I can’t believe that we are well into summer now. Where has the time gone? Apologies to my blog followers for having been absent for a while it has been all change at Scottish Field as we have a new Editor so it has been all hands on deck to make a few changes to the magazine’s features.  I can’t believe that Archie Mackenzie won’t be in the office everyday, he and I have had so many laughs over the years getting the magazine out. From coming up with fantastic headlines at midnight over a bag of Edinburgh’s finest chips, to rating the toilet facilities at all of Scotland’s caravan and camping sites in one, never to be forgotten or hopefully repeated, feature!

It is not a complete goodbye from me to Archie as I’m pleased to say that we will be working together on a sister publication Scots. He will be bringing his vast knowledge of Scottish heritage to bear in filling the magazine with interesting features and no doubt there will be new laughs along the way – although I’m keeping my finger’s crossed that a tour of the toilet facilities of Scottish heritage sites will not be on the cards.

Scottish Field’s new Ed, Richard Bath (pictured above), looks set to keep bringing you all your favourite features and some new ones that we hope you will enjoy,  including a brilliant opportunity for subscribers to review hotels for us. If you are a subscriber  and are interested in enjoying a night out on the house then email Richard on editor@scottishfield.co.uk putting ‘hotel reviews’ in the subject line.

Richard is also going to be starting an Editor’s Blog in which he will keep you all up-to-date with goings on at Scottish Field.

Let us know what you think of the new features in this month’s magazine by commenting below or using the Scottish Field forum.

Happy reading

Henrietta Forrest,

Creative Editor.

So for a few days at the beginning of March I thought that a couple of lovely sunny spring days heralded the end of the long long winter. Not so, living on the east coast we have had another couple of weeks of grey weather and a biting wind. My daffodils, which had finally plucked up the courage to start growing have slowed to a snails pace again and show no sign of opening their yellow flowers and so, in my garden, it has been left to the crocuses to add the only dash of colour to an otherwise brown landscape. Chatting last week to a friend who lives high up on a Perthshire hill, she was telling me that this year her daffodils are only just poking themselves through the soil – and she can’t see them flowering until May. Her garden, being high up, is always about a month behind mine but this late spring means that everyone’s garden is late. Although, on the upside, my snowdrops do seem to have lasted for ages this year.

Or perhaps that is as it should be – we have been used to spring getting earlier and earlier and the seasons seamlessly merging into one another. Listening to Alan Titchmarsh on the radio this week he was explaining that it was no bad thing to have such a late spring and that, for our native plants and animals, it is more in the natural order of things to have sharper divides between the seasons.

Here at Scottish Field our fabulous photographer Roy Summers has got quite used to going out at this time of year and photographing gardens to hold on file for features this time next year. This year though we have been struggling, as most of the gardens are still a sea of brown with just the odd green shoot, and not a blossom in sight – not exactly making the glorious photographic spreads I have in mind! Hopefully we’ll get some warmer sunshine in April and Roy can get busy with his camera soon.

If your garden looks beautiful in the spring and you would like to see it featured in the magazine next year, then email me on heddy@scottishfield.co.uk

It doesn’t matter if its big or small, in the country or city – if you your garden’s lovely  at this time of year then it would be great to hear from you.

Till next time

Henrietta Forrest

Creative Editor

In your April issue we have a fantastic 26 page spring interiors section. It includes two very different but fabulous readers’ homes – a town house in Perth and a castle in Fife. Completely different in style, each has a ‘Get the Look’ page which shows you how to add similar touches to your own home. I had a personal interest in putting together these interior features this month, especially our 21 hot interior tips, as I am about to gut my own home to make more bedroom space and put in a new kitchen. My husband is getting a little nervous about all the gorgeous, expensive kitchen brochures that seem to be littering our house at the moment – well a girl’s got to dream.

I think that I spent a little too much time dreaming of how some of the more luxurious ideas in our top tips feature would look in my own home, as my editor, Archie Mackenzie eventually asked me if the feature was ever going to get finished! Don’t worry not all the tips  will cause your bank manager to take a sharp intake of breath – many of the ideas are quick, simple ones that you can easily translate into small, everyday changes.

There is also a brilliant competition this month to win a voucher for £500 worth of curtains from Montgomery who have departments in stores all over Scotland. There are fewer quick ways to transform a dull room than by adding some truly fabulous curtains – so hurry up and enter today. Click here now to go to this competition.

And don’t forget to go out and grab a copy of your April issue – or better still take advantage of one of our subscription offers so that you never miss a copy of Scottish Field. Click here now for subs offers.

If you would like to send us your own interiors tips then you can add them here by commenting below or email me  – heddy@scottishfield.co.uk

Till next time,

Henrietta Forrest,

Scottish Field

Now that spring is finally just around the corner we welcome back our ‘Garden News’ pages in your March issue. In it  you will find lots of tips on what to do in the garden at this time of year to ensure that everything is in top condition for a colourful year. There are also ideas on things for keen gardeners to do in the spring – gardens that are open and courses that are running for the green fingered reader.

I like to visit the garden at Hill Tarvit in Fife it isn’t a huge garden but I just love it and always come home brimming with ideas for my own garden. It was built to the designs of Robert Lorimer and is beautiful. I know that there are grander and bigger gardens out there but this one for me is perfect.  Click here for a link to images.

What gardens do you, the reader love to visit, I wonder? Is there a garden that always inspires you or is there one in particular that you are definately going to visit this year. Add your comments at the bottom here and let me know. You never know we might feature your favourite in the magazine this year.

Henrietta,

Creative Editor

Well the new year has started with a flurry – a flurry of snow that is! Like the rest of the country Scotland has been shivering under a blanket of the white stuff. Getting back to work  after the mince pies and chocolates of Christmas, has been a bit of an effort as everyone has been battling ungritted roads and icy conditions.

However, the glrorious sunny conditions that some of Scotland has enjoyed with the snow, has meant that we have had some fantastic snowy images added to our galleries,  like this one  ‘ The ice house that Dan built on Loch Torridon’ from online member Ferroch.

There are more stunning images to enjoy so why not sit back with a cup of coffee and visit our galleries now .

Better still add your own images then, when we are all cursing the inevitable slush that’s on the way, your images will help remind us that, however inconvenient the snow has been, it has also been truly beautiful.

Henrietta,

Scottish Field

When I look back now at my own wedding (too many years ago to mention) I remember the flurry of activity to get everything ready for the big day. From finding a venue to sending out invitations from organising bridesmaid dresses and getting flowers up in the church. I appeared every now and again and agreed that I liked this and not that, but mum and dad put in a huge effort to make sure everyone enjoyed their day. In the end, on that May day, we were all glad we had plumped for an indoor venue for the reception as howling gales would have tested any marque to its limits.

There are things about my wedding day that will stick in my memory forever, such as my old dog, Tex, nearly joining me at the alter as she had been running up and down to the church with us all morning with the flowers and had no idea she was supposed to stay at home this time. She appeared, wagging her tail as I stood with dad at the church door. He had to run home with her, making me fashionably late for my big entrance!

I know many of our readers will have similar experiences of organising a son or daughters big day and we’d love to hear from you. Our February wedding feature is all about the hard work that goes on behind the scenes of any wedding. Tell us anything from how you found the perfect venue to anything unusual that was on the menu at the reception.  Did your day run smoothly or were there any last minute hitches you ingeniously overcame? ‘Mothers of the Bride’ we’d love to hear where you found your perfect outfit?

You can get in touch with us by clicking below on ‘comments’ or by emailing me on heddy@scottishfield.co.uk

I look forward to hearing from you

Henrietta Forrest,

Creative Editor.

At last Fifecam is coming back! We’ve been working hard to get this new, improved webcam up and running for you with its fantastic view over  ‘The Bow of Fife’ looking over to the town of Ladybank.

Finally we are doing the last few tweaks and we are ready to go live next week. It has involved  much climbing of ladders, wiring in the wind and rain and technical know how but we’ve got there. Phew!

So log on next week, choose webcams from the main menu and see what you think. You’ll be able to choose three different views and we hope that you enjoy watching.

Last week I packed may family up and we headed into the wilds of Highland Perthshire for a family break. Ignoring gloomy weather men, predicting gales and copious rainfall, I took the kids cycles and promised them we would have fun no matter what the weather. Well I needn’t have worried, Scotland came up trumps for us. The weather was perfect – gleaming Autumn days – when the lochs are slightly misty and the views are a myriad of oranges and browns.
Everything was open and by that I mean the sleepy villages hadn’t gone into their seasonal shutdown and they were, if not buzzing with tourists, certainly busy, restaurants seemed mostly full and shops, while not packed, seemed to be enjoying an October flurry before the serious business of Christmas. We spent the days walking, pottering, cycling, exploring, eating and enjoyed a great holiday.

It reminded me what a beautiful country we live in. Listening to some comments of the foreign tourists we met made me think that although there are bigger, grander places in the world, Scotland has such a unique beauty of its own that it deserves its place as a top tourist destination. And over the years I do think that the facilities we offer people are getting better.

Most of the food we were served was excellent, even the kids’ menus have improved beyond all measure. They were often offered much better fare than the usual chicken nuggets and chips – at one place they were even offered venison sausages! (They went for the pizza – can’t win ‘em all!) Many eateries though could still make far more use of great local produce. Some towns had a super deli bursting with delicious, locally produced food but trying to find somewhere that served something marginally more interesting than scampi and chips proved a challange. This can’t be right. Scotland is bursting with great foods and food producers.

On that note its the end of a long day and I’m off home for tea.  Might stop at the fish and chip shop on the way – Rome wasn’t built in a day.

Did you have a holiday in Scotland this October? Let us know where you’ve been and if you enjoyed it. Comment below or go to our forum.

Henrietta Forrest,

Creative Editor.

The one thing about working for a monthly magazine like Scottish Field is that all your seasons get a bit out of kilter.  At the moment the team is hard at work putting together your Christmas issue so heads are full of yummy Christmas recipes and finding a suitably festive cover – it always seems a bit incongruous when outside the office the trees still have leaves and roses are still blooming!

People moan about the shops being stuffed with Christmas cards and presents although it is only the beginning of October, however to me this fits in with what I’m thinking about at work. I have heard it suggested that shops should be banned from putting out Christmas wares until the end of October, however in these tough retail times – who can blame them for making the most of their biggest selling season. I do find though that much of the magic of Christmas is lost on my childeren by the time it finally comes around which is a sad thing.

However I love putting together the December and January Scottish Fields, it makes me think of crisp winter walks and sunshine on frosty mornings. Come Christmas Day though I’ve moved on – my thoughts are already on the new year ahead and the spring issues of the magazine. Even the family dog has had enough of the festivities by then!

Henrietta Forrest

Creative Editor

Since we published our piece on big cats I am amazed at the number of people I know – all sane, sensible citizens – who say that they have had an encounter with one.

Chatting to my next door neighbour and friend, he said that once, on a trip up to Ballater to visit friends, he screeched the car to a halt when he spotted a tawny brown creature trotting across a field next to the road. Waking his family up, all four of them watched as it loped across the field before jumping a wall and disappearing into some trees. He said that they sat in stunned silence before they all agreed that what they had seen had been a huge cat.

As my friend has just about mastered the art of reading his mobile phone text messages he didn’t even think about catching it on his phone’s camera. Indeed, he said; ‘by the time I’d thought of that I was staring at an empty field!’

This made me think, as my neighbour is not prone to excessive exaggeration (unless describing how masterfully he played a golf stroke!) why are so many people like him claiming to see these cats but so little evidence is ever found to support such sightings. Why, I ask myself, has no dead animal never been found and why haven’t more paw prints been found?

Perhaps, if they exist, these creatures are so shy that they stay off the beaten track thus avoiding leaving any trace of themselves where man habitually treads. I don’t know the answers but it is an intriguing subject.

Keep letting us know about your big cat sighting either by adding a comment below or you can email us on editor@scottishfield.co.uk

Henrietta Forrest,

Creative Editor