Dalkeith Palace model goes on show

A MODEL built nearly 200 years ago for a proposed redevelopment of Dalkeith Palace has gone on display at Biggar & Upper Clydesdale Museum. George Meikle Kemp, who went on to design the Scott Monument in Edinburgh, spent two years building the model for architect William Burn, which he completed in 1838. Burn wanted to…

Read More

Shortleet for 2023 Walter Scott Prize unveiled

SEVEN books have been named on the shortleet for this year’s Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction. The titles competing for the £25,000 prize are: These Days by Lucy Caldwell (Faber) The Geometer Lobachevsky by Adrian Duncan (Tuskar Rock Press) Act of Oblivion by Robert Harris (Hutchinson Heinemann) The Chosen by Elizabeth Lowry (Riverrun) The…

Read More

Buccleuch selling more of Langholm Moor

ESTATE owner Buccleuch revealed this morning that it will sell more of Langholm Moor next month. Oxygen Conservation, which already owners land around the Firth of Tay, will buy 11,390 acres of moor around Blackburn and Hartsgarth. The organisation aims to demonstrate that environmental conservation can also deliver social and economic benefits for local communities.…

Read More

Langholm Moor buyout hits £2.2m target

THE South of Scotland’s largest community buyout will double in size after campaigners raised £2.2 million to buy Langholm Moor. The Langholm Initiative will buy the 5,300 acres of land and three properties from Buccleuch Estates. The Dumfriesshire town hit its fundraising target in time for last Sunday’s deadline. Nearly 3,000 people donated to the…

Read More

Langholm Moor extension for community buyout

THE Langholm Moor community buyout has been given an extra two months to raise the money it needs to purchase 5,300 acres in Dumfriesshire. The Langholm Initiative needs to raise £2.2 million to buy the land from Buccleuch Estates. A deadline of 31 May had been set to complete the deal, but the landowner has…

Read More

A host of big names headline Borders Book Festival

The Borders Book Festival programme is returning this summer with a big-name guest list. Tickets are now on sale, as organisers prepare to welcome back on stage big names in books; stars of stage and screen, and leading figures from the world of politics and current affairs. Returning to its usual home at Harmony Garden,…

Read More

New gamekeeper training courses to take place

New accredited training programmes for gamekeepers across the country are being held in Scotland this spring. In 2021 and in response to the increased importance of best practice and the British Game Assurance (BGA) Scheme, St David’s Game Bird Services devised a new, accredited, Gamekeeper Training Programme to help Gamekeepers, across the country, to maintain…

Read More

Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction finalists unveiled

The Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction, which celebrates outstanding historical novels published in the UK, Ireland and the Commonwealth, has announced its 2022 longlist. Thirteen novels are in contention for the £25,000 prize, with settings spanning from the 8th century BC up to the 1960s, and from all four nations of the United Kingdom…

Read More

New accredited training programme for gamekeepers

Two training days for gamekeepers are scheduled for Scotland this spring. In 2021 and in response to the increased importance of best practice and the British Game Assurance (BGA) Scheme, St David’s Game Bird Services devised a new, accredited, Gamekeeper Training Programme to help Gamekeepers, across the country, to maintain standards and become certified under…

Read More