanic gardens in Edinburgh’s leafy Stockbridge neighbourhood. However, the true star of the show will be the gorgeously

illuminated trees with installations by some incredible light-show artists, including Night Birds (pictured above) by Michael Young. rbge.org.uk/whats-on/christmas-at-thebotanics-2025

3

Lavender Drive, Newton Mearns, dates TBC

For an event truly imbued with the spirit of Christmas, take a trip to Scotland’s most festive street, in the town of Newton Mearns, just seven miles southwest of Glasgow. Here, each year residents illuminate their houses with all manner of

twinkling lights and beaming decorations to raise money for charities and help bring some Christmas cheer to the community.

4

Starry nights Dean Castle, Kilmarnock, dates TBC

From singing trees to Santa’s grotto, carol singing to a Christmas campfire, this family-friendly trail will be sprinkling a little Christmas magic over the grounds of historic Dean Castle in Kilmarnock again this Christmas. For those in West Lothian, there’s a sister event being held in Beecraigs Country Park, near Linlithgow. starry-night.co.uk

5

Castle of Light, Edinburgh Castle, select dates from 22 November 2025 to 4 January 2026

Back for its sixth year, this year’s light trail at the iconic castle takes on the theme of fire and ice. Visitors to the after-dark show can see dazzling displays, meet the Ice Queen in the Great Hall, witness a dragon light up the dark sky, and toast marshmallows over an open fire. I can’t wait. edinburghcastle.scot

Notes from the Isles

Our friend re ects on another wonderful trip to South Uist, but when it comes to the weather back home, she realises she should be careful what she wishes for…

FABOVE:

Kate Francis and Cronie, her faithful Border

Terrier & Cronie’s pal, Jake

RIGHT:

The whitetailed sea eagle began being reintroduced to the islands in the 1970s

Words by KATE FRANCIS

rom home to home: Cronie and I have just returned from yet another wonderful visit to our family hub in South Uist. As always, it was an awful wrench to leave, not just because it was 4 o’clock in the morning, (to allow time for Cronie to have a good walk before being cooped up in the car on the ferry). But the sadness always recedes as we head back across Skye and the Highlands to our equally idyllic haven on the Black Isle.

There were only a few of us while I was there: my oldest and youngest daughters, Mary and Henrietta, my son-in-law Patrick, and their Norwegian friend, Arnt.

Patrick has inherited his father-in-law’s unquenchable passion for shing and he’d managed to infect Arnt with the same zeal, so we didn’t see much of the men during the day, but we had some extremely tasty sh suppers.

Patrick is banned from driving at the moment because he has a nasty eye problem which has, (temporarily, we pray,) left him almost blind, so Arnt was his chauffeur.

There was one occasion, however, when Arnt asked if he could join the girls who had planned to walk home over our local hill after a picnic on the Eriskay beach. I’ve given up hill climbing in my old age so I drove Patrick back to the house. When we got there, he asked me not to block in Henrietta’s car.

“But Hen won’t want to use it again today,” I assured

him. He looked a bit shifty. “I’ve been told of a loch quite nearby where there are always sea trout,” he said.

“But you aren’t allowed to drive,” I reminded him, rmly. He glared at me: “It’s not far – just a few miles.” I glared back at him. “Hen would never forgive me if I let you take the car. Please Pat, don’t be so mean. You know you’re not safe to drive. I’ll take you. Cronie and I can go for a walk while you sh, and I’ve got today’s paper to read and all its puzzles to do. Please...”

The Good Lord intervened and sanity prevailed. Cronie and I had a lovely time strolling through the heather above the lochan, avoiding the sheep, and as I was nishing the last of my puzzles, Patrick returned to the car triumphant, beaming with pleasure and bearing a splendid sea trout for his efforts.

In the 53 years we’ve had our family base in South Uist, I’ve never seen the western beaches quite as perfect as they were this year. The ivory sand stretched away into the distance, rm and uncluttered by any debris, with all the washed-up seaweed lying in tidy, glistening swathes along its upper edge below the machair.

For Cronie, whose ASBO (anti-social behaviour order) restricts her to being on a lead wherever we might encounter other dogs, it was pure heaven: she ran and ran, at out, zigzagging across the sand. Endless fun. She must have travelled many miles – certainly more than us – and she would curl up in her bed and fall asleep each time we returned to the house.

Mary was the only one of us who swam: I was

A Grand Tour of the Outer Hebrides

Our best-selling grand tour takes in all the beauty and diversity of the Outer Hebrides. Numerous islands and travel by local ferry offers great variety and the sense of a true journey of discovery which will live long in the memory.

Our odyssey begins as we travel north via the Highlands to Ullapool and take the ferry to Stornoway. A captivating journey follows as we travel through the magnificent mountain scenery of Harris, the rolling moorland of Lewis, visiting the Standing Stones of Callanish (*the main Callanish site will be closed until early 2026 and we will visit the nearby smaller circles instead if Calanais I has not reopened), the tranquil little Norse Mill and the distinctive Black Houses at Gearrannan.

From here we take the ferry to North Uist and cross the causeway to the Isle of Benbecula the ‘stepping stone’ between the Uists, before visiting the islands of Eriskay, Vatersay and Barra.

5 DAYS FROM £1,295

PICK-UP POINTS: Dundee, Perth, Kinross, Dunfermline, Edinburgh, Glasgow

YOUR TOUR INCLUDES

► Four nights dinner, bed & breakfast: two nights at the Dark Island Hotel, Benbecula and two nights at the Cabarfeidh Hotel, Stornoway (breakfast served on board the ferry on day 5)

► Comfortable coach travel and all ferry crossings

► All visits including: Calanais II*, Black Houses at Gearannan, Norse Mill, St Clement’s Church & Cockleshell Beach

► Services of an expert tour manager

&