Great Scottish Indoors
Contemporary Scottish Living
We were invited to sample a new Japanese restaurant in Edinburgh, Umi, in Stockbridge. I honestly could not have been more excited – I lead a very quiet life and a night out in Stockbridge just felt so glamorous!The restaurant had a classic Japanese interior, complete with cosy nooks where you sat down below the floor…Gorgeous mood lighting […]
Such a lovely destination – this sunny village, central to a string of fishing villages, on the sparklingly pretty East Neuk of Fife, Elie is undeniably chic. With its beautiful south facing beach, fabulous beachside homes, it is Scotland’s answer to St Tropez if you ask me and a great base to explore from. The […]
Well, we really over-egged it this year – the 16th February marked 24 years – no big deal I know, but we received a tsunami of gifts and invitations. Crystalski invited us to return to the village in the Dolomites where we had our honeymoon, read about it here. Our family invited us to lunch […]
Out of the blue, Douglas and I received a wonderful invitation, Crystalski asked us to write about the Val Di Fassa, a dramatic valley in the stunning Italian Dolomites where we spent our honeymoon. Result!! We were asked to relate our adventures as empty nesters, compared to our honeymoon and our experiences skiing with our […]
We might be back to school here in Scotland but my children are not going back to school, they are both off to uni. Terrifying thoughts are interwoven with tremendous pride and excitement about their future. Our son is in his final year in Aberdeen and on the 14th September we drop off our daughter […]
If anyone is free over the weekend of 12th-13th October I can think of nothing I could recommend more than joining a mixed media workshop, including painting and collage, at my beautiful friend, artist, Kirstie Cohen’s, family studio, just outside North Berwick. Kirstie lives in Glen Affric, in the Highlands and her paintings reflect the […]
Not a day goes by without my thinking what a beautiful place we live in and how lucky I have been to bring up my children here. Forgive me if I sound smug or braggy – I assure you I have experienced plenty of misfortune, but bringing up my family in East Lothian, on Scotland’s […]
I have just returned home from a women’s walking and yoga weekend, in the French Alps, feeling incredibly refreshed and nourished. Losing friends to a des-res Alpine village brings with it a mixture of emotions: the fact that you can’t get together for a coffee and a natter is compensated wildly by the fact that […]
A home and business is a dream for many of us. Who would not want to find a property in a fabulous location with lots of characterful outbuildings that you could convert into gorgeous holiday accommodation?Throw in the upheaval of needing to thoroughly renovate said property as well and most of us would probably find […]
Well I have had a week of self discovery. I have been on a short interior design course at Juliettes Interiors a top end furniture retailer and design studio in London’s Kings Road.They asked all the participants to focus on a room that they wished to redesign. As my cousin was kindly putting me up for […]
Living in the countryside and being a total home lover, venturing out is not something I do a lot of. I love village life and walks along the beach and being a writer, I do have to be careful: unless you are actually sitting at your desk for long periods of time, not a lot […]
Following on from my last post about guests arriving – just in case you do not have enough room, why not relocate the whole family to a remote castle in the Highlands for a week? Wardhill is a fairytale castle, pictured here from a distance, with its magical spires and turrets. Up close, the creamy, […]
Also in the recent June issue of Ideal Home was this stunning contemporary home, called The Net Store Located on the far north west coast of Scotland. Some of the road trips we have undertaken in the creation of the Great Scottish Indoors have been truly remarkable. My love of this scenery is what inspired me to […]