The garden team of Kellie Castle has created these lovely videos:
Some advice on Christmas wreath making
One of my favourite places…
If you love what you do you are always trying to expand on that experience. Three years ago I was lucky enough to be accepted as volunteer at Kellie Castle, a property in the care of the NTS. There is a team of amazing volunteers at the castle, most of them put a lot more time into it then I and each single one of them plus the staff at the castle are a never ending source of knowledge and stories. Due to Covid-19 sadly none of us was able to provide advice as room guide or guided tours throughout the castle. Hopefully this will change again in 2021 and meanwhile the NTS produced thsi fantastic video so we all will not forget about Kellie Castle.
If you wish to support the trust you can opt to buy some Xmas presents here:
https://www.nts.org.uk/shop/collections/shop-winter-offers.html
Also, you can still visit the amazing garden and take a walk to Kellie Law
Whisky & ghosts
Last week a good whisky buddy of mine confronted me with this lovely label of “That Bontique Y Whisky Company” and asked if I could figure out from which undisclosed Speyside whisky distillery it came from. I failed badly…
What I love about Scotland in general is the fact that whatever draws your attention there is always more to it. So, this whisky label now leads us from whisky to ghosts and to a wee bit of story telling.
The above label we believe depict from left to right:
The GlenDronach -> The Spanish Lady
Bowmore -> The headless horseman
Glenrothes -> Biawa ‘Byeway’ Makalanga
Glenmorangie -> The White Lady
Jura -> two ghosts
Ghost stories involving the white and the Spanish lady are not exclusive to Glenmorangie, GlenDronach or even Scotland. You can find stories involving these two ladies all over the world. In Glenmorangie the white lady is haunting the now decommissioned malting floors. She allegedly removed wall paper without a tear. In the days when malting was still done at the distillery one sleepy shoveller could ruin the day’s maltings so the threat of the ghostly white lady might have helped to keep everyone awake.
The Spanish lady arrived at Glendronach in an Oloroso cask. Glendronach is famous for its sherried whisky after all. She did not appreciate the cold climate and was desperately lonely. She discovered a hidden tunnel to Glen House and ever after enjoyed the human company there, settling in the room named appropriately Glendronach.
The headless rider of Bowmore was spotted by crofter Lachlan Ban when returning home in a stormynight. Lachlan found the door of his croft ajar, an opened whisky bottle on the table and the fire had gone out. The un-ghostly explanation to this story was provided by Lachlan’s brother who arrived on horseback to share a dram with his brother, found the door open (blown open by the wind) so he walked in, had a dram but could not wait. When riding home he put the collar of his cloak up to keep the wind out, which must have been when Lachlan spotted him as the headless rider.
Biawa ‘Byeway’ Makalanga was a real person. He was found orphaned and hungry by Major James Grant (the than owner of Glen Grant) in South Africa. He took him to Scotland, where he became his servant, served during the first world war and even scored a goal for the Scottish football team. Biawa ‘Byeway’ Makalanga was only spotted twice in the neighbouring distillery Glenrothes during the installation of two new stills which after investigation had disturbed some leyline. Since setting this right Biawa ‘Byeway’ Makalanga ‘s ghost never re-appeared.
The whisky distillery on Jura can even claim two ghosts. In 1781 Laird Archibald Campbell banned distilling on the island only to be awoken 29 years later by an angry old lady who scared him to the extent that he opened a new disitllery in 1810. More recently, in 2010, the resident cat “Elvis” captured a spirit on his webcam which was identified as the ghost of the island’s school teacher Elisabeth. To honour this there is even a ghostly dram available.
Coming back to the craft label which depicts five ghosts sharing a dram, only one of them is from Speyside which is what the labe indicates, stating “Single malt Scotch whisky, Speyside, 8 years old” so it has to be a Glenrothes.
Map from the Scotch Advocate
There are more whisky related ghost stories and one of which can be found at GlenScotia of Campbeltown
Do you know more ghost stories? If so do leave us a comment below.
Is travelling on your mind?
With the secon wave of Corona in full swing the future of travelling becomes more and more insecure. We just do not know when travelling will be possible again.
Mainwhile here in the UK much of the accommodation is booked right into 2021 by UK residents who have already opted for a staycation.
If you dream about Scotland but are unsure if you will be able to travel on the date you had in mind do seek our advice and expertise.
Together we can dream up your bespoke tour once booked you can always change dates. Because we are a very small operator we do not require deposits. You can dream and hope and you do not need to invest anything but your imagination till such time you can put your feet on Scottish soil.
Or call Kirstin on 0044 7446112672
Click below for some tour examples
Less touring….
With the new restrictions put in place we could still go on a tour across Scotland but pretty much only with up to six people of one household.
So for sightseeing 2020 looks a little like a total write off. However, not all is bleak.
I foster a lifelong fascination for flying and think in general that it is a good idea to provide you, my customers, with more unusal activities which you could add on to future tours (potentially in 2021). Already in 2019 we added on the possibilitly to combine a tour with an airexperience at the Scottish Gliding Centre at Portmoak in Fife or to go flying with the Loch Lomond Seaplanes.
My own airexperience resulted in me aiming to one day fly solo in a glider. On the way there I had the opportunity to take these photographs below. Enjoy!!!
Views on Edinburgh
By accident – almost- Edinburgh happened to be my destination today and after a miserably rainy day yesterday today there was something to see indeed.
I ventured off initally to find a building which was mention in this interesting articly by Edinburgh Live on derelict buildings in Edinburgh.
Originally built as a police station it continued its life as one of Edinburgh’s most strangest restaurant. Sadly, though pretty much in the city centre it now sits empty:
Next to it and very close to Holyrood Palace, the Queen’s summer residence, I found this wee lovely tower:
If you visit Edinburgh my advice always has been: use your feet. Especially in the old town which was build when people walked. You will discover so much more.
Calton Hill is worth climbing uphill. Here the view over the Firth of Forth towards Fife with the Isle of May on your right
SCITOUR project
As I am hoping to be part of this project with my tour offering I am very exited about tomorrow’s webinar.
Email: kirstin@starfishtravel.scot for log on details or get in touch with Andy : andy.ruck.perth@uhi.ac.uk
Webinar: Introduction to Scientific Tourism Thursday 1st October, 12-2PM
SCITOUR is a collaborative project centred around the development and promotion of ‘scientific tourism’. Scientific tourism puts scientific learning at the heart of the tourist experience, giving visitors a deeper knowledge and appreciation of a specific place, while taking scientific education into adventurous settings that inspire as well as educate.
SCITOUR brings together academic research institutions and small-to-medium businesses with the goal of helping tourism businesses in remote regions to develop and market new products based around scientific learning. SCITOUR is part-funded by the European Union’s Northern Periphery and Arctic Programme (NPA), and involves partners from Scotland, Iceland, Finland and Greenland.
Through SCITOUR, we aim to create an umbrella organisation that gives participating businesses access to an established scientific tourism brand and identity, a website where they can market their products, access to transnational promotional campaigns, and a supportive network of businesses offering similar products.
This webinar will provide an introduction to the project and the idea of scientific tourism, as well as enable us to gain the perspectives of those working in tourism businesses. You will hear from the researchers at the centre of the project, as well as one of our key partners – Hebridean Whale and Dolphin Trust. As we are right at the beginning of the SCITOUR project, this is your chance to help shape its content and direction.
Through a mix of presentations and open discussions, this webinar will cover:
Aims of the SCITOUR project
What is (or what could be) scientific tourism?
SCITOUR brand and marketing
Ways forward, and how you can get involved
For joining instructions and to book your place, please contact Andy Ruck: andy.ruck.perth@uhi.ac.uk
New Restrictions
Since new restrictions have come into force last week booking a tour is most likely not good advice and certainly not if you wish to travel with more than one household.
You can still get in touch to plan tours for the future and most certainly also if you wish to get some help with planning or looking for ideas.
I sincerely hope that operations will resume to be normal by summer 2021 and meanwhile I aim to bring a little Scotland to you on this website and via social media.
Stay well & healthy!
Scottish Golf Courses-> Now is your time
Golf is open again and there are no international golfers this year. So 2020 maybe your best bet to get onto such famous courses as the Old Course or as remote as the Isle of Colonsay Golf course.
You can of course always combine your game with some Scottish Uisge Beatha = whisky, perhaps on Islay and if you do not understand anything try soma Gaidhlig:
Science & Sightseeing
Robert Watson-Watt 1892-1973
Robert Watson-Watt was born in Brechin, Scotland, which is known for a good wee dram: Glencadam Whisky, Brechin castle and the entire area for fertile farming. Robert, however, is known for turning a potential weapon of mass destruction into Radar. The so called “death ray” was an idea prior to World War II which would be aimed at aircrafts and this beam of energy would make conditions in the aircraft unbearable and would eventually melt the plane.
Though a beam of electromagnet energy could not destroy the aircraft, but it determined that there was an object and you could calculate how fast it was travelling.
Radar stands for radio detection and ranging. This sounds complicated but it is one dish transmitting radio waves and microswaves. These pulses bounce off an object and a small amount of the energy is reflected back to where it came from. This energy is picked up by a second dish/antenna. The scientist can then calculate how far away the object is and how fast it is moving.
This of course was a vital technique to spot German bombers early enough to shoot them down during WWII.
Robert Watson-Watt was leader of the team which developed practical Radar. He had become interested in electromagnet energy during his studies at
It took Watson-Watt and his team until 1940 to have working Radar station installed along the British coastline. Britain might have lost the war without Robert Watson-Watt’s invention.
Around the same time elsewhere in Scotland, namely Aberdour, at
Captain Ryan and his team worked on something vaguely similar: detecting submarines. If you visit today and yes you can little of the site is left.The team at HS Tarlair used hydrophones (underwater microphones) which eventually led to sonor detection.
So how could you spend a day involving radar and sonar look like?
