Shark Tourism business gets top accolade

Scotland’s only dedicated basking shark tour operator is hoping for another bumper year after receiving VisitScotland’s top grading on the first time of asking. Basking Shark Scotland, operating basking shark and wildlife adventure boat tours from Oban, received five stars from the national tourism organisation’s Quality Assurance (QA) Scheme in recognition of its exceptional standards.…

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Dawn of a new era with new Balblair collection

Highland distillery Balblair has today unveiled its plans to release a new collection of age-statement single malt Scotch whiskies. These will be available in the UK this month and rolled out globally from April 2019. The new series features four whiskies, each meticulously hand selected, all of which retain the distillery’s unmistakable true Highland character…

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Rural Scotland set for digital farmers’ market boost

The charity behind Stirling’s popular click and collect farmers’ market has been awarded over £208,000 from the EU to roll out the model across rural Scotland. The funding comes from a joint collaboration between four Scottish Rural Network LEADER programmes, Forth Valley & Lomond, Perth & Kinross, Fife and Scottish Borders, through the European Agricultural…

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A pacy thriller that will keep you gripped

In this first book of a new series, Alan Murray combines the seemingly disparate events of a devastating Luftwaffe strike on 1940s Clydebank with a killing linked to the IRA. The two Military Intelligence officers charged with tracking down German informants race against time to unravel a shocking international conspiracy. Heavy on authentic military history…

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Seventh heaven for Mactaggart & Mickel

Multi-award-winning housebuilder Mactaggart & Mickel have earned a prestigious Five Star rating from the Home Builders Federation – for a superlative seventh consecutive year. The accolade further strengthens the family-owned company’s reputation for high-quality housebuilding and superb customer service. Joanne Casey, director at Mactaggart & Mickel, said: ‘To achieve a five star rating is excellent,…

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Street artists to take part in Yardworks Festival

Scotland’s leading multi-discipline arts venue is preparing to welcome street artists from around the world to its third annual Yardworks Festival. This is a two-day, site-wide celebration of live and curated graffiti art at SWG3 in Glasgow. Using SWG3’s buildings, surrounding streets, walls and railway arches as their canvas, 120 world-class artists will take part,…

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From table tennis to rabbit farming to ultramarathon

If I were to tell you a story about a man who was a professional table tennis player but gave it all up and moved to a remote Scottish island to become a rabbit farmer; who was then inspired to start running by watching TV, battled cancer and became one of the world’s most successful…

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Venues show city as a year-round cultural hotspot

The first-ever collaborative marketing campaign between Edinburgh’s arts venues will showcase the city as a must-see cultural destination all year round. With the help of VisitScotland, EdinburghWows is a campaign based on highlighting the emotional connections stirred by outstanding cultural experiences, and has received a £25,000 Growth Fund award from the national tourism organisation. VisitScotland…

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Search is on for descendants of R.34 airship’s crew

The National Museum of Flight will this weekend start to celebrate the centenary year of one of its East Fortune home’s most famous aerial adventures. It will commemorate the record-breaking 6,000-mile double-Atlantic crossing of the giant R.34 airship. The Museum is hoping that visitors will use the anniversary as a reason to visit and learn…

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New records set in 2019 big farmland bird count

Scots farmers have played their part in the best-ever year for the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust’s Big Farmland Bird Count. Results show 1,400 people – a 40 per cent increase on last year – recorded 140 species over 1 million acres in the GWCT initiative which took place between 8 and 17 February 2019.…

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