Scotch Whisky distilleries attract more than 2 million visitors

Scotch Whisky distilleries attracted more than 2 million visitors in 2022, it has been revealed. A Scotch Whisky Association (SWA) survey found footfall more than doubled (114%) compared to 2021.  Total spend by tourists last year was up by 8.65%, with more than £85m spent in total at sites across Scotland’s five whisky regions, up…

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Cumnock Tryst: Music programme returns for October

Cumnock’s annual music festival is set to return next month. Sir James MacMillan CBE founded The Cumnock Tryst, a four-day music festival each October, nearly ten years ago. Taking place from 5 October until 8 October, hundreds of local groups are set to perform. The Musical Celebration of the Coalfields will involve ten local community…

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Martin Compston’s Scottish fling up for top TV award

Martin Compston and Phil MacHugh have been shortlisted for a TV award for their BBC travel series. Scottish Fling has been nominated for ‘Best Factual Show’ at the TV Choice Awards next year, which will take place in February at The Hilton on Park Lane in London. The programme, which aired last year, saw Greenock-born…

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New BBC ALBA documentary to explore the Scottish wolf

For 12,000 years wolves and humans shared Scotland’s landscape. But as hunter- gatherers became farmers, wolves became their enemy and were hunted to extinction.  Now a new BBC Alba documentary is set to explore whether the story of the Scottish wolf is over. Wolves arrived as the last ice age ended, following – like Scotland’s…

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Winner of the Anne Brown Essay Prize for Scotland announced

The 2023 Anne Brown Essay Prize for Scotland has been awarded to author Rodge Glass. The £1,500 prize, established in 2021 by the family of the late BBC Scotland journalist and Wigtown Festival Company chair Anne Brown, celebrates the best literary essay by a Scottish writer.  Best-known for his biography of Alasdair Gray, Glass’s essay…

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Hamza Yassin, Judy Murray and Henry Dimbleby at Wigtown Book Festival

The first weekend of the 25th Wigtown Book Festival saw Scotland’s National Book Town welcome a host of celebrities and special guests. Among those taking part were Judy Murray, who spoke about her new novel The Wild Card, and Hamza Yassin, the Strictly champion, cameraman and CBeebies ranger, who led a birdwatching walk and discussed…

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Scotland’s Top Winter Walks For Foodies

As we approach Autumn and Winter, the memories of long summer nights fade fast, but it shouldn’t mean we spiral into hibernation.  We take a look at some gentle winter walks within a stone’s throw of some of Scotland’s best foodie destinations.   The Pierhouse Hotel & Seafood Restaurant, Port Appin, Argyll Port Appin circuit…

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