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This week we’re heading north to the Highlands, where Inverness Castle is preparing for its long-awaited reopening. The story of its transformation captures something larger, the way this city is quietly coming alive again with new galleries, food halls and riverfront spaces taking shape.

We’ve included a feature on that revival from Issue 10 of the magazine, along with a look inside Church Hill House in the Cairngorms and a day spent exploring Mull, from Tobermory’s colourful harbour to the windswept shores of Lochbuie.

Our 2026 Hidden Scotland Calendar has returned, and a small number of gift-wrapped copies of Issue 11 are still available, ready for the festive season. Use code CHRISTMAS for 10% off today only. View our full Christmas offering here.

As always, you’ll find this week’s quiz, a few discoveries and something new from the shop.

Twelve months of Scotland. Our 2026 Hidden Scotland 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.

Use code CHRISTMAS for 10% off today only.

The Heartbeat of the Highlands Revived

Inverness, the ‘Capital of the Highlands’ is starting to live up to its name. The past couple of years has seen a host of new developments and openings, but the most exciting launch is taking place this summer. The castle above the River Ness, under scaffolding since 2021, is re-opening as the Inverness Castle Experience, a world-class, state-of-the-art visitor attraction. Along with a burgeoning food and drink scene and somewhere seriously cool to stay at last, this small riverside town is coming into its own.

For years, brown tourist board signs pointed unsuspecting visitors towards ‘Inverness Castle’ a grand castellated sandstone building high above the River Ness. To be fair, it did look like a tourist attraction but, in fact, it was the city’s law courts. All the tourists trudging up the hill found at the top was a viewpoint and a statue of Flora MacDonald. It wasn’t even a ‘real’ castle.

Since the Middle Ages, a string of fortifications has guarded the high ground above the river; the first was built by Malcolm III of Scotland, chief of clan Mackintosh, in 1057 but it was partially destroyed, its battlements burned to the ground, in 1307. Over the centuries the castle was repeatedly raided and razed, repaired and rebuilt. Shutting its gates against Mary, Queen of Scots in 1562 led to the Siege of Inverness, her supporters, the Munro and Fraser clans, eventually seizing the castle. It wasn’t the only siege. There were plenty more and then, in 1746, the castle was blown up by the Jacobites after the Battle of Culloden to prevent it falling into Hanoverian hands.

In ruins until the 19th century, the current castle was built in 1836, not as a military fort but as a new courthouse and jail in the increasingly popular Scottish baronial style. Part of the castle revival that was sweeping across the country, two of the most famous examples are Balmoral, built for Queen Victoria, and Ardross Castle, just north of Inverness and the setting for the BBC reality show, ‘The Traitors’.

Inverness Castle is, in fact, two adjoining structures designed by different architects; the man behind the new courthouse was William Burn, whose father Robert, also an architect, designed the Nelson Monument at the top of Calton Hill in Edinburgh. The prison was built later, in the 1840s, and was designed by Edinburgh architect Thomas Brown. Now, following the construction of a modern courthouse on the edge of the city centre, a £30 million renovation project has transformed it into an inspiring visitor experience celebrating the spirit of the Highlands.

Exhibition designers Mather & Co, who have worked on high-profile attractions including the Silverstone Museum and Downton Abbey: The Experience, have been at the helm. The company tasked with the fit-out, Workhaus Projects, whose past clients include the V&A Dundee (the Tartan exhibition) and Warner Bros for Harry Potter’s Wizarding World in New York.

The concept at its core is the Highlands’ rich storytelling tradition. Local theatre company Dogstar, led by artistic director Matthew Zajac, who wrote and starred in ‘The Tailor of Inverness’, was commissioned to create all the written material and ensure an ‘authentic voice’. 

Visitors will be taken on an interactive and sensory immersive journey, guided by a seanchaidh or traditional storyteller who will weave together tales of the region’s culture, community, landscape and heritage. The connection to the land, the magnificent mountains, glens, rivers and lochs will be celebrated along with all aspects of the region’s culture from tartan to music and dance.

In the top floor gallery, an exhibition created by over 600 local artists pulls together the threads of Highland life from Neolithic times to the present day with digital and 3D displays. The experience culminates in an immersive show, a spectacular rollercoaster ride through the landscape – before a chance to experience two of the area’s most famous icons, ceilidh music and whisky, in the north tower’s Highland Music Bar. 

It's been a long time coming, but Inverness finally has a big- hitting tourist attraction. On the city’s fringes there’s no shortage of stellar sites from the Battle of Culloden to Fort George, the romantic ruins of Urquhart Castle on the banks of Loch Ness and the recently revamped ‘Nessie-themed’ Loch Ness Centre. But in town visitors have been limited to the quaintly old-fashioned city museum and historic – or Outlander-themed - walking tours.

Also described as ‘the Gateway to the Highlands’ and the region’s transport hub - the Caledonian Sleeper pulls into the train station, while the airport has doubled in size over the last few years, with a new rail link to the city centre and an airport hotel – Inverness has always had a small- town vibe and has often simply been the jumping off point for travellers exploring the Highlands or heading off on the North Coast 500 roadtrip. But there’s increasingly more to hang around for.

As well as the castle’s reinvention, the city is the Highlands’ artistic and creative centre. Not only is it home to the National lottery-funded Eden Court theatre and cinema on the riverfront which has a vibrant arts programme, an annual film festival and summer music festival ‘Under Canvas’, but, recently, the Inverness Academy, once a school and a listed building, was converted into the Inverness Creative Academy by Wasps. Now home to 32 artists’ studios and workshops, the school’s old gym hall has been turned into an exhibition space and café. Just below the castle, meanwhile, Browns Gallery on Castle Street, founded by artist, Gordon Brown, also hosts a series of exhibitions showcasing the most exciting contemporary Scottish artists.

There is also an increasingly dynamic food and drink scene. The once run-down Victorian Market now has a vibrant food hall thanks to the vision of husband and wife team Douglas Hardie and Jeni Iannetta aka the woman behind ‘The Bad Girl Bakery’ (café, bakery and cook school in nearby village, Muir of Ord and a bestselling cookery book of the same name). Now buzzing, it’s packed with diners tucking into everything from Indian street food to sushi. 

Hardie also set up the Highland Food Trail. “Inverness was the only city in the UK with no street food culture”. Something he has now remedied. He wanted to attract a mix of food vendors to showcase local produce. Now on the tree-trimmed riverbank, in front of the cathedral, there’s a rotating mix of food trucks from the Angry Seagull’s fish and chips to Auld Smokey’s wood-fired pizza cooked in the back of an old Land Rover Defender. Add a smattering of cool cafés from Culture Café & Deli, the first plant-based eatery founded by Canadian nutritional therapist-turned-vegan-cheesemaker Ella Clarke (think ‘dirty turmeric’ and beetroot lattes along with medicinal mushroom hot chocolate) to Isle of Skye- based bijou Birch which has opened a branch here and an ever-evolving drinks scene.

Inverness has always had great, gritty pubs, but now you can order a beer flight of organic ales at the Black Isle Brewery Bar and sip them in a fairy-light strung shed on the rooftop, enjoy a dram in tiny backstreet whisky bar, The Malt Room or bag an outdoor table or sheepskin-strewn pew for a wine-tasting (there are over 250 on the list) at The Walrus and Corkscrew – along with a local charcuterie or cheese platter. And where else can you find a doughnut shop (Perk) that turns into an espresso martini bar after dark?

There’s even a distillery on the riverfront, now, the first in the city centre for 130 years. Uile-bheist is Gaelic for monster and the new distillery and brewery – or 'brewstillery' – is a striking glass-fronted building on the banks of the River Ness offering tours and tastings.

And then to bed - somewhere seriously hip. Above legendary, beer-soaked live music joint, Hootananny’s, just footsteps from the castle, designer Isobel Barnes has turned the top two floors into a fledgling art hotel with six eclectically designed rooms and one attic suite looking out over the River Ness. Rooms are decorated with designer fabrics, throws from royal tweed supplier, Campbells of Beauly and paintings from local artist and sculptor Leonie Gibbs who lives on the Belladrum estate – home to the ‘Bella’ music festival, Scotland’s Glastonbury. Even the luggage racks have a story to tell; old-school-sturdy and leather-strung auctioned off by the Dorchester in London. But not as many stories as the seanchaidhs up at the castle...

This tale of one city is turning into a never-ending series of sequels; less fairytale endings, more page-turning, exciting, new beginnings.

This article was taken from issue 10 of the Hidden Scotland Magazine.

Written by Lucy Gillmore.

We still have some gift wrapped issue 11 available. Send with a handwritten note today.

Each copy arrives beautifully hand-wrapped in bespoke paper designed by Scottish illustrator Joy Nevada, ready to place under the tree.

Inside, the magazine is accompanied by a collectable A5 art print of the front cover image and a Hidden Scotland bookmark, all presented in our custom Hidden Scotland box. You can send it directly to the recipient or have it delivered to you for gifting in person.

Each wrapped magazine comes with a festive gift tag, either left blank for your own message or completed with a handwritten note from us. A Christmas sticker on the tag lets the recipient know it’s not to be opened until 25th December.

Use code CHRISTMAS for 10% off today only.

Cairngorms Church Hill House

Church Hill House combines the beauty and 'feel' of an old house, with the comforts of a new one. Once part of the Highland Folk Museum, it was stripped out for exhibition space; latterly it fell derelict. During a meticulous restoration (completed 2024) the 1820s windows were repaired and the historic stone slate roof re-laid. Inside was re-imagined as a spacious holiday house, with the atmosphere of a traditional Highland lodge, with modern comforts. Pure wool tartan curtains, velvet sofas and big walk in showers.

Find out more here.

A Day Exploring The Isle Of Mull

The Isle of Mull is undeniably one of Scotland’s most incredible places, with everything you could possibly want in an island. There are historic castles, stunning scenery and fantastic food to experience, as long as you’re brave enough to drive the narrow roads! It’s somewhere I return to several times every year and this would be my perfect day. 

Wander the Streets of Tobermory

Tobermory is the perfect place to start the day, strolling along the picture-perfect waterfront. The town is relatively modern, founded in the late 1700s, but there are stories that go back even further.

In 1588, a Spanish ship from the Armada limped into the bay for repairs, lending soldiers to the chief of the MacLeans in return for shelter. Even once the ship was ready, MacLean wasn’t so happy to let them go and the Spanish vessel mysteriously exploded, sinking into the depths, allegedly full of treasure that’s still never been found!

Today, you’ll find lots of independent shops selling gifts, books, chocolate and great local food!

Aros Park Waterfalls
5 minute drive

Just outside Tobermory, you can lose yourself in nature with a walk through the woodland of Aros Park. The Aros Burn crashes from one large waterfall into a series of tumbling falls, shaded by thick foliage. It’s a place that feels ancient, where the rocks and branches are thick with moss and the air full of birdsong

Duart Castle
40 minute drive

One of Mull’s blockbuster attractions, Duart Castle is the ancestral home of Clan MacLean and to me it’s everything that a Scottish castle should be. Perched up on a cliff above the sea, it’s got a strong clan connection and its walls are packed with stories. While it was ruined during the early 1700s, it was rescued and restored around 100 years ago and open to the public during the tourist season.

The history of the MacLeans is laid out as you walk through the rooms, but the most spectacular part is the view from the battlements. On a clear day, you can see across the Isle of Lismore, right up Loch Linnhe towards Glencoe. It’s obvious why this spot was chosen for a castle in the 13^th century!

Lunch at the Old Post Office, Lochbuie
40 minute drive

At the end of a long, winding road, Lochbuie is one of my favourite, quieter spots on Mull with one of the best cafes on the island. The Old Post Office serves up great local produce, with venison, seafood and great soup usually on the menu. The coffee is particularly good and the huge windows give great views out to sea to enjoy even on a wet and windy day.

Moy Castle
15 minute walk

Not far along the shore stands Moy Castle, in ruins but still proudly standing tall beside the sea. This was once home to the MacLaines, cousins to the MacLeans of Duart, and they have plenty stories of their own to share.

In the 15^th century, Ewen of the Little Head rebelled against his father Iain the Toothless to take control of the clan. During the battle that followed, Ewen ended up losing his head as he charged around the field and his horse kept on galloping before his body eventually slumped off beside the road. It’s said that the headless horseman can still be seen riding around Mull when a member of the MacLaines is due to die!

Lochbuie Mausoleum
15 minute walk

Follow this beautiful stretch of coastline, passing a wide sandy beach where you might see either Highland Cattle or wild goats grazing. Eventually, across a grassy field, you’ll see the Lochbuie Mausoleum on a low mound surrounded by a cluster of trees. 

Centuries ago, this was the local chapel, but its since been transformed into a small mausoleum for the MacLaines of Lochbuie. Inside, not only will you find elaborate tombstones dating back to the 1700s, but colourful stars set into the slate roof to create bright beams of light inside.

Lochbuie Stone Circle
30 minute walk

Taking a different fork on the return path leads you to the start of the trail towards the Lochbuie Stone Circle. Follow the white stones across an often-boggy field and you’ll soon reach these ancient monoliths. They aren’t particularly tall, but they’re perfectly formed and still impressive after thousands of years.

Nobody knows for sure what the stones were used for, maybe a ritual site, way of tracking the seasons or even just a grand gathering place. While there are standing stones all around Scotland, not many are in as spectacular a spot as this, with Ben Buie rising in the distance.

To read online and view more of Graeme’s Stories click here.

The Hidden Scotland Christmas Gift Box

We have created a festive gift box filled with a handpicked selection of some of our favourite Scottish goodies paired with the latest issue of Hidden Scotland magazine, for you to gift this Christmas.

Use code CHRISTMAS for 10% off today only.

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