Posts by Peter Ranscombe
English sparkling wine for the Lionesses
Drinks blogger James Robertson picks two English sparkling wines to toast “the auld enemy’s” victory in the fitba. TIMING, they say, is everything and – along with 17 million other viewers – I watched the England women win the European Cup. The question therefore is what to drink to celebrate the win? Well here are…
Read MoreNorth Coast 500 gets its own podcast
A PODCAST series has been created to promote attractions along the North Coast 500 driving route in the Highlands. Each 45-minute episode focuses on a different part of the trail. The first programme features Assynt’s Northwest Highland Geopark, while the second outing spotlights the historic Attadale Gardens in Wester Ross, and the third introduces listeners…
Read MoreScottish Pipe Band Championships hit high note
ORGANISERS hailed Saturday’s Scottish Pipe Band Championships at Levengrove Park in Dumbarton as the “best ever” Some 20,000 spectators flocked for the first staging of the event since the pandemic began. A total of 117 bands gathered for the championships, with pipers travelling from as far away as Australia and Texas. Field Marshal Montgomery from…
Read MoreFancy owning a 40 million year old crocodile?
THE fossil of a 40 million-year-old crocodile is coming up for auction next week in Glasgow. The ancient croc is one of nearly 200 fossils going under the hammer at McTear’s “Cabinet of Curiosities” auction on 10 August. The collection as assembled by a retired geologist based in the Highlands. It includes a fossilised crocodilian…
Read MoreLook out for shelduck feathers at the beach
SCIENTISTS are asking visitors to beaches to look out for shelduck feathers this summer. Shelduck replace their feathers by moutling over the summer. They can’t fly for between two and four weeks, and so need to find safe places to moult. British shelduck either moult on mudflats in the UK or fly across the North…
Read MorePaolozzi comes to Hospitalfield
HOSPITALFIELD House near Arbroath is putting a sculpture by Scottish artist Sir Eduardo Paolozzi on display in its garden this summer. The bronze work, entitled Rio, is on loan from the University of Glasgow’s Hunterian art gallery. The work was commissioned in 1964 by Dundee surrealist art collector Gabrielle Keille and is part of Paolozzi’s…
Read MoreScottish riders selected for TREC World Championships
TWO Scottish riders are heading to France to represent Great Britain on their horses. Katie Braid and Cara Newman were one of the junior duo pairs selected for this month’s Techniques de Randonnée Équestre de Compétition (TREC) World Championships. Their selection marks the first time that a Scottish duo has been chosen for the British…
Read MorePrestonpans Town Hall holds Victorian weekend
THE 125th anniversary of Prestonpans Town Hall is being marked with a Victorian weekend. The East Lothian town will hold a re-enactment of the opening ceremony on 6 August, complete with costumes. An actor will play Richard Haldane, who was the member of parliament for “Haddingtonshire” and who opened the hall. Celebrations will continue on…
Read MoreHydro Ness opens in Highland capital
THE Hydro Ness visitors’ centre and hydro-electric scheme has opened in Inverness. Ceilidh Trail performed “The Power of the River”, a song written by Duncan Chisholm and Hamish Napier to mark the event. Hydro Ness was built next to Holm Mills bridge on the site of a previous hydro-electric scheme from the 1920s. Its Archimedes’…
Read MoreREVIEW: Kerr’s Navy Strength Gin
Drinks blogger James Robertson samples Kerr’s Navy Strength Gin from The Borders Distillery. IF YOU have not tried the original Kerr’s Gin then you should, however this is a limited edition run of 2,022 bottles of a navy strength version distilled at 57.1% alcohol by volume (ABV). Made by John Fordyce and the team at…
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