The origins of Halloween date back to an ancient Celtic festival known as Samhain (pronounced sow-in) which celebrated the harvest and the arrival of the Cailleach. For the Celts who lived some 2,000 years ago, November 1st was their New Year. It was a time when the early farmers met together, bonfires were lit and [...]
Does Orkney’s Tale of the Stoorworm have its origins in Viking Folklore? You may never have heard of Mester Stoor Worm. Yet perhaps like us, you have been following the latest episodes of ‘Vikings’ or ‘The Last Kingdom’. You may have read our recent blog about Viking treachery in the ‘Tale of Maelbrigte the Tooth’. [...]
Saint Andrew is the patron saint of Scotland. On the 30th of November every year, tales are told of how Saint Regulus carried some of Saint Andrew’s bones to Scotland and how the Saltire become the Scottish flag. Who was Saint Andrew? Andrew was a fisherman from Galilee before he and his brother Simon Peter [...]
Robert I, King of Scots is better known by his title Robert the Bruce. This was the man who was to become a legend, a hero, a saviour to his people. This was the man who secured Scotland’s independence from England. He lived in a time when kings saw it as their God-given right to [...]
The beach at Mellon Udrigle, in Wester Ross, is stunning: aqua blue waves lap against white sands, giving the shoreline an almost tropical feel. However, the backdrop is distinctly Scottish, with views of Suilven, the mountains of Coigach and An Teallach, ‘the Forge'. Yet, for all the tranquillity of the spot, once upon a time, [...]
Spooky Scotland has taken us on some amazing journeys and we have made some exciting discoveries along the way. There is a mystical quality about Stone Circles. The sun was shining, although there is always a cold bite in the air in February in Scotland. We were standing in a field, a great mound of [...]
Eilean Donan lies in one of the most scenic spots in Scotland. Built on an island, where Loch Duich, Long Long and Loch Alsh meet, it was once the site of an Iron Age vitrified fort, built by the Picts. It takes its name from a Gaelic Priest, Saint Donnán of Eigg who lived around [...]
From before the dawn of history, the early ancestors of the people we now know as the Scots, built impressive monuments which have caught the imagination of those who have followed in their wake. Stone circles, chambered cairns, brochs and vitrified forts stir within us something primeval and stories have been born from their mystical [...]
Murder! Massacre! Betrayal! Treason! Glencoe is one of the most spectacular areas of unspoiled wilderness in Scotland. There is a haunting quality about the moor-clad mountains that stand as sentinels over the eight-mile long glen which runs from east to west along the northern border of Argyll. And there are those who say that the [...]
Immortalised by Shakespeare in his play ‘Macbeth’, built around a holly tree and haunted by an apparition said to be the ghost of an heiress once kidnapped by one of the most powerful families in Scotland, Cawdor Castle lies in a peaceful location which belies its dramatic and intriguing past. Nestled in the heart of [...]