From spectacular architecture and glittering city skylines to breathtaking landscapes and scenic vistas, Scotland is much in-demand as a filming location for big-name TV shows. Recent additions to the ever-growing list include the highly rated Rebus reboot, as well as period drama The Buccaneers, comedy Dinosaur and a pitch-perfect adaptation of the novel One Day.
French Windows by Antoine Laurain: The tower was built for Lady Janet Anstruther. A girl from the lower classes, she married Lord Anstruther, the richest man in the area, who fell in love with her. Janet was a beauty and such a character: she loved swimming naked.
By the time you read this I’ll be running in circles around Aberdeenshire. Yep, I’m off on another adventure. This one - an endurance event called Saltire 24 - is taking place in the scenic countryside surrounding Knockburn Sports Loch, near Banchory.
It is accessed by a long road that feels as though it’s leading you to the end of the earth. The first time I visited, I spotted the Cuillin mountains long before the loch. The raw beauty of it took my breath away.
In many ways, the garden is an apt metaphor for life. There are times when you put off tasks to focus on other things and before you know it, what was once a simple and straightforward job has morphed into the equivalent of hacking through dense jungle with a machete.
The flowers of the machair were alive with insects and just offshore I could see a seal bobbing its head out of the water. I had heard the seals respond to music and so I started whistling and singing Ca' The Yowes over and over again.
Time to start that holiday checklist. Whether you are planning to bask on a poolside sun lounger, soak up the views from a rooftop terrace or enjoy the warm glow of a campfire in the great outdoors, no relaxing getaway is complete without a decent book to escape into. Here, we round up some of the most gripping summer reads for 2024, from twisty thrillers and cosy crime to locked-room murder mysteries and suspense-packed tales.
The searing pain came out of nowhere. One minute I was determinedly schlepping through the torrential rain and gusting wind, the next each step was agony. It felt like the sole of my right foot was being prodded by a white-hot poker - or repeatedly standing on the same jagged Lego brick.
It feels as though wherever you look there’s some Neolithic structure or place of important folkloric interest. I really immersed myself in all of that - the weirder the better - while writing my new book, The Midnight Feast.
The bay was the backdrop for the gruesome death of a young army officer, Cecil Hambrough, who was shot in the grounds of Ardlamont House in the 19th century. I explored the story of those notorious events in my book, The Men Who Were Sherlock Holmes.
