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This week’s Hidden Scotland Weekly takes us from the windswept ruins of Dunure Castle to the quiet chapel stones of Culross, where saints, witches, and admirals shaped the hidden history of Fife. Writer Louis D. Hall sets out across the kingdom on foot, uncovering lost stories and shifting landscapes, one path at a time.

We're also venturing to the quieter edges of Edinburgh – from Rosslyn Chapel to the Pentland Hills – in a new itinerary designed for those who’ve seen the Royal Mile and want more. There’s a feature on Glen Glack Cabins in Dunkeld, perched on the edge of Cally Loch, and a look at the return of our 2026 wall calendar.

Plus, don’t miss your last chance to order Issue 11 before dispatch begins tomorrow. All pre-orders come with a free Isle of Arran bookmark and a print of our red squirrel cover image, wrapped and sealed with care.

As always, the quiz is waiting – and the answers are tucked at the end.

Thanks for reading, and for being part of the Hidden Scotland community.

We Start Dispatch Tommorow - Last Chance to Order.

We now have the eleventh edition of Hidden Scotland magazine in our hands – and we’re genuinely delighted with how it has come together.

We hope that those of you who’ve already pre-ordered are looking forward to your copy. Orders will begin dispatching from next week, and as a thank-you, all pre-orders come with a free gift: a beautifully designed Isle of Arran bookmark and an A5 print of our cover image, which this issue features the red squirrel – one of Scotland’s most iconic native species.

Each order arrives wrapped in tissue, sealed with a Hidden Scotland sticker. If you haven’t had the chance to pre-order yet but would still like to receive the free gift, please make sure to place your order by 11am on Monday 6th October (BST) to secure yours. As always, all of our subscribers will receive the free gifts too.

To give you a glimpse of what’s inside Issue 11: we explore wild saunas across Scotland, from Cowal to the Cairngorms; travel to Mull and Iona on a family break; highlight Arran’s green valleys; and retell the mythic tale of Schiehallion, the ‘Fairy Hill of the Caledonians’. You’ll also find an interview with architect Mary Arnold-Foster, an ode to the red squirrel, and a look into rural life with Hamish and Liberty Martin.

Elsewhere in the issue, we visit Stewart Christie & Co – Scotland’s oldest bespoke tailor – The Free Company restaurant with its farm-to-fork ethos, and Yard 97, a haven for architectural salvage and reclaimed furniture.

Artist Zanna Wilson shares local tips from Aberfeldy, Lucy Gillmore delves into restoration work on historic buildings, and Emily Rose Mawson explores six stunning Landmark Trust properties.

All pre-orders will come with:

→ A 'Isle of Arran' bookmark
→ A5 print of our front cover image

This will arrive wrapped in tissue paper and sealed with a sticker. Available for a limited time only.

We hope that you enjoy issue 11 and as always, thank you again for your continued support!

Dunure Castle and the Roasting of the Commendator

Betsy Miller was the eldest of 10 children, born and bred in Saltcoats on the Ayrshire coast at the end of the 18th century. Her father was a successful merchant and captain, so seafaring was in her blood, but it was her brother who was to take over the family business.

Betsy had a quiet job in the company office instead, although she would have been out on the waves whenever she had the chance. In 1833 tragedy struck and her brother died, leaving the company with debts to pay. Things for both the family and the crew that depended on them were on a knife edge. Thankfully, Betsy stepped up to the mark.

Captain Betsy was in her 40s when she took command of the family ship Clytus and her crew of 14 seasoned sailors. She inspired devotion amongst her crew and not a single man questioned her authority or ability to lead. She became famous locally as the Queen of Saltcoats.

Betsy sailed the Clytus back and forward between Ayrshire and Ireland trading timber and coal. Most ships would wait for a favourable wind to carry them across the sea, but Betsy had a point to prove and money to make. She would simply shout "I don't wait for the carry" and somehow manage to navigate the Clytus across the water anyway.

The Queen of Saltcoats was the first officially recognised female ship's captain but she wasn't the only girl on board. Keeping things in the family, she chose her younger sister Hannah as her first mate. Between the two women, the Miller’s business improved dramatically.

Betsy had humour and grace, but no fear of the waves and her crew loved and respected her for it. When their leader ordered them out into a storm, they dutifully followed. The captain achieved all of this while keeping up the appearances of the day, looking impeccable in a pristine dress.

She carried on sailing until her retirement at the age of 70. By then the Queen of Saltcoats was a local celebrity with a firm reputation as one of the best captains to cross the Irish Sea.

Reach the story online here.

Words by Graeme Johncock

Writer Louis D. Hall sets out across Fife on foot, uncovering layers of history, folklore and memory along the way. From saints and shipbuilders to accused witches and forgotten ruins, he reveals a place still quietly changing — and still worth walking for. This is Fife, rediscovered.

Part 1: The witch, the saint, the admiral

Someone said that when you go away for a long time you never truly come all the way back. To me, this means that when you do return, you bring something new with you: a fresh perspective on the places and people you’ve known forever. After two years, I found myself returning home to Fife. Sure enough, the things I took for granted began to appear differently; the scenes I had stored up for comfort, lodged in memory since childhood. The way the river forth stretches into nothing as you look east and west - this felt new to me. The shape of the Ochil Hills in the north; the sense of incomparable calm felt in the harbour of Crail; the colour of the incoming tide on Elie beach. Yes, there was far more hidden magic than I had remembered. But there was something else too - destruction, cement, and urbanisation. My home was being altered beyond recognition, the green spaces upturned for housing and roads. It dawned on me then how little I actually know of Fife’s long and living history. How much I assumed or didn't fully understand. And so, travelling west to east, I set out to rediscover Fife, terrified of it being lost on me forever. I opened my eyes, looked ahead and sought the signs that might help illustrate the past, hoping I wasn’t too late. ‘Fareweel, Bonny Scotland, I'm awa' tae Fife! ' 

A coracle, a witch and an admiral; as I was quick to discover, my journey on foot became shaped by physical clues and old tales. Piecing them together has since been the challenge. Less than five miles from Kincardine (on the far west point of Fife), there is a beautiful village called Culross. Built up from the sixteenth century onwards, identifiable by its ochre-coloured palace and cobbled streets, I have known it primarily for the wonderful Red Lion Pub and the wide reaching views of the River Forth. Others may know it as the star of ‘Outlander.’ But there is far more than what initially meets the eye. First to the coracle. At the edge of the village there’s a little ruin. Easy to miss, it juts out from the hill next to Low Causeway road, opposite the football park: the humble remains of St Mungo’s Chapel. It is from these ancient stones that Fife, Glasgow, and much of Scotland owes its genesis. Culross was founded in the sixth century by Christian missionary Saint Serf. The story goes that, adrift on a coracle after being sentenced to death by her father, a Britonic princess arrived onto the quiet shores of Culross, exhausted, pregnant and wrongly accused of infidelity - she was raped. Teneu, later to be canonised as a saint, was promptly welcomed by Saint Serf and invited to live in the community. In 518, Saint Teneu gave birth to Kentigern, later nicknamed as Mungo, meaning ‘dear one.’ Under the care and tuition of Saint Serf, Mungo soon became a favourite student. Outgrowing his jealous peers, he left the monastery and sought out a friend of Saint Serf’s who lived near Sterling, a holy man named Fergus. The pair became close and, on his deathbed, Fergus told Mungo his dying wish: to have his body placed upon a cart and pulled by two oxen. Wherever the oxen stopped, this was to be his burial place. Mungo carried out Fergus’ wish and travelled with the oxen pair until they finally came to a halt, close to the waters of Molendinar burn. Mungo named this area Glas Ghu (Glasgow), meaning ‘dear green place’ and it was here that he would start the first Christian community in Glasgow, later to become the site of Glasgow Cathedral. For years I had walked past the final stones of St Mungo’s chapel, and had only ever seen them as a decaying structure, sure to be lost. 

For Saint Teneu, the waters of the Firth of the Forth embodied a path to a new home. Some 800 years later, a boy was born in Culross who came to see the blue expanse before him as a gateway to the world. Beyond Saint Mungo’s chapel, the market square opens up into Culross proper. Here, opposite the sixteenth century palace, there is a tired looking Chilean flag beating in the wind next to the statue of Lord Cochrane. Born in 1775 to an inventor father who died impoverished, the young Thomas Cochrane went to sea to regain his family’s fortune. Leaving Britain in 1818, he was recruited by the Chilean Navy and took command in their war of independence against the Spanish Colonists. His efforts became legendary. Not only did he play a vital role in the Chilean success, but he helped achieve Peru’s freedom in the process. Soon after, in 1823, he was invited to command the Brazilian Navy in their fight against the Portuguese. He promptly accepted. Cochrane's feared reputation and use of audacious tactics led to the Portuguese abandoning the fight. He went on to liberate other Iberian-held ports along the Brazilian coast, effectively securing the nation's independence. Lord Cochrane was buried in Westminster Abbey in 1860, with the Brazilian minister offering these words: ‘We place these flowers on Lord Cochrane's grave in the name of the Brazilian Navy, which he created, and of the Brazilian nation, to whose independence and unity he rendered incomparable services.’ 

But Fife’s western shores have not only hosted saints and seafarers. They also triggered one of Scotland’s greatest atrocities. Little did I know it took place just beyond my doorstep. With the shoreline now behind me, I walked up the hill and found the sleepy ruin of West Kirk. From here I could see the Ochil Hills rising in the north (the borderline to neighbouring Perthshire) and the behemoth Grangemouth Refinery Spanning the view to the south. In 1675, however, events were directed in a more disquieting direction. It was alleged that in the grounds of the cemetery, right where I stood, four local women would regularly meet and seek out the devil. Between the sixteenth and eighteenth century an estimated 380 ‘witches’ were tortured and executed in Scotland - most by burning. Accelerated by his own disfiguring diseases and religious extremism, King James VI grew convinced that the devil’s secret agents were at work. As there was no law against confession by torture in Scotland, Fife played host to the cruellest of these deaths. In 2020, the Fife Witches Trail was forged to remember some of those women who died, ‘Innocent victims of unenlightened times.’ In nearby Torryburn, an ex-mining village three miles further along the Coastal Path from Curloss, the most notorious victim of Fife’s Witch Trials is commemorated: The Torryburn Witch. Lillias Adie, a young woman accused of having sex with the devil on cloudless nights, was tortured until she confessed. She died while awaiting trial. Adie was buried in 1704 on the mudflats of Torryburn beach under a sandstone slab, preventing the devil reanimating her for their nighttime meetings. The only known grave of a witch in Scotland, the slab was discovered in 2014. 

I had gone less than ten miles on my journey across Fife. More than any place I have encountered, this extraordinary country, this kingdom has secrets buried - waiting to be uncovered and restored. 

Click here to read the full article online and look out for part two coming soon.

Glen Glack Cabins

Five luxury, bespoke, and brand-new cabins sit on the edge of Cally Loch, in the picturesque town of Dunkeld. Each cabin offers breathtaking views across the loch and provides a tranquil setting for reconnecting with nature. Designed to complement their lochside surroundings, the cabins feature private verandahs, wood-burning stoves, and unique interiors. A minimum stay of two nights applies to all bookings.

Find out more here.

Exploring Edinburgh’s Quieter Edges

Edinburgh’s streets are overflowing with stories, you could easily spend an entire week without leaving the city if you wanted! However, as somebody who lived there for ten years, I know there’s so much more to see if you venture just a little further out.

The rolling hills around Edinburgh are dotted with magnificent castles, mysterious chapels and dramatic glens, making a trip around the quieter edges of Edinburgh a day to remember!

Craigmillar Castle

20 minute drive from centre of Edinburgh

Start the day at Edinburgh’s “other castle”, the luxurious Craigmillar. Built by the Preston family in the late 14^th century, it grew in size and standing, becoming a favourite escape from the noises and smells of Edinburgh for Kings and Queens. A young James V once stayed here to escape an outbreak of plague!

Craigmillar’s most famous visitor was Mary Queen of Scots who recovered here in 1566 during an illness. While she lay in her chamber, her followers made a plan to get rid of her unpredictable husband Darnley in what became known as the Craigmillar Bond! Royal intrigue aside, wandering through the ruins of Craigmillar lets your imagination come alive and the view from the ramparts is incredible!

Rosslyn Chapel

20 minute drive

There’s nowhere else in Scotland quite like Rosslyn Chapel. From the outside, it’s an interesting little sandstone building, with gargoyles and grotesques protecting its flying buttresses. Inside, it’s an awe-inspiring bible in stone, with every inch covered in spectacularly intricate carvings.

Building work began in 1446 by William Sinclair and the walls are so packed that no matter how often I visit, I still find new images or stories amongst the carved walls. The carvings hold countless mysteries and thanks to the Da Vinci Code, tales of Templars and the Holy Grail are now synonymous with Rosslyn. You’ll wish you had longer than the 90 minute visiting window!

Battle Of Roslin Monument

5 minute walk

A short walk from the village of Roslin, a stone monument declares this proudly as the location of the Battle of Roslin. In 1303, a large English army was surprised and defeated in the fields and forests here by a small Scottish force led by John Comyn and Simon Fraser.

It was an enormously important battle during the Wars of Independence, but little known compared to Stirling Bridge or Bannockburn. As you can see from the mementos left on the monument, the Battle of Roslin hasn’t been entirely forgotten!

Lunch at Rosslyn Inn

2 minute walk

Back in the village, Rosslyn Inn is the perfect place to stop for a traditional pub lunch in cozy surroundings. There’s a large menu whether you’re looking for a quick bite or a proper meal!

Roslin Castle & Glen

3 minute drive

Head down the steep, winding, tree covered road into Roslin Glen and prepare for a short walk to somewhere extraordinary. You might not see it at first as you cross the footbridge, but the vine covered ruins of Roslin Castle are hiding amongst the trees above.

Once home to the wealthy Sinclair Barons of Roslin, it can be hard to truly imagine just how grand this place was from ground level. Make sure to follow the path below the soaring bridge to where the castle rock looms over a gorge carved by the river. Only then can you truly appreciate the size of Roslin Castle, built right into the cliffside!

Take A Walk In The Pentland Hills

10 minute drive

A short drive west takes you to the car park beside the Flotterstone Inn on the edge of the Pentland Hill. These rolling hills are a popular walking spot for those looking to get away from Edinburgh without travelling for hours. For those with plenty of energy there are trails heading into the hills and for anybody looking for a less strenuous activity, take a stroll alongside Glencorse Reservoir and appreciate the views!

Old Cramond Bridge

25 minute drive

Tucked away behind the Miller & Carter restaurant is one of the best kept secrets near Edinburgh. Dating to the 15^th century, Old Cramond Bridge over the River Almond was once the main route into the city from the west. Legend says that King James V was once attacked here by bandits while disguised as a lowly laird.

A local farmer called John Howieson saved the King and received ownership of the land as his reward. Take a short walk and you can see what’s said to be the remains of Howieson’s cottage. Stay still long enough and you might even spot some resident otters hunting near the bridge!

It makes for the perfect calm spot to finish a tour of Edinburgh’s quieter edges! 

For the full itineary click here

We’ve also just launched our our 2026 Calendar

We are delighted to be back with our wall calendar for 2026. Enjoy a selection of stunning photography that captures some of Scotland's best bits throughout the year.

The A3 landscape wall calendar is printed on a beautiful matt art paper stock that makes the images really stand out. The landscape layout allows for an A4 image on one side, which can be utilised as a print afterwards.

As well as a square for each day for you to add those all important events and special dates you have coming up in the new year. There is also a notes section for any additional information you need to jot down for that month.

Quiz Answers

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