Scotland’s National Museum of Flight is housed in the former airfield RAF East Fortune, created in 1915 during the First World War (and, for that matter, before there was an RAF) as a fighter plane and airship base. The airfield closed in 1920 and some of its buildings demolished, including, sadly, the giant airship hangers. …
Thanks to its conical pantile roof, Preston Mill has been compared to Hagrid’s Hut from Harry Potter, a house fit for the Shire from Lord of the Rings, a witch’s hat, and a witch’s house, and it genuinely looks like all of them. In fact, our guide Fraser suggested that the mill’s picturesque appearance – …
I have been unusually lax in posting due to a paid writing gig involving a fair bit of research and a tight deadline (an article about Humble Pie for Shindig! magazine, due to appear in the December 2025 issue), so apologies for that. I had hoped to squeeze in a visit to Callendar House over …
Cairnpapple Hill’s first big plus-point is that it is a hill that can be conquered without (much) climbing, as local roads allow visitors to drive almost to the top. Once parked in the lay-by that takes about five cars, it is just a matter of going up a short flight of stairs and then a …
I started this series of posts from Edinburgh at the Palace of Holyroodhouse at the bottom of the Royal Mile, so it is only appropriate to conclude it at Edinburgh Castle at the top. As with the other Royal Mile sites there is no brown sign for the castle, so I am taking it as …
So far on Edinburgh’s Royal Mile I have visited the Palace of Holyroodhouse, the John Knox House, the Museum of Childhood, the Real Mary King’s Close, and St. Giles’ Cathedral, and I’m beginning to feel all historied-out. So before hitting Edinburgh Castle I’m taking a history-free detour to the Camera Obscura & World of Illusions. …
Happy belated birthday to St. Giles’ Cathedral, which turned 900 in 2024. It was founded in 1124 by either King Alexander I, who died that year, or his brother and successor King David I. The church is dedicated to Saint Giles, a Greek hermit who kicked around southern France in the 7th century, where he …
A ‘close’ is one of the many narrow lanes that runs off from Edinburgh’s Royal Mile (the road connecting Edinburgh Castle to the Palace of Holyroodhouse). If the hurly-burly of modern day tourism can be overlooked, looking down some of these closes offers a glimpse of the mediaeval city. Closes could be named after the …
There aren’t many brown signs within the centre of Edinburgh (or if there are I haven’t spotted them) so I am taking the ‘City Centre & Attractions’ signs that frequent the city bypass to cover all attractions within the Scottish capital. My focus is on the Royal Mile, the near mile-long street that runs from …
John Knox House might be a bit of a misnomer, because it is just possible it was never John Knox’s house at all. However, tradition – never always incorrect but equally often far from reliable – states he lived here between August 1572 and his death in November that year, although there is no historical …
