Category Archives: Scotland

I was standing at the edge of a loch in Glencoe, congratulating myself on finally making it to one of the most dramatic landscapes in Scotland, when I noticed the cloud. Not a weather cloud. A midge cloud. Hovering at head height, moving with me, entirely unimpressed by my Smidge application from four hours earlier. […]

Someone can grow up in Scotland and still reach adulthood without fully appreciating just how many everyday things around them have Scottish origins. The TV. The telephone. The fridge. Even the ATM they’re permanently overdrawn at. All of it, Scottish. It’s the kind of detail that’s surprisingly easy to overlook. So here it is: a […]

I watched Avengers: Endgame, clocked the fishing village they were calling New Asgard, and immediately thought: that looks Scottish. Turns out I was right, which almost never happens. The location is St Abbs, a tiny fishing village on the Berwickshire coast in the Scottish Borders, and it is absolutely worth the detour. Quick Answer New Asgard […]

I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve heard someone call Scotland “bonnie” and wondered if they actually knew what they were saying. Turns out, most of us do it on autopilot (myself included, until I looked this up). Quick Answer: Why Is Scotland Called Bonnie? Bonnie is a Scots word meaning beautiful, attractive, or pleasing. […]