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We’re delighted to be back with a new ‘Hidden Scotland Weekly’. We really hope that you enjoy reading.

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Have a great Sunday!

Looking for a Father’s Day Gift?

This limited gift edition of Issue 08 of Hidden Scotland Magazine includes a handwritten note of your choice on a greeting card, a bookmark, and an A5 print of the cover image, all wrapped in tissue and sealed with a sticker. It is dispatched in our custom-designed Hidden Scotland boxes directly to your recipient or to yourself. You can leave the greeting card blank if you wish.

We’ve also curated a Father’s day selection from our shop - click here to have a look.

Gentlemen Adventurers of Fife

The Gentlemen Adventurers of Fife might sound like an honourable organisation, but the only thing noble about this group was their highborn status. Towards the end of the 16th century, the Scottish government tried to break the traditional clan system in places like the Outer Hebrides. They called for all landowners to provide them with proof of legal ownership for their ancestral homes.

Not many clans around the Highlands or Islands had a piece of paper granting them their land. It had been settled by their forefathers for generations or in their eyes, won fair and square. King James VI was always worried about how many of his subjects were loyal first to their Clan Chief and only then to him. This was his opportunity to try and change that.

The King granted 11 minor lairds from Fife the opportunity to "colonise" the Isle of Lewis since nobody could prove that they owned it. These Gentlemen Adventurers sailed to the island with their private army and began forming their settlement. They still had the small problem of the current inhabitants to deal with though.

Clan MacLeod, with their century’s old lordship of the island, weren't just going to roll over. Two brothers Neil and Murdoch MacLeod were tasked with subduing the invaders by any means necessary. Initially they tried diplomacy by drafting and presenting legal documents, but unsurprisingly things eventually descended into violence.

The Fifers had been expecting to defend their new colony, but they were in no way prepared for what island life was like. The King had led them to believe that the island was much more fertile than it really was. With most of their crops failing, they hadn't brought nearly enough additional supplies to sustain their new community.

The only saving grace for the Fifers was that the MacLeod brothers constantly fought with each other as siblings often do. Their outpost only lasted for a few hard years, the difficult living conditions and constant harassment eventually forcing them to give up and head back home.

The MacLeods had driven the Lowland invaders off, but they couldn't hold out against the King forever. Just a few years later, the Mackenzies of Kintail were given their chance to take Lewis and succeed where the Gentlemen Adventurers of Fife had failed.

Words by Graeme Johncock

Escape with Adam Storey

Explore some of Scotland’s most beautiful locations and hidden gems in our Escape With series where we ask people about their connection to a favourite place.

As founder of Corr Cabins and creative director of the design agency S+Co, design and architecture are part of Adam Storey’s DNA, and so is his love of being outdoors, whether he’s on a bike or a surf board, or up a mountain.

Corr Cabins brings those passions together with design-led cabins that connect to the surrounding landscapes, both visually, as large windows draw in the views, and physically in the use of materials that sit sympathetically within their natural environments. It all started with a personal project: a timber-clad studio that Adam built for himself a few years ago in the garden of his home in East Lothian. Adam loved the space, but he also quickly realised how much friends and visitors enjoyed it too. At the time, Adam and the S+Co team were working on concepts for cabins and outdoor spaces for hospitality clients, and this idea, this timber- clad and glass-fronted studio, evolved and was refined to become the first Corr cabin, which is sited at Monachyle Mhor in Perthshire. With a design studio in Edinburgh’s Leith, each cabin is built using Sitka Spruce that’s felled just 30 miles from the workshop in Invergordon. Sustainability is key to Corr’s approach. As Adam says: “There’s something quite exciting about a business building cabins in Scotland, surrounded by the raw materials that created it.”

Tell us about your favourite place - where is it?

This is tricky as I have a few, but the place I go back to the most is Loch Voil at Monachyle Glen. It’s the place that I have most connection with that’s not my home.

Why does this place mean so much to you? Why are you always drawn back there?

When I first moved to Scotland, someone said that I should go and see the glen, and I remember that moment of arriving for the first time and seeing the magic of the place. There’s a mirrored cube – The Lookout – that sits between the two lochs, Loch Voil and Loch Doine, and it was designed (in 2014, by architecture students Angus Ritchie and Daniel Tyler) to frame the view. It’s a very contemporary architectural form, with the lochs on either side. I thought, wow, this place is magical... And I think, having relocated from London, there was a moment of appreciating that contemporary architecture can exist in this space. It was that appeal of being able to explore this wild, remote place, that’s relatively accessible to where I live, an hour and a half away, and seeing it change through the different seasons. Also, I realised there was this amazing hotel there, Monachyle Mhor. I kept visiting for the character of the place, with that mix of wild landscapes and great design, and with good food and something’s that quite fun.

Do you have a first memory of visiting this place? Or a favourite more recent memory perhaps?

The first time was in winter, in the snow, and seeing that mirrored cube in the snow and having that moment of thinking: what a beautiful place to be. My most recent favourite memory is hanging out there in the summer, when it was 25 degrees, teaching my daughter to skim stones on this little beach with no one else there. We have a favourite spot that’s hidden away, where we park the camper van, and it’s backed onto this little beach with the most amazing view. The sun sets right down the loch, and when it’s just the two of us there having toasted marshmallows and playing in the water, it’s absolutely idyllic.

Has this place changed over the time that you’ve visited?

Not really. In the sense of the character of the place, no, it hasn’t changed. It’s a 20 minute drive down a single track road at the end of the glen to reach this spot overlooking Loch Voil, and that’s a good filter as people might not realise what’s there.

My perception of the place has changed. Three years ago I was introduced to Tom Lewis, the owner at Monachyle Mhor, and pitched him the idea of building our first cabin there, so I’ve been able to realise a dream of mine in building a dream cabin in a dream location. Also, having that cabin and being there frequently, I’ve been able to see how this landscape changes over the seasons; to be there in the depths of a winter storm where it’s barely light during the day, and the sun just comes over the ridge of the mountains, yet to be in this cosy, cocooned space with the fire going, is a luxurious thing.

How does this place inspire you?

The landscape is the main draw for me, but in terms of what inspires me, Tom and I really connected over those elements of great food and hospitality, which are passions of mine, but also how great design can facilitate this. I’m inspired by how the cabins and different structures sit in the landscape at Monachyle Mhor as it’s a bit of a playground to explore the place. You can be isolated and away from things and have space to think, but you can also be surrounded by like- minded fun and interesting people. I think that’s quite unique.

If someone was thinking of visiting this place, what’s the one thing they should know

Rob Roy’s grave is in the village of Balquidder, which lies at the head of Loch Voil, and there’s a beautiful walk from there through the forest up to a view point hill called Creag an Tuirc, which gives amazing views down to the loch. If you were to go and visit this area, this is one walk you should do.

What’s the place you’d most like to explore in Scotland, that you haven’t yet?

The isle of Taransay off the west coast of Harris. I wanted to get on the island as I was invited to look at a potential off-grid, eco cabin project there, and I travelled all the way up but then the conditions weren’t right to cross. I was going to paddle board or swim out to the island as it’s about a mile off Harris. The westerly beach is hidden from the mainland of Harris and looks like an amazing surf spot - it’s this white sandy beach that not many people have been on, but it catches the swell. I’d like to get to the island and surf that beach one day.

Discover more about Corr Cabins here and follow Corr’s Journal.

Interviewed by Fiona Reid

Around Scotland with Graeme Johncock

Graeme Johncock, the travel blogger and storyteller behind Scotland's Stories, is now bringing his adventures to us in a weekly column. He will journal about his explorations around Scotland, sharing fascinating stories and highlighting unique places to visit. Accompanied by his dog Molly, Graeme continues to uncover and share the rich history and beauty of Scotland.

I consider myself incredibly lucky to travel Scotland for a living. Whether it’s hunting down interesting places to share with the world through Hidden Scotland articles or guiding guests on private tours, there are always new stories to be found.

Over the last week, I’ve been following in the footsteps of Robert Burns, from his birthplace in Alloway to his burial in Dumfries, visiting as many places with a link to the Ploughman Poet as possible. There are plenty of them to tick off right across the southwest of Scotland, from old inns that he stayed the night in regularly to spots that he patrolled during his side job as an Exciseman.

Of course, some destinations are a little more significant than others.

The farm that Burns built for his family at Ellisland hasn’t changed much in the last 240 years and you can stand in the very room that Auld Lang Syne was written, eat a bannock in his wife Jean Armour’s kitchen or wander by the river where the epic horror story Tam o Shanter was dreamt up.

A short walk along the Nith takes you to Friars’ Carse, now a hotel and restaurant but in Burns’ day it was home to his good friend Captain Robert Riddell. One of his lesser known poems recalls a drinking competition between Riddell and another two local lairds with the winner the last man able to blow a whistle. Alexander Fergusson came out on top after guzzling down over half a dozen bottles of claret!

Down in Dumfries, Burns’ favourite howff (drinking den) was The Globe Inn and while it’s more famous for its fine dining these days, you can still sit in the poet’s own chair with a dram – as long as you can recite some of his poetry! Scottish schoolchildren are usually well drilled from years of annual poetry recitals, with at least a few lines of To a Mouse up their sleeves for occasions just like this.

The pub was just around the corner from the Burns’ House and of all the interesting artefacts found inside, the one that struck me most was a pane of glass, still secured in the window, that was once signed by Burns himself. He was a serial graffiti artist, with a number of windows in hotels and pubs around the country scribbled on with a diamond stylus.

While many people in Scotland and around the world celebrate Robert Burns every year on his birthday in January with a big feast of haggis and

whisky, that’s not enough in my opinion. A trip like this reminded me that Rabbie’s poetry should be celebrated every day, not just reserved for Burns Night.

Written by Graeme Johncock

Closes Today - Win a Magical Night at the Witchery by the Castle

Callum’s Road, Raasay - Taken by Simon Hird

Did you know we published our first book this year?

Our first ever guidebook is still available from our online shop here, and also some shops including, Toppings and co, Waterstones, WHSmith, Lifestory, Tartan Blanket Co, The Blue Magpie, Typewronger Books, Meander, Royal Botanic Gardens, Beech & Birch and from our shop at Milton of Crathes in Banchory.

If you would like to email us about any suggestions or feedback please email [email protected] with the subject feedback. Thanks!